Brian Stein (born 19 October 1957) 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. Stein played 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

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

and

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

as well as spells in France with

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Annecy Annecy ( , ; frp, Èneci or ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. It lies on the northern tip of Lake Annecy, south of Geneva, Switzerland. Nicknamed ...

, before finishing his career in non-league with St Albans City. Born in South Africa, he played for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, being capped once at senior level for the country in 1984. Following retirement, Stein returned to Luton and was reserve team manager and briefly took over as caretaker manager in 2007, before later becoming assistant to Mike Newell. He followed Newell to

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in ...

where he initially worked as chief scout before stepping up assistant manager during the 2009–10 season.

Club career

Stein started his career with Edgware Town before signing for

in 1977 under manager Harry Haslam, having been scouted by then-reserve team coach and Haslam's successor as Luton boss David Pleat. This was the first of two spells with the club, where he made 427 appearances and scored 130 goals. Initially a winger, he soon moved into a central striking role where he formed successive prolific partnerships with

Bob Hatton Robert James Hatton (born 10 April 1947 in Hull) is an English former association footballer who played as a centre forward. He played more than 600 matches in the Football League for a variety of clubs and scored at a rate better than one goal ...

and then Steve White as Luton won the Second Division Championship in 1981–82. The following season his striking partner in the top flight was a youngster,

Paul Walsh Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...

, and Luton produced a flurry of attacking displays in the early weeks of the season, including 5–0 and 5–3 home victories over Brighton and Notts County, and a 4–4 draw away to Stoke City. To cap it all Luton then went to Anfield and surprised the Liverpool fans with Stein scoring twice past Liverpool keeper

Bruce Grobbelaar Bruce David Grobbelaar (born 6 October 1957) is a Zimbabwean former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper, most prominently for English team Liverpool between 1981 and 1994, and for the Zimbabwean national team. He is remembered fo ...

, the game eventually finishing 3–3. Stein missed a substantial part of the season after breaking his foot in December, and by the last game of the season Luton needed to win away at Manchester City to stay in the top division and condemn City themselves to relegation. Stein returned for the game despite lacking match fitness, and played his part with a cross four minutes from time which fell to Raddy Antic to score the winner. The game is primarily remembered for an excited Luton manager,

David Pleat David John Pleat (born 15 January 1945) is an English football player turned manager, and sports commentator. Pleat made 185 Football League appearances for five clubs, scoring 26 goals. He had two spells as manager of Luton Town, and four as ma ...

, gambolling across the pitch at the final whistle to hug his players. Strike partner Walsh moved to Liverpool at the end of the 1983–4 season, and Stein then formed an equally strong partnership with

Mick Harford Michael Gordon Harford (born 12 February 1959) is an English football manager and former professional player. He is the chief recruitment officer at Luton Town, a club where he has spent a large portion of both his playing and non-playing caree ...

. His finest hour came on 24 April 1988 when he scored two goals, including the late winner, in Luton's 3–2

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

Final victory against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

. Stein was released at the end of the 1987–88 season, joining French team

. He rejoined Luton for the 1991–92 season, but Luton were relegated at the end of the season, ending a run of ten successive seasons of top flight football. He was a regular player for Luton in the 1991–92 season, but scored just three league goals. He signed for

in 1992, retiring as a professional player at the end of the 1992–93 season when Barnet were promoted from Division Three despite almost going out of business during the season.

International career

On 29 February 1984, Stein played for

in 2–0 defeat against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in Paris, a game in which he partnered club teammate

. This was to be his only international cap. That same year he helped England win the

1984 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship The 1984 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 4th staging of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship. The qualifying stage spanned two years (1982–84) and had 30 entrants. Albania, Iceland and Wales competed in the competition for the firs ...

. He was the first African-born black player to win a senior England cap and also the first African-born player to win a cap for the England under-21 side.

Coaching career

Stein returned to Luton in 2000 to work as reserve-team coach. With

leaving for

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

in 2004, Brian was promoted to assistant manager by then Luton manager Mike Newell. On 15 March 2007, after the sacking of Newell, Luton appointed Stein caretaker manager. He only managed Luton for one match, a 2–0 home defeat to

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

on 17 March, before being replaced by

Kevin Blackwell Kevin Patrick Blackwell (born 21 December 1958) is an English former professional football goalkeeper who since retiring as a player has worked as a coach and a manager. He is currently the manager of Thai League 1 club Nakhon Ratchasima. Ea ...

. Blackwell brought in his own backroom staff, and Stein left Luton at the end of the 2006–07 season. On 17 November 2008, Stein was appointed chief scout and first team coach at

, reuniting him with Mike Newell. He was promoted to the position of assistant manager on 12 May 2009 after it was decided not to renew the contract of current assistant manager

Stuart Watkiss Stuart Watkiss (born 8 May 1966) is an English football coach and former professional player who is the assistant coach of Indian Super League club Jamshedpur. As a player, he was a defender and notably played in the Football League with Wolv ...

. Newell was sacked in October 2009, however Stein remained in his position as assistant at least for the next five weeks, despite early speculation that he would leave. He was overlooked for the job of caretaker manager, which instead went to youth team manager

Neil Woods Neil Stephen Woods (born 30 July 1966) is an English football manager and former professional footballer who is academy manager at Grimsby Town. As a player, he was a striker from 1983 to 2000 for Doncaster Rovers, Rangers, Ipswich Town, Bra ...

. When Woods received the job on a permanent basis, Stein was relieved of his duties on 30 November, and was replaced by

Chris Casper Christopher Martin Casper (born 28 April 1975) is an English football manager and former player who is now the director of football at League Two side Salford City. As a player he was a defender who played in the Premier League for Manches ...

Personal life

He is the older brother of former

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

and

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

striker Mark Stein; another brother, Ed Stein, played for Barnet. The Stein brothers were born in South Africa, and arrived in the United Kingdom in 1968 when their father Isaiah Stein, an activist with the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a Social democracy, social-democratic political party in Republic of South Africa, South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when ...

and former boxer, fled the country to escape police persecution and torture for his political activities. Isaiah continued his activism in Britain, serving as a member of the

South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz' ...

. Anti-apartheid activist Sam Ramsamy, a friend of Isaiah Stein and future president of the post-apartheid South African National Olympic Committee, has credited Brian Stein with encouraging other black footballers in Britain to become involved with the anti-apartheid movement, including

Chris Hughton Christopher William Gerard Hughton (born 11 December 1958) is a professional football manager and former player. Born in England, he represented the Republic of Ireland national team. After making his professional debut aged 20, Hughton spen ...

Garth Crooks Garth Anthony Crooks, (born 10 March 1958) is an English football pundit and former professional player. He played from 1976 to 1990, for Stoke City, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, West Bromwich Albion and Charlton Athletic. Throughout ...

and

John Fashanu John Fashanu (, born 18 September 1962) is an English television presenter and former professional footballer. In his former career, he was a centre-forward from 1978 until 1995, most notably in an eight-year spell at Wimbledon in which he wo ...

Honours

Luton Town *

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

: 1987–88 *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

: 1981–82 *

Full Members' Cup The Full Members' Cup was an association football cup competition held in English football from 1985 to 1992. It was also known under its sponsored names of the Simod Cup from 1987 to 1989 and the Zenith Data Systems Cup from 1989 to 1992. Th ...

: runner-up 1987–88

References

External links

England profileProfile at St Albans City F.C. History & Statistics site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stein, Brian 1957 births Living people South African emigrants to the United Kingdom Sportspeople from Cape Town English footballers Association football forwards England international footballers England under-21 international footballers English Football League players Ligue 1 players Edgware Town F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Stade Malherbe Caen players FC Annecy players Barnet F.C. players St Albans City F.C. players English football managers Luton Town F.C. managers Grimsby Town F.C. non-playing staff English expatriate footballers English expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate footballers in France