Kevin Stead (2 October 1958 – 19 January 2016) was an English 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 as a defender for

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 ...

, Arsenal and

Oxford City Oxford City Football Club is a semi-professional English association football club based in Marston, Oxford. They currently compete in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football, and play their home matches at Marsh Lane. ...

Life and career

Stead was born in

West Ham West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham. The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancient ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, and began his career playing youth football as a defender with

, where his older brother

Micky Micky or Mickie can be a given name, but it is most often a nickname for Michael or non-Anglo Saxon equivalents, such as "Mikhail". People with the name include: Men * Micky Adams (born 1961), English football manager and former player * Micky Ari ...

was already a player. He never made a first-team appearance for Tottenham, and moved on to rivals Arsenal on a free transfer in July 1977. He was a regular in the reserves in the

Football Combination The Football Combination was a football competition for the reserve teams of English Football League clubs from Southern England, the Midlands and Wales; other clubs from the Midlands and those from the North playing in the Central League (it is n ...

, made his first-team debut on 14 October 1978, as a substitute in a 1–0 defeat away to

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

in the Football League First Division, and played his second and final match for Arsenal's first team the following week, starting in a 1–0 win at home to

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 ...

. He was released in September 1979, and joined Isthmian League club

. After retiring from football, Stead worked as a taxi-driver. He was married to Sharon and had two daughters. He died at his home in Dagenham in 2016 at the age of 57.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stead, Kevin 1958 births 2016 deaths Footballers from the London Borough of Newham People from West Ham English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players Oxford City F.C. players English Football League players British taxi drivers