James Stevenson (born 13 July 1984,

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

) is a Scottish

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 plays as a full back or

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. After spending a year in Spain with the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

Real Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, S.A.D. (, ca, Reial Club Deportiu Mallorca , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or just Mallorca is a Spanish professional football club based in Palma on the island of Majorca in ...

as a teenager, he spent all of his career in the lower divisions of Scottish football, playing for various clubs including

Alloa Athletic Alloa Athletic Football Club is a Scottish association football semi-professional club based in the town of Alloa, Clackmannanshire. Formed as Alloa in 1880, the football club shortly changed its name to Alloa Association, and then to Alloa Ath ...

(three spells),

Greenock Morton Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the Scottish Championship. The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest senior Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Green ...

East Stirlingshire East Stirlingshire Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish association football club based in the town of Falkirk. The club was founded in 1881 and competes in the , in the fifth tier of the Scottish football league system. The club's origins ca ...

, Airdrie United,

Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath (; sco, Coudenbeith) is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 189 ...

Peterhead Peterhead (; gd, Ceann Phàdraig, sco, Peterheid ) is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is Aberdeenshire's biggest settlement (the city of Aberdeen itself not being a part of the district), with a population of 18,537 at the 2011 Census. ...

, and

Kelty Hearts Kelty Hearts Football Club is a football club based in the village of Kelty in Fife, Scotland. Formed in 1975 and nicknamed ''the Hearts'', ''the Maroon Machine'' and ''the Jambos'', they play their home games at New Central Park. Their home ...

Career

Early years and Mallorca

Stevenson began his career with Scottish Premier League club

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

. He was released because they believed he was too small to make the grade in professional football. From there he dropped down the leagues and joined

while training to become a

mechanic A mechanic is an artisan, skilled tradesperson, or technician who uses tools to build, maintain, or repair machinery, especially cars. Duties Most mechanics specialize in a particular field, such as auto body mechanics, air conditioning an ...

. It was after just two first team appearances with the club that Stevenson's life was turned upside down. In what has been described as a '

Roy of the Rovers ''Roy of the Rovers'' is a British comic strip about the life and times of a fictional footballer and later manager named Roy Race, who played for Melchester Rovers. The strip first appeared in the ''Tiger'' in 1954, before giving its name to a ...

' moment he was spotted playing a game of football with his uncle on the Spanish island of Majorca.Alloa youth given Real chance

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...

, 27 November 2002. A scout from Spanish

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

side

approached Stevenson and offered him a trial. Stevenson made such an impression in this trial that he was offered a 3-year contract. Stevenson only lasted just over a year at the Son Moix stadium; in his time in Spain he did not make a first team appearance but was a regular in the B side, for whom he scored a goal on his debut. Real Mallorca were keen to hold on to Stevenson and part of his release stated that he could only return to his former club Alloa, which he did in February 2004.

Return to Scotland

In season 2005–06 he was a star man for Alloa Athletic almost single-handedly keeping them in the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

via the end of season 2nd Division/3rd Division playoffs. His form alerted several larger clubs but to many people's surprise he chose to sign a pre-contract agreement with

, a club who were in the same division as Alloa. Morton agreed to pay Alloa a nominal sum believed to be in the region of £16,000. In July 2008, he moved to Alloa Athletic for a third spell after joining the second division club on loan from Morton. On Hogmanay 2008 his loan spell expired, so he returned to Morton with only six-months to earn himself a new contract at the club. In the January 2009 transfer window, Stevenson rejoined

Jim McInally James Edward McInally (born 19 February 1964) is a Scottish football manager and former player. He played for Dundee United for 10 seasons in which he won the 1993–94 Scottish Cup and played in the 1987 UEFA Cup Final. At United he was also ...

at his new club

on loan until the end of the season. It was announced that Stevenson would be released after the end of the 2008–09 season, this was confirmed by

Davie Irons David John Irons (born 18 July 1961 in Glasgow) is a Scottish former football player and coach. Irons' playing career spanned 26 years as a central defender or midfielder for a host of clubs, most notably for Ayr United, Clydebank, Dunfermli ...

on 8 May in the ''

Greenock Telegraph The Greenock Telegraph is a local daily newspaper serving Inverclyde (the council area containing the towns of Gourock, Greenock and Port Glasgow), Scotland. Founded in 1857, it was the first halfpenny daily newspaper in Britain. It was for a ...

''. On 9 July 2009, Stevenson signed permanently for ''the Shire''. He was released at the end of the 2009–10 season but re-signed on a one-month short-term contract at the start of the following season. There was talk of Stevenson joining up with ex-Morton defender Ryan Harding again on the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

island of

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to play for league champions Birkirkara – this however did not materialise. On 16 September 2010, he signed on a contract with Airdrie United until the end of the season. Following the expiry of his contract at Airdrie United he went on trial at SPL club

Inverness Caledonian Thistle Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team currently competes in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional ...

however he remained unsigned and returned to Airdrie in August 2011. In June 2012, Stevenson signed for

to play in the First Division. After two seasons with Cowdenbeath, he signed for

announced the signing of Stevenson on 5 September 2020. Stevenson signed with

East Kilbride East Kilbride (; gd, Cille Bhrìghde an Ear ) is the largest town in South Lanarkshire in Scotland and the country's sixth-largest locality by population. It was also designated Scotland's first new town on 6 May 1947. The area lies on a rais ...

on 9 June 2021.

Honours

;Greenock Morton *

Scottish Second Division The Scottish Football League Second Division was the third tier of the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The Second Division was created in 1975, as part of a wider reconstruction of the Scottish Football League (SFL ...

: 1 :: 2006–07

References

External links

* * (East Stirlingshire & Airdrie stats) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stevenson, Jamie Living people 1984 births Footballers from Glasgow Scottish men's footballers Scottish expatriate men's footballers Aberdeen F.C. players Airdrieonians F.C. players Alloa Athletic F.C. players Greenock Morton F.C. players RCD Mallorca B players Segunda División B players Scottish Football League players Men's association football midfielders East Stirlingshire F.C. players Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Cowdenbeath F.C. players Scottish Professional Football League players Peterhead F.C. players Kelty Hearts F.C. players Berwick Rangers F.C. players