Stan Lazaridis

Stan Lazaridis
Personal information
Full name Stanley Lazaridis
Date of birth (1972-08-16) 16 August 1972
Place of birth Perth, Australia
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing position Left back / Left winger
Youth career
Olympic Kingsway
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1991–1992 Floreat Athena 28 (2)
1992–1995 West Adelaide 73 (6)
1995–1999 West Ham United 69 (3)
1999–2006 Birmingham City 191 (8)
2006–2008 Perth Glory 13 (0)
Total 374 (19)
National team‡
1992–2006 Australia U-17 5 (2)
1993–2006 Australia 60 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16:47, 20 January 2010 (UTC).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 17:30, 20 January 2010 (UTC)

Stanley "Stan" Lazaridis (born 16 August 1972) is an Australian former footballer. He was predominantly a left winger though he had been known to perform at left-back. He last played for his home-town club Perth Glory and made 58 official appearances for Australia and was in the Australian 2006 FIFA World Cup squad.

Club career

His reputation as a young left-footed teenager began with Olympic Kingsway where, despite his age, he intimidated many a defender with his change of pace.[1]

Lazaridis made his senior debut for West Adelaide Hellas in the Australian National Soccer League in the 1992 season. His dribbling ability and pace drew much attention on the Australian scene. At the end of the 1995 season he earned a move to Europe when West Ham manager Harry Redknapp encountered Lazaridis playing for West Adelaide during West Ham's pre-season tour of Australia in May, 1995.[2] Signed for £300,000 a poor debut and consistent injury problems made his debut season difficult when he made only six appearances.[3] He scored his first goal for West Ham in a 1-1 away draw with Wimbledon on 18 March 1997.[3] Over four seasons, Lazaridis, played just 87 games for West Ham United and scored three goals.[3] In 1999, he dropped a division to sign for Birmingham City when manager Trevor Francis signed him in a deal worth an eventual £1.7million.[4] Settling much better at St Andrew's, he played an important role in guiding the team up to the Premiership for the 2002–03 season, scoring one of the penalties in the play-off final shootout to help them get promoted to the Premier League.[5] While at Birmingham he played in the 2001 Football League Cup Final.

Following promotion (and despite a raft of new signings) Lazaridis remained a regular player for the Blues, scoring the winner against local rivals Aston Villa in March 2003 and a classic goal against Everton in February 2004. After seven successful years at Birmingham City, in which he had become a fan favourite, Lazaridis was released at the end of the 2005–06 season after making 222 appearances for the club. He then looked to finish his career in Australia with A-League club Perth Glory.

Lazaridis made only 11 appearances for the Perth club in 2006–07. His time there was tainted when in January 2007, Lazaridis returned a positive drug test for anti-androgen Finasteride, a prescription alopecia medication, which was banned at the time. Although perhaps slim comfort to Lazaridis finasteride was removed from the banned list in large measure as a result of the widespread discontent that followed his unfortunate case becoming public.[6]

While noting his previous good character and making clear there was no evidence he had taken performance-enhancing drugs, he was found to have breached the rules and was given a 12-month suspension from football, mostly backdated.[7] In March 2008, Perth Glory manager David Mitchell cut Lazaridis from the club's A-League roster,[8] prompting the player to retire.

Club stats

Club League Season League Cup1 International Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
West Adelaide HellasNational Soccer League1992-932622100283
1993-942330000233
1994-952002000220
Club total6954100736
West Ham UnitedPremier League1995-9640200060
1996-972215000271
1997-982827000352
1998-991503000180
1999-200000001010
Club total69317010873
Birmingham CityFootball League Championship1999-20003124000352
2000-013128000392
2001-023202000340
Club subtotal944140001084
Premier League2002-033022000322
2003-043023000332
2004-052002000220
2005-061703000200
Club subtotal974100001074
Club total1918240002158
Perth GloryA-League2006-071102000130
2007-0820000020
Club total1302000150
Australia total8256100886
England total260114101030211
Total342164711039017

1Includes National Soccer League finals, FA Cup, Football League Cup and A-League Pre-Season Challenge Cup matches.

National team statistics

[9]

Australia national team
YearAppsGoals
199330
199440
199560
199600
1997130
199800
199900
200090
200190
200200
200320
200480
200530
200630
Total600

Honours

With Australia:

References

  1. ↑ Century of Champions, The Modern Era
  2. ↑ "When Harry Met Stan - Australian FourFourTwo - The Ultimate football Website". Au.fourfourtwo.com. 14 December 2010. Retrieved 2011-02-06.
  3. 1 2 3 "Stan Lazaridis". Westhamstats.info. 16 August 1972. Retrieved 2011-02-06.
  4. ↑ "Sport - Birmingham City - Birmingham City FC legends - Stan Lazaridis". Birmingham Mail. 22 January 2008. Retrieved 2011-02-06.
  5. ↑ "Birmingham reach Premiership". BBC. 12 May 2002. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
  6. ↑ Fury as Lazaridis 'tarnished'
  7. ↑ Lazaridis handed one-year suspension
  8. ↑ Lazaridis cut loose by Glory
  9. ↑ "Stan Lazaridis". National Football Teams. Retrieved 2011-02-06.
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