Pressley (left) playing for Falkirk. |
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Steven John Pressley | ||
| Date of birth | 11 October 1973 | ||
| Place of birth | Elgin, Scotland | ||
| Height | 1.84 m (6 ft 1⁄2 in) | ||
| Playing position | Centre back | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Falkirk (manager) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1989–1990 | Inverkeithing BC | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1990–1994 | Rangers | 34 | (1) |
| 1994–1995 | Coventry City | 19 | (1) |
| 1995–1998 | Dundee United | 100 | (6) |
| 1998–2006 | Heart of Midlothian | 271 | (19) |
| 2006–2008 | Celtic | 19 | (1) |
| 2008 | Randers | 9 | (0) |
| 2009 | Falkirk | 16 | (0) |
| Total | 462 | (28) | |
| National team | |||
| 1991–1994 | Scotland U21 | 26 | (1) |
| 2000–2006 | Scotland | 32 | (0) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 2005 | Heart of Midlothian (Joint Caretaker) | ||
| 2010– | Falkirk[1] | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Steven John "Elvis" Pressley (born 11 October 1973 in Elgin, Moray, Scotland) is a retired Scottish footballer, who is now the manager of Scottish First Division club Falkirk. Pressley had a long playing career, playing for both halves of the Old Firm and making over 100 league appearances for both Dundee United and Hearts. Pressley captained the Hearts side that won the 2006 Scottish Cup Final, and made 32 appearances for Scotland.
After retiring as a player, Pressley was assistant manager of Falkirk, before being appointed manager in February 2010. Pressley also served as an assistant manager to George Burley while Burley was manager of Scotland. Pressley's nickname is Elvis after Elvis Presley.
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Pressley started his career at Rangers as a youngster. During his time at Ibrox, he won a Scottish Cup winner's medal in 1993, appearing as a substitute as Rangers defeated Aberdeen in the final. This would end up being the last cup he would win until 2006 when he won the Scottish Cup with Hearts. Despite being hailed in the media as "the new Richard Gough", he struggled to establish himself as a regular start for Rangers.
He was transferred to English side Coventry City in 1994 for £630,000. His one goal for Coventry came against Manchester United. However, he had problems with his form and disciplinary record, before returning to Scotland with Dundee United for a fee of £750,000.
Pressley helped Dundee United to get promotion back to the Scottish Premier Division in his first season, followed by a third place finish in the top flight in season 1997–98.
His influential style of play and his organisational skills were noticed by Hearts manager Jim Jefferies, and he was signed by the Edinburgh club on a Bosman free transfer in 1998. Pressley was appointed club captain by Craig Levein in 2001–02. Only Bobby Parker has held the Hearts captaincy for a longer period.
Pressley was captain when the team beat VfB Stuttgart, Bordeaux and Basel in European matches. He helped Hearts finish second in the league in 2005/06, third on three occasions, as well as reaching the Scottish Cup and League Cup semi-finals. Pressley led Hearts to success in the 2006 Scottish Cup Final, albeit on a penalty shoot-out after the club were held to a 1–1 draw with Gretna after extra time. Pressley scored the first penalty for Hearts, who eventually won 4–2. His enrollment into the Hearts Hall of Fame highlights the status that he enjoyed at Tynecastle.[2]
He acted as a spokesman for the playing squad in response to the various controversies affecting the club under the ownership of Vladimir Romanov. On 27 October 2006, Pressley led a press conference, flanked by fellow internationals Craig Gordon and Paul Hartley, announcing that there was "significant unrest in the Hearts dressing room" following majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov's most recent comments.[3] Romanov stated that he would sell players if Hearts failed to beat Dunfermline Athletic,[3] a match which ended 1–1.[4] However, this game was played out in front of a sell-out crowd who showed their vocal backing for Pressley, Gordon and Hartley. Pressley was then absent from the Hearts squad to face Falkirk on 13 November 2006 and he had been reportedly stripped of the captaincy.[5] A month later, on 9 December 2006, it was confirmed that Pressley and Hearts had parted company and was reported to be attracting the interest of several clubs.[6]
Despite reported interest from Championship Derby County and Charlton, it was revealed in December 2006 that Pressley had been signed as a free agent by Celtic until May 2008.[7] Having previously played for Rangers, he joined players such as Maurice Johnston, Alfie Conn and Kenny Miller in crossing the Old Firm divide.
He made his Celtic debut on 2 January 2007 against Kilmarnock and then returned to Tynecastle as stand-in Celtic captain on 14 January. He scored his first competitive goal for Celtic against Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup,[8] later scoring his only league goal against Hearts on 29 April 2007.[9] He featured in the Celtic team that won the Scottish Cup, making him the first person to do so with three different clubs.[10] He made fewer appearances during the 2007–08 season, and he left the club after his contract expired in the summer.
After his release from Celtic, Pressley continued to train with Celtic Reserves to keep his fitness up and joined Doncaster Rovers, then Blackpool on trial but failed to win a contract at both clubs. Then, on 1 September 2008 he signed for Randers FC of the Danish Superliga on a four-month contract, ending in December.[11] Although he had the eagerness to play in a foreign country throughout his career, this was the first offer he had received from abroad. He said "The prospect of playing abroad excited me and it's an ideal situation for both parties. I had a couple of opportunities to go to England, but I wanted to play abroad and experience a new challenge".[12]
Pressley made his debut in a 1–1 draw against AC Horsens on 14 September and played the full 90 minutes of the match.
Pressley's contract with Celtic expired in December 2008, the beginning of the Danish Superliga's Winter break, and he was linked with a move to a number of clubs in Switzerland as well as the manager's job at Inverness in his homeland, but joined Falkirk on 13 January 2009 on a short-term contract until the end of the 2008/09 season.[13] He made his debut for the club in a 3–1 defeat to Rangers at Ibrox Stadium on January the 18th.
Pressley was capped 32 times by Scotland. He is the most capped Scottish player at Hearts surpassing the record of 29 caps held by Bobby Walker. He made his debut in 2000 against World and European champions France.[14] His appearance against Lithuania on 6 September 2006 ensured that he surpassed Bobby Walker's 91-year old record as Hearts' most capped Scotland player.[15] He was sent off in what proved to be his last appearance for Scotland, a UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier against Ukraine on 11 October 2006.[16] Pressley served a two-match ban following the red card, which gave Stephen McManus the chance to step up to the international fold. McManus performed very well in Pressley's absence and ended up keeping him out of the starting eleven even after Pressley's suspension ended. Pressley retired from international football in February 2008 when he was named as Scotland's assistant coach, but continued to play club football until his official retirement in June 2009.
Pressley had his first experience as a manager while still a player when he took charge of Heart of Midlothian as joint (Caretaker Manager) for two games at the of the 2004-2005 SPL season.[17]
Along with Terry Butcher, Pressley was named as an assistant to the Scotland manager George Burley in February 2008.[18] Pressley was Hearts' captain, and club captain, under Burley during his short reign at Tynecastle. Pressley is currently sitting his UEFA pro license. He left his post as Scotland assistant coach following the country's unsuccessful World Cup qualifying campaign on September 16, 2009.[19][20]
During the summer of 2009, Pressley was appointed as an assistant manager at Falkirk, following his retirement as a player. Following the resignation of manager Eddie May on 11 February 2010, Pressley was appointed Falkirk manager on a contract until the end of the 2009–10 season.[21] Falkirk were relegated to the First Division at the end of the 2009–10 season.[22] Despite failing to gain promotion back to the SPL at the first attempt, Falkirk extended his contract for another year.[22]
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