Paul Andrew Stewart (born 7 October 1964) is an English former professional footballer who played as a

defensive 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 boundari ...

and forward. He notably played top flight football for Manchester City,

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 ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

and Sunderland, with appearances in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

with The Reds and the Black Cats. Whilst with Spurs he scored their first goal in the 1991

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

final and was awarded man of the match as his team lifted the trophy. He also played in the Football League at Blackpool,

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 ...

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 ...

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

and Stoke City. He retired in 2000 following a two-year spell with non-league side

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. The town was historically in Cumberland. At the 2011 census it had a population of 25,207. Locat ...

. He was capped three times at senior level 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 ...

and also played at U21 and

B Team B, or b, is the second letter of the Latin-script alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' bee'' (pronounced ), plural ''bees''. It r ...

level.

Club career

Blackpool

Stewart started his career as an apprentice with Blackpool, turning professional in October 1981. He made his debut for the Seasiders in a home draw with

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

on 10 February 1982. For the remainder of the season, he alternated between midfield and forward. It wasn't until Sam Ellis became manager that Stewart found his true role, at centre-forward. In his final season (1986–87) with the Tangerines, he notched-up 21 goals and helped Mark Taylor net fourteen.

Manchester City

After over 200 first team appearances, he joined Manchester City in March 1987 for a fee of £200,000, then a welcomed record for hard-up Blackpool, but he was unable to keep City in the First Division. On 7 November 1987 he was one of three players, the others being David White and

Tony Adcock Anthony Charles Adcock (born 27 March 1963) is an English former footballer who played as a forward in the Football League for Colchester United, where he holds the goalscoring record with 149 goals in all competitions for the club in two spell ...

to score a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in a 10–1 victory over

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...

in the Second Division.

Tottenham Hotspur

In total that season, he scored 24 goals for City, but was unable to get them promoted.

Terry Venables Terence Frederick Venables (born 6 January 1943), often referred to as El Tel, is an English former football player and manager, and an author. During the 1960s and '70s, he played for various clubs including Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Queen ...

signed him in June 1988 for

, paying £1.7million (a portion of which went to his first club, Blackpool). At the time it was one of the highest fees paid by an English club, and the highest for a Second Division player. Stewart made his debut for Spurs on 1 October 1988, as a substitute in a 2–2 draw at home to Manchester United, missing a stoppage time penalty. Bought as a striker and scoring 12 goals in his first league season at

White Hart Lane White Hart Lane was a football stadium in Tottenham, North London and the home of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club from 1899 to 2017. Its capacity varied over the years; when changed to all-seater it had a capacity of 36,284 before demolition. ...

, when his goals dried up, he was successfully converted to a midfield role. This came about during a match with Luton at White Hart Lane in December 1990, with Spurs losing Nayim and Pat van den Hauwe to red cards (and Luton being down to ten men), he dropped back and was the most influential player in the match, scoring both goals in a 2–1 win. He was part of a Tottenham midfield which also included

Nayim Mohamed Alí Amar (born 5 November 1966), known as Nayim, is a Spanish retired professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. He scored a last-minute goal for Real Zaragoza in the 1995 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final against Arsenal, w ...

, Paul Gascoigne and

Paul Allen Paul Gardner Allen (January 21, 1953 – October 15, 2018) was an American business magnate, computer programmer, researcher, investor, and philanthropist. He co-founded Microsoft Corporation with childhood friend Bill Gates in 1975, which ...

, backing up the strikeforce of

Gary Lineker Gary Winston Lineker (; born 30 November 1960) is an English former professional footballer and current sports broadcaster. He is regarded as having been one of the greatest English strikers. His media career began with the BBC, where he has ...

and

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 Chri ...

. On 5 January 1991, Stewart returned to

Bloomfield Road Bloomfield Road is a single-tier football stadium in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Blackpool F.C. since 1901. It is the third stadium in the club's existence, the previous two being Raikes Hall Gardens and the At ...

when Tottenham beat Blackpool 1–0 in the Third Round of the

. It was the only time Stewart faced his first club. He would go on to score Spurs' first goal in the

1991 FA Cup Final The 1991 FA Cup Final saw Tottenham Hotspur win the FA Cup for a then-record eighth time, by beating Nottingham Forest 2–1 at Wembley in the 110th FA Cup Final. Tottenham's triumph made them the first club to win the trophy eight times, tho ...

win against Nottingham Forest, and was generally regarded as the Man of the Match.

Liverpool

After speculation over the summer of 1992 that he would sign for Manchester United or return to Manchester City, Stewart was transferred to Liverpool in July 1992 for £2.3million, but injuries and lack of form plagued his time at

Anfield Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 189 ...

. He became their second striker to

Ian Rush Ian James Rush (born 20 October 1961) is a Welsh former professional footballer who played as a forward. At club level Rush played for Liverpool from 1980–1987 and 1988–1996. He is the club's all-time leading goalscorer, having scored a t ...

after

Dean Saunders Dean Nicholas Saunders (born 21 June 1964) is a Welsh football manager and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a striker in a career which lasted from 1982 until 2001. He played for Liverpool and Aston Villa in the 1990s, and s ...

was sold to Aston Villa in September, but managed just one league goal (against Sheffield United on his Anfield debut) from 24 games as Liverpool spent most of the season struggling in the new

before finishing sixth. On a rare positive note at Anfield, he scored twice for the Reds in their

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

first round first leg victory over Apollon Limassol on 16 September 1992. A proposed second spell with Manchester City, who expressed an interest in re-signing him in July 1993, never took place. He played just eight league games in 1993–94 as new arrival

Nigel Clough Nigel Howard Clough (born 19 March 1966) is an English professional football manager and former player who is currently the manager of Mansfield Town. Playing predominantly as a forward, but later in his career used as a midfielder, Clough was ...

and then rising star Robbie Fowler took his place alongside Rush, and went out on loan to

, helping them return to the Premier League at the first attempt as Division One champions. He never played for Liverpool after the 1993–94 season, although he remained contracted to the club (and assigned the number 8 squad number for another season until it went to

Stan Collymore Stanley Victor Collymore (born 22 January 1971) is an English football pundit, sport strategist, and former player who played as a striker from 1990 to 2001, most notably for Nottingham Forest and later Liverpool, who he joined from the for ...

) until March 1996. Stewart scored just three goals during his spell at Liverpool.

Later career

He had loan spells at

(January 1994),

(September 1994),

(February 1995) and Sunderland (August–November 1995), before joining Sunderland on a free transfer in March 1996 and helped them win promotion to the

as Division One champions. He was unable to keep them in the Premier League and after their relegation he signed for Stoke City. Stewart's spell at Stoke City was not a successful one as he played 25 times in 1997–98 scoring three goals and ended with Stoke suffering relegation to the third tier. Stewart then signed for non-league side Workington, scoring 15 goals in 55 games over two years, and helping them win promotion from the

North West Counties League The North West Counties Football League is a football league in the North West of England. Since 2019–20, the league has covered the Isle of Man, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, Cumbria, northern Staffordshire, northern ...

in his first season, before retiring from playing completely at the end of the 1999–00 season with Workington re-established in the

Northern Premier League First Division The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Division ...

. Stewart remains one of the very few players to have the distinction of playing in a north London derby, a Manchester derby, a Merseyside derby and a Northeast derby.

International career

Stewart played for England at England under-21 and B before being capped three times in the early 1990s for the senior side under

Graham Taylor Graham Taylor (15 September 1944 – 12 January 2017) was an English football player, manager, pundit and chairman of Watford Football Club. He was the manager of the England national football team from 1990 to 1993, and also managed Lincoln C ...

Personal life

Stewart was inducted into the Hall of Fame at Bloomfield Road, when it was officially opened by former Blackpool player

Jimmy Armfield James Christopher Armfield, (21 September 1935 – 22 January 2018) was an English professional football player and manager who latterly worked as a football pundit for BBC Radio Five Live. He played the whole of his Football League career at B ...

in April 2006. Organised by the Blackpool Supporters Association, Blackpool fans around the world voted on their all-time heroes. Five players from each decade are inducted; Stewart is in the 1980s. In November 2016, Stewart said that he was a victim of

child sexual abuse Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child (whet ...

when he was playing youth football. Stewart released his autobiography in August 2017, titled, ''Damaged''.

Career statistics

Source: :A. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the Anglo-Italian Cup,

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

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 ...

and

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tourn ...

Honours

Club

Tottenham Hotspur *

1990–91 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

Individual

* PFA Team of the Year: 1987–88 Second Division * Blackpool Hall of Fame Inductee

References

External links

LFCHistory.net profile

Stewart in the Blackpool Supporters Association Hall of Fame
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, Paul 1964 births Living people English footballers Blackpool F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Liverpool F.C. players England under-21 international footballers England international footballers England B international footballers Crystal Palace F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Workington A.F.C. players Footballers from Manchester People from Poulton-le-Fylde Premier League players English Football League players Association football forwards FA Cup Final players English autobiographers