Steve Blatherwick

Steve Blatherwick
Personal information
Full nameSteven Scott Blatherwick
Date of birth20 September 1973
Place of birthHucknall, England
Height1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Playing positionCentral defender
Youth career
1989–1991Notts County
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1991–1992Notts County0(0)
1992–1997Nottingham Forest10(0)
1994Wycombe Wanderers (loan)2(0)
1995Hereford United (loan)10(1)
1997Reading (loan)7(0)
1997–1998Burnley24(0)
1998Chesterfield (loan)2(0)
1998–2006Chesterfield223(10)
2007–2009Gainsborough Trinity0(0)
Total278(11)
Teams managed
2009Gainsborough Trinity (caretaker)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Steven Scott "Steve" Blatherwick (born 20 September 1973 in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire) is an English former footballer who played as a defender from 1991 to 2006.

He spent much of his career playing for Chesterfield; however, he had previously played in the Premier League with Nottingham Forest. He also played in the Football League with Notts County, Wycombe Wanderers, Hereford United, Reading and Burnley. He retired from the game at the age of 32, on medical advice after suffering a back injury.[1] He later became a coach at non-league club Gainsborough Trinity and briefly managed the club in a caretaker capacity before leaving the game to set up his own sports management company.

Playing career

He started his career at Notts County but did not make a first team appearance for the Magpies. In August 1992 he made the short trip across the River Trent to Nottingham Forest. During a five-year spell at the City Ground he started just 10 league matches and had spells on loan at Wycombe Wanderers, Hereford United and Reading.

In July 1997 he signed for Burnley for a £150,000 fee. But little over a year later he was on loan at Chesterfield, making the move permanent in December 1998 for a fee of £50,000. He was to spend the rest of his career at Saltergate and helped them win promotion to Division Two in 2001. He retired from playing in October 2006 at the age of 33. He recently had a testimonial match with former club Nottingham Forest, in which Chesterfield won by one goal to nil thanks to a goal by veteran striker Wayne Allison.[2]

Coaching career

In 2007 Blatherwick joined former Chesterfield team mate Dave Reeves on the coaching staff at Gainsborough Trinity, with new manager Steve Charles installing Reeves as Assistant Manager, and Blatherwick as a Coach. He was also registered as a makeshift player but so far has not been named on any squad sheet due to the injury problems that caused his retirement. In August 2009, following the dismissal of Steve Charles, both Blatherwick and Reeves were appointed joint caretaker managers, but following the completion of one game in this role, the pair departed the club. Steve continued to study and gained his 'A and B' license coaching badges. He also gained qualifications as an advanced personal trainer, sports therapist and nutritional adviser! He passed his FA license agent exam in September 2011 and is currently studying Sports Psychology.

Personal life

Steve now lives and works in Nottingham and Manchester, where he has set up his own sports management company called "Elevate Sports Management"[3]

References

  1. Blatherwick forced to quit game, BBC Sport. Retrieved on 10 March 2007.
  2. Arise Sir Steve Blatherwick!, Spirezine.co.uk. Retrieved on 10 March 2007.
  3. http://www.elevate-sports.co.uk/