| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Steven George MacLean | ||
| Date of birth | 23 August 1982 | ||
| Place of birth | Edinburgh, Scotland | ||
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Yeovil Town | ||
| Number | 9 | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2001–2002 | Forres Mechanics | ? | (?) |
| 2002–2004 | Rangers | 3 | (0) |
| 2003–2004 | → Scunthorpe United (loan) | 42 | (23) |
| 2004–2007 | Sheffield Wednesday | 84 | (33) |
| 2007–2008 | Cardiff City | 15 | (1) |
| 2008–2011 | Plymouth Argyle | 48 | (5) |
| 2010 | → Aberdeen (loan) | 16 | (5) |
| 2010–2011 | → Oxford United (loan) | 31 | (6) |
| 2011– | Yeovil Town | 18 | (2) |
| National team | |||
| 2003 | Scotland U21 | 4 | (?) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20:34, 2 January 2012 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). |
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Steven George "Steve" MacLean (born 23 August 1982) is a Scottish footballer who plays as a striker for Football League One side Yeovil Town.
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He began his career at Rangers and had a successful loan spell at Scunthorpe United (where he was given the nickname 'The Loan Ranger') scoring 25 goals but despite this manager Alex McLeish deemed that he was not "a first team prospect" and placed him on the transfer list.[1]
On 7 July 2004, MacLean joined Sheffield Wednesday for an undisclosed fee, believed to be around £125,000, and signed a three year deal.[2]
He scored 20 goals in his first season, including a hat-trick against Doncaster Rovers, Wednesday's first away hat-trick for 32 years. He was the first Sheffield Wednesday player to hit the 20 goal mark in one season since Mark Bright in 1994. He also scored a crucial penalty under pressure in the Football League One play-off final in 2005. These exploits lead to him picking up a couple of fan's player of the season awards.
MacLean sustained a broken leg on the eve of the club's Championship campaign in August 2005, but returned in the latter part of the season to score two penalties for Wednesday, first at home to rivals Sheffield United in a 2–1 defeat and then against league champions Reading, which earned the Owls a 1–1 draw.
MacLean sustained another injury setback in August 2006 after scoring in a 1–1 draw against Burnley, but made a comeback a month later in the defeat to Derby County.
He finished the 2006–007 season with 13 goals from 22 first team starts and 22 substitute appearances, making him the club's joint top goal scorer for the season with Deon Burton and showing signs of returning to the form in which he played with in the 2004–05 season.
On 22 June 2007, it was announced that MacLean had signed for Sheffield Wednesday's Championship rivals Cardiff City, after failing to agree a new contract at Hillsborough.[3] The move was a surprise to many Owls fans as MacLean was rumoured to have declared his willingness and desire to remain at the club. Speculation arose during the prolonged contract-talks with Wednesday that MacLean was demanding a significant pay-rise from that of his previous contract. It is possible that another stumbling block which prevented Sheffield Wednesday renewing MacLean's contract, was a clause in his contract which would grant former club Rangers £50,000 if he re-signed.[4]
MacLean began the season as Cardiff's leading striker after Robbie Fowler was deemed not fit enough to play in some of the team's opening games. Famous for having never missed a penalty in his career, he came to Cardiff to miss one on his debut, leaving his new club to lose 1–0 to Stoke City on the first game of the season. He scored his first goal for the Bluebirds in the next game away to Queens Park Rangers, as Cardiff won 2–0.[5] However, with Fowler soon returning and the arrival of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, MacLean found himself relegated to the bench. Things continued to get worse for him as he suffered ruptured ankle ligaments in a reserve match against Plymouth Argyle, which was expected to rule him out until December.[6] However, he made an early return coming on as a substitute in a 1–0 loss to Southampton on 21 October 2007. After his return, he made mostly late substitute appearances, with just three starts for Cardiff – in a 2–0 defeat against Charlton Athletic, a 2–2 draw with Watford, and a 3–1 win against Chasetown in the FA Cup.
After finding himself out of favour at Cardiff, since struggling to find the net at start to the season, MacLean officially signed a three and a half year deal with Plymouth Argyle on 18 January 2008 and reunited himself with former Sheffield Wednesday manager Paul Sturrock. The fee of £500,000 was a record signing for Argyle.[7] He made his debut for the club the next day in a 1–1 draw against Southampton and scored his first goal for the club on 12 February in the 6th minute against Barnsley in a 3–0 win at Home Park. In October 2009 Maclean was informed by Plymouth manager Paul Sturrock that he was free to look for a new club. On 28 December, MacLean joined SPL side Hearts on trial.[8] He swiftly left again as Vladimir Romanov refused to finance a move.
After a month of speculation, MacLean finally signed for Aberdeen on loan until the end of the 2009–10 season on 1 February 2010. He scored his first goal for Aberdeen in a 2–2 draw with Hibernian on 10 February 2010 and scored a brace in his next match, a 4–4 draw with Celtic at Pittodrie on 13 February 2010,[9] bringing his tally to three goals in three league games for the Dons. After his loan at Aberdeen finished, MacLean made 16 appearance and scoring 5 goals.
On 11 November 2010, MacLean signed for Oxford United on loan.[10] He scored his first goal for Oxford in a 2–1 win against league leaders at the time Chesterfield on 23 November. On 19 January 2011, MacLean signed an extension to his current loan deal to play for 'The U's' for the rest of the season. After finished his spell at Oxford United, MacLean made 31 appearancee and scoring 6 goals.
Released by Plymouth at the end of the season,[11] MacLean sought out other clubs and went on trial with Yeovil Town in July 2011.[12] On 26 July 2011, MacLean officially joined Yeovil Town on a one year deal.[13] On Yeovil Town first match for 2011-12 season, MacLean made his Yeovil debut in a 2-0 loss against Brentford. Also, on his debut, MacLean received a yellow card in the 3rd minute.[14] On 9 September 2011, MacLean scored 2 goals in a 4-3 loss against Preston. He also came off the bench to score in a 3 - 2 defeat to Bournemouth in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy.
| Season | Club | League | League | Cup | League Cup | Other | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| 2001–02 | Forres Mechanics | Highland Football League | ? | ? | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 2002–03 | Rangers | Scottish Premier League | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 2003–04 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Scunthorpe United | Football League Third Division | 42 | 23 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 52 | 25 | |
| 2004–05 | Sheffield Wednesday | Football League One | 37 | 19 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 41 | 20 |
| 2005–06 | Football League Championship | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 | |
| 2006–07 | 41 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 43 | 13 | ||
| 2007–08 | Cardiff City | 15 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 1 | |
| Plymouth Argyle | 17 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 3 | ||
| 2008–09 | 21 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 2 | ||
| 2009–10 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | ||
| Aberdeen | Scottish Premier League | 16 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 5 | |
| 2010–11 | Plymouth Argyle | Football League One | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 1 |
| Oxford United | Football League Two | 31 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 6 | |
| 2011–12 | Yeovil Town | Football League One | 18 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 22 | 3 |
| Career totals | 257 | 75 | 18 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 291 | 81 | ||
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