Alan Stephenson (born 26 September 1944) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

, who played as a defender. He made a total of 386 appearances in the

Football league The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building * ...

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

and

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

. At the end of his career, he played for Durban United in South Africa.

Playing career

Starting as an amateur footballer aged sixteen, Stephenson signed professional terms on 15 February 1962 and made his senior debut for Crystal Palace as a seventeen-year-old on 24 March 1962. Dominating in the air and solid in defence he made a major contribution towards Palace's climb up, and promotion from, the

Third Division In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

. He was appointed as captain by manager

Dick Graham Richard D. Graham (6 May 1922 – 7 March 2013) was an English footballer and football manager who played and coached in the Football League. He played as a goalkeeper for Crystal Palace, making over 150 league appearances. He went on to manage ...

and from 1964, rarely missed a game playing alongside Brian Wood. Stephenson was sold to West Ham in 1968 for a club record fee of £80,000. He made his first appearance for West Ham on 16 March 1968 in a 0–0 away draw with

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

. Joining a team which contained

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

winning heroes

Martin Peters Martin Stanford Peters (8 November 1943 – 21 December 2019) was an English footballer and manager. As a member of the England team which won the 1966 FIFA World Cup, he scored the second of England's four goals in the final against West Germa ...

Geoff Hurst Sir Geoffrey Charles Hurst (born 8 December 1941) is an English former professional footballer. A striker, he became the first man to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final when England recorded a 4–2 victory over West Germany at Wembley St ...

and

Bobby Moore Robert Frederick Chelsea Moore (12 April 1941 – 24 February 1993) was an English professional footballer. He most notably played for West Ham United, captaining the club for more than ten years, and was the captain of the England natio ...

, he made over 100 appearances for West Ham, most of them alongside Moore. Stephenson failed to solve the defensive problems which had existed since the departure of Ken Brown in 1965 and, following a loan spell for

in season 1971–72, he was transferred for £32,000 to

for whom he made 98 appearances until 1975. In 1975, Stephenson moved to South Africa, playing for Durban United before returning in 1977 to coach at

Orient The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of ''Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the c ...

. He coached their reserve team but after four years with Orient, quit football to run a

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...

and to work as an education and welfare officer with

Essex County Council Essex County Council is the county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Essex in England. It has 75 councillors, elected from 70 divisions, and is currently controlled by the Conservative Party. The council meets at County Hall ...

International career

Stephenson made seven appearances for the England Under-23 team. He also played two games for an FA team which played games in Australia in 1971. In both games, in June 1971, the FA team won 1–0.

References

External links

*
Stats at PompeyRama
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephenson, Alan 1944 births Living people English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Crystal Palace F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Fulham F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Durban United F.C. players People from Chesham English Football League players English expatriate men's footballers England men's under-23 international footballers Publicans Leyton Orient F.C. non-playing staff Association football coaches Footballers from Buckinghamshire