Daniel Steel (2 May 1884 – 29 April 1931) was a Scottish 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 ...

who played for clubs including Rangers,

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

Third Lanark Third Lanark Athletic Club was a Scottish football club based in Glasgow. Founded in 1872 as an offshoot of the 3rd Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers, the club was a founder member of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) in 1872 and the Scottish ...

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

and

Clapton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a profess ...

Career

Steel played principally as a

centre half In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either ...

, although in his initial appearances for Rangers he played at

inside left Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

. Notwithstanding his status as an inexperienced reserve player, the statistical summary of his time at Ibrox ranks among the worst of all those who have played a senior game for the club, with his six appearances including a 5–0 defeat to Partick Thistle in the

Glasgow Merchants Charity Cup The Glasgow Merchants' Charity Cup was a knockout football tournament open to teams from in and around Glasgow and later on in the tournament's history, teams from outwith Glasgow. Invitations were made and sent out by the Glasgow Charity Cu ...

, and heavy losses to Airdrieonians and Heart of Midlothian (5–0 and 5–1 respectively) in the opening months of the 1905–06 Scottish Division One season. Steel recovered from this setback, even after spending another two years in the background at Tottenham Hotspur following his move there in 1906, by going on to establish himself and make 141 appearances in all competitions for ''Spurs'' (scoring four goals) between 1908 and 1912 before he moved back to Scotland with Third Lanark. He joined Clapton Orient in December 1914 and featured in 23 matches.

International

While at Tottenham, he was selected for the annual

Home Scots v Anglo-Scots Home Scots v Anglo-Scots was an annual association football trial match organised by the Scottish Football Association between the 1890s and 1920s to examine the abilities of possible players for upcoming full British Home Championship internatio ...

trial match on three occasions (1908, 1910 and 1912) but never played for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

at full international level.

Personal life

His younger brothers

Bobby Bobby or Bobbie may refer to: People * Bobby (given name), a list of names * Bobby (actress), from Bangladesh * Bobby (rapper) (born 1995), from South Korea * Bobby (screenwriter) (born 1983), Indian screenwriter * Bobby, old slang for a constabl ...

and Alex were also footballers, with Bobby also having a significant spell at Tottenham Hotspur; the three siblings played together in one Football League fixture against

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. ...

in January 1910.Hotspur Towers - Spurs Steel
Keith Harrison, India Spurs, 28 January 2016

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Steel, Danny 1884 births 1931 deaths Footballers from East Ayrshire Scottish men's footballers Scottish Football League players English Football League players Airdrieonians F.C. (1878) players Rangers F.C. players Dumbarton F.C. players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Third Lanark A.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Men's association football central defenders Men's association football wing halves Scottish Junior Football Association players People from Newmilns