Steve Bull

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Steve Bull MBE
Personal information
Full name	Stephen George Bull
Date of birth	March 28, 1965 (age 42)
Place of birth	Tipton, England
Nickname	Bully, Tipton Terrier
Playing position	Forward
Club information
Current club	Retired
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1985-86 1986-99 2000-01	West Bromwich Albion Wolverhampton Wanderers Hereford United	004 00(2) 474 (250) 007 00(2)
National team
1989-90	England	013 00(4)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Stephen George Bull (born 28 March 1965) is a former English footballer who had a long and successful career with Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Steve Bull was born on the Moat Farm estate (known locally as the "Lost City") on 28 March 1965, and grew up as a Liverpool supporter. He started school in September 1969 at Ocker Hill Primary School and moved up to Willingsworth High School in September 1976, by which time he was excelling in school football teams. He left school in 1981 to join non-league Tipton Town.

He began his professional career, aged 19, with West Bromwich Albion in 1984, and played a handful of Football League First Division games before Albion's relegation in May 1986. Six months later, he signed for local rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers for £65,000 and remained there until the end of his professional career in 1999. Over the next 13 years, he broke no less than four of the club's goalscoring records. He became their all-time leading goalscorer with 306 goals in competitive games (250 of them in the Football League, also a club record) and became their highest goalscorer in a single season when he scored a total of 52 goals in competitive games during the 1987-88 season. He also scored a club record of 18 hat-tricks.

He is regarded as such a legend at the club that one of the main stands at their football ground, the Molineux, is named after him. This commemeration was made in June 2003, with the stand having previously being known as the John Ireland Stand.

His debut for Wolves was against Wrexham on 22 November 1986. He made 464 league appearances for the club, 561 appearances in total. On leaving Wolves, he went on to play 12 games for Hereford United where he rejoined his old manager Graham Turner.

Bull scored 52 goals in all competitions during the 1987-88 season as Wolves won the Fourth Division championship and became the first of only two teams (the other is Burnley) to have been champions of all four divisions in the English league. The following season he inspired Wolves to a second successive promotion, this time as Third Division champions, with a total of 53 goals - marking an incredible tally of 105 goals in 2 seasons. While still playing in the Third Division, he was selected for the England team and scored against Scotland on his debut at Hampden Park.

Bull continued to perform well in the second tier of the English league, and stayed loyal to his Midlands roots despite interest from the likes of Aston Villa, Coventry City,Real Madrid, Barcelona, Ajax, Manchester United, Liverpool, Glasgow Rangers, Lazio, Boca Juniors, Newcastle United and even the Italian giants Juventus. He was determined to restore Wolves to their rightful place in the top division.

Steve Bull was capped 13 times for the England team, and scored a total of 4 goals in the build up to Italia 90. He went on to score 2 more goals in a friendly against Czechoslovakia in 1990-91 one of which was voted in as number 37 of England's 50 Greatest Goals. His final England goal was against Tunisia, which earned him a place in Bobby Robson's World Cup Squad.

Despite starting his international career well, Steve Bull did not score another goal for England. He played 4 times during Italia 90 - 3 times as a substitute against Republic of Ireland, Holland and Belgium and once as a starter against Egypt. His final match for England was in October 1990 against Poland, but was not picked again by his future Wolves manager, Graham Taylor.

He came close to achieving his amibition of reaching the top flight in 1995 and 1997, but Wolves lost in the playoffs both times. During his final two seasons at the Molineux, his chances of first-team football were reduced by a series of knee injuries. In July 1999, the 34-year-old Bull finally gave in and announced his retirement.

But he soon returned to playing as player-coach of Hereford United in the Conference, working under his former Wolves manager Graham Turner.

Known by his adoring fans as 'Bully' for his club loyalty, rapport with supporters and passion for the game he received an MBE for services to Association Football in December 1999, shortly after retiring as a first class player.

Steve Bull played a handful of First Division games for West Bromwich Albion during the mid 1980's, but apart from that his career was spent outside the top division.

Ironically, he left Albion just as they began a sharp decline which saw them slide from the First Division to the Third Division in the space of five years. He went on to spark a revival for Wolves, who won two promotions in a row. Many Albion fans were left wondering as to what their team might have achieved if Bull had stayed with them.

In May 2003, Bull appeared in a testimonial game for West Brom's Bob Taylor at The Hawthorns. He amused many of the Albion fans in attendance by dramatically falling to the ground when the chant went up, "Stand up if you hate the Wolves".

On 29 July 2006, Bull made one final appearance for Wolves in his 20th anniversary testimonial game against Aston Villa at Molineux, playing the first seven minutes of the match.

[edit] External links

• Steve Bull's Official Home Page
• The Unofficial Steve Bull Home Page
• A tribute to Steve Bull
• Steve Bull on wanting to become new Wolves manager

	England squad - 1990 FIFA World Cup Fourth Place
1 Shilton | 2 Stevens | 3 Pearce | 4 Webb | 5 Walker | 6 Butcher | 7 Bryan Robson | 8 Waddle | 9 Beardsley | 10 Lineker | 11 Barnes | 12 Parker | 13 Woods | 14 Wright | 15 Dorigo | 16 McMahon | 17 Platt | 18 Hodge | 19 Gascoigne | 20 Steven | 21 Bull | 22 Beasant | Coach: Bobby Robson