Paul Stephenson (footballer)

Paul Stephenson (born 2 January 1968) is a former professional footballer who played as a winger/ central midfielder for Newcastle United, Millwall, Gillingham, Brentford and York City before he ended his career with Hartlepool United. During his footballing career he made a combined total of over 500 appearances.

Playing career

Newcastle United

Paul Stephenson was born in Wallsend. He started his career as an apprentice at Newcastle United in the same youth team that brought through the likes of Paul Gascoigne. Along with Gascoigne he represented England at youth level. While at Newcastle he earned the reputation of being a fast and skilful winger. He made his debut at the age of 17 and went on to make 63 starts and 4 substitute appearances for the club. However, Stephenson was one of many highly regarded stars that were sold in the late 80s.

Millwall

In 1988, Stephenson was sold to Millwall for a fee of around £300,000. He spent his first four seasons playing regularly for Milwall in the same team as the likes of Teddy Sheringham and Tony Cascarino. However after the arrival of new manager Mick McCarthy, Stephenson’s first team opportunities were limited and found himself being loaned to Gillingham where he made 12 league starts and scored 2 goals. Stephenson returned to Millwall but he failed to force his way back into the first team. While at Millwall, Stephenson made a total of 98 league appearances and scored 6 goals.

Brentford & York

Midway through the 1993/94 season, Stephenson was sold to Brentford for £30k. During his two and a half seasons at Brentford, Stephenson played regularly and made 70 appearances for the club. However, he decided to move back up north and joined York City for £35k, which the then manager Alan Little has cited as a `bargain'. However Stephenson’s first season at the club was disrupted by two severe injuries, a broken arm and hairline fracture of the leg. During his 3 seasons at York, Stephenson established himself as York’s first choice right winger and he made just under 100 appearances for the club, scoring 5 times. However, Alan Little reluctantly placed him on the transfer list along with several other first team players in order to raise much needed funds before his contract ran out. Hartlepool along with his former club Brentford both made offers but Alan Little delayed the transfer in order to try and use the winger to help aid York’s play-off bid. However, York failed to make the play-offs and Stephenson took the opportunity to move closer to his Newcastle roots and joined Hartlepool in March 1998.

Hartlepool

He made his Hartlepool debut on 18 April against Mansfield Town in front of 2,817 fans. However, Stephenson found his first full season at the club difficult, which led to him being criticised by the fans for his lacklustre performances. After the dismissal of Mick Tait and the arrival of a new manager in the form of Chris Turner, Stephenson’s future at the club looked uncertain and he was rumoured to be on his way out as he struggled to force his way into Chris Turner’s side and he handed in a transfer request. However during the last game of the season against Southend United, Stephenson came off the bench and scored which demonstrated his ability to Turner. During Stephenson’s second season at the club, he was moved into the centre of midfield. This allowed him to become an important playmaker for the team and he created numerous goal scoring opportunities for his team mates. As a central midfielder he formed a strong partnership with the likes of Tommy Miller and Mark Tinkler. His performances saw him near the top of the Opta Indexes for Division 3 and made him a fan favourite. After his performances during the 1999/2000 season earned, he was named Hartlepool Player of the Year. However as Stephenson got older he found himself being over taken in the pecking order by younger and quicker players and he made what was to be his final appearance for the club against Cheltenham Town in the play-off semi-final second leg, where he missed a penalty in the deciding penalty shootout. Stephenson failed to play a single game in the following season and on 25 March 2003, he announced his retirement.

Coaching career

Hartlepool & Norwich

After Stephenson’s retirement, he immediately joined the coaching staff at Hartlepool and became an assistant youth team coach. Following Martin Scott’s promotion to the assistant manager’s position, Stephenson was made the main Youth Team coach. Stephenson guided the youth team to victory in the Under 19’s section of the Dallas Cup. Towards the end of the 2005/6 season Stephenson was appointed as Hartlepool’s temporary manager due to the dismissal of Martin Scott from the club. His first game in charge was against Rotherham where he guided the team to a goalless draw and in his second game he managed to guide the team to a 1–0 victory over Chesterfield. He was undefeated in his first five games in charge. However, despite some improved performances Hartlepool slipped back into the relegation zone and were eventually relegated on the last day of the season. Stephenson stated that he did not want to take over as manager and wanted to remain a coach, and he returned to his job as youth team coach. However upon the arrival of new manager Glenn Roeder at Norwich, and his attempts to create his own backroom staff, Stephenson was offered the job of First Team Coach in early November 2007. Despite some trouble with the Hartlepool chairman regarding compensation, Roeder was ultimately successful with the appointment, and Stephenson commenced work with the Canaries in December 2007.

Huddersfield Town

Following Roeder's departure in 2009, Stephenson left the club and joined Roeder's assistant Lee Clark as Development Coach at Football League One side Huddersfield Town. On the 11th of November 2010 it was officially announced he would be the first team coach at Huddersfield Town. He left the club in the wake of the sacking of Town manager Lee Clark in February 2012.^[1]

References

• The Is The North East: Stephenson repays boss Turner's faith
• PoolsOnline.tk: Paul Stephenson to retire - but not to leave
• PoolsOnline.tk: Stephenson is new Hartlepool United Youth Coach
• ProudtobeaPoolie.com: Stevo Rules Himself Out

External links

• Paul Stephenson career stats at Soccerbase
• Paul Stephenson management career stats at Soccerbase
• Poolstats: Paul Stephenson