Stephen John Baxter (born 1 October 1965) is a

Northern Irish Northern Irish people is a demonym for all people born in Northern Ireland or people who are entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of residence. Most Northern Irish people either identify as Northern ...

football manager and retired footballer. He is the current manager of

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

, where he had two spells as a player, and is currently the longest serving manager of one club in world football. In

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, Baxter was awarded a

British Empire Medal The British Empire Medal (BEM; formerly British Empire Medal for Meritorious Service) is a British and Commonwealth award for meritorious civil or military service worthy of recognition by the Crown. The current honour was created in 1922 to ...

for services to football in Northern Ireland.

Playing career

'Stanley' (as he would later be nicknamed after the Scottish comedian) started out as a player with

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882. History Early history In 1914, Glentoran won the Vienna Cup, becoming the first United Kingdom team to win a European t ...

before signing for

Ards Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a type of respiratory failure characterized by rapid onset of widespread inflammation in the lungs. Symptoms include shortness of breath (dyspnea), rapid breathing (tachypnea), and bluish skin color ...

in 1985. His goalscoring exploits caught the notice of Linfield and he signed for them in 1987, winning two Irish League championships, three Gold Cups and a

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 ...

. He scored 102 goals in 219 games for the Blues, of which 169 were starts. Unable to hold down a regular starting place, however, he signed for Crusaders in 1994. Baxter became one of the key players of Crusaders' golden team of the 90's, again winning two Irish League championships, a Gold Cup and League Cup. In 1995/96, he was named in the Football Writers' Premier League Team of the Year, and in 1996/97 he was named as the

Ulster Footballer of the Year The Ulster Footballer of the Year is the older of two association football player of the year awards in Northern Ireland. (The other is the Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association award.) It is awarded by Castlereagh Glentoran Supporters ...

. He then moved to Glenavon for a successful period before returning to Seaview for a second two-year spell in 2000. Baxter was memorable for his hat-trick in a relegation play-off against

Lisburn Distillery Lisburn Distillery Football Club is a Northern Irish intermediate football club who are based in Ballyskeagh, County Down. A founder member of the Irish League, they currently play in the NIFL Premier Intermediate League, the third tier of t ...

, ensuring the Crues' survival. Baxter left Seaview a firm fan-favourite and legend status for a short spell at Bangor, where he coached briefly and played two cup games, before retiring from football completely and opening a sports shop in

Newtownards Newtownards is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies at the most northern tip of Strangford Lough, 10 miles (16 km) east of Belfast, on the Ards Peninsula. It is in the Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of Newtownard ...

. He played a total of 650 games in his career, and scored 303 goals. He later came out of retirement briefly in a

County Antrim Shield The County Antrim & District Football Association Senior Shield (more commonly known as the County Antrim Shield) is a football competition in Northern Ireland. The competition is open to senior teams who are members of the North East Ulster Foo ...

match against Dundela in 2005.

Managerial career

Following the sacking of Alan Dornan, Baxter was installed as manager at Seaview, yet was unable to keep the Hatchetmen in the top division. After winning virtually every intermediate trophy in sight the following season, under Baxter's leadership the Crues returned to the Irish League and lead the table briefly, before finishing in 6th position in 2006–07. After, he led the club to their first top 3 finish for a decade in 2008–09, and also the team's first

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Samuel Gelston's Whiskey Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. Ina ...

victory in 41 years. He led the club to

success the following season. Baxter is the club's most successful manager of all time. In 2011–12, Baxter led the Crues to triumph in the

Irish League Cup The Northern Ireland Football League Cup (BetMcLean League Cup for sponsorship purposes), also known colloquially as the Irish League Cup, is a national football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland open to all member clubs of the Nort ...

, winning the competition for the first time since 1996. That same season, he delivered success at the

2012 Setanta Sports Cup The 2012 Setanta Sports Cup was the seventh staging of the annual All Ireland, all-Ireland association football competition. It commenced on 11 February 2012 and ended on 12 May 2012, with the final played at The Oval (Belfast), The Oval, Belfast. ...

.Profile
BBC. Retrieved 7 May 2014.

Managerial statistics

Honours

As a player

Linfield * Irish League (2): 1988–89, 1992–93 * Gold Cup (3): 1987–88, 1988–89, 1989–90 *

(1): 1991–92 Lisburn Distillery * Gold Cup (1): 1993–94 Crusaders * Irish League (2): 1994–95, 1996–97 * Gold Cup (1): 1995–96 *

(1): 1996–97 Glenavon *

Mid-Ulster Cup The Mid-Ulster Cup is a senior football competition in Northern Ireland run by the Mid-Ulster Football Association (founded 2 April 1887). The competition has historically featured teams based in County Armagh, east County Tyrone, and west Count ...

(1): 1998–99 Individual *NIFWA Premier League Team of the Year: 1995–96 *

: 1996–97 * NIFWA Player of the Year: 1996–97

As a manager

Crusaders *

NIFL Premiership The NIFL Premiership, known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and colloquially as the Irish League or Irish Premiership, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Northe ...

(3): 2014–15, 2015–16, 2017–18 *

(4): 2008–09, 2018–19, 2021–22,

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

(1): 2011–12 *

(3): 2009–10, 2017–18, 2018–19 *

NIFL Charity Shield The Northern Ireland Football League Charity Shield is the national association football super cup in Northern Ireland. It has been held on an occasional basis since its inauguration in 1992. Similar to the English FA Community Shield, it pits to ...

: (1) 2022 *

Setanta Sports Cup The Setanta Sports Cup was a club football competition featuring teams from both football associations on the island of Ireland. Inaugurated in 2005, it was a cross-border competition between clubs in the League of Ireland from the Republic of I ...

(1):

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

* IFA Intermediate League (1): 2005–06 * IFA Intermediate League Cup (1): 2005–06 *

Steel & Sons Cup The Steel & Sons Cup (also referred to as the Steel Cup) is an intermediate football competition in Northern Ireland run by the North East Ulster Football Association (also known as the County Antrim & District Football Association). The compe ...

(1): 2005–06

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baxter, Stephen 1965 births Living people Ards F.C. players Bangor F.C. players Crusaders F.C. players Glentoran F.C. players NIFL Premiership players Linfield F.C. players Ulster Footballers of the Year Northern Ireland Football Writers' Association Players of the Year Association footballers from Belfast Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland Sportspeople from Newtownards Crusaders F.C. managers Men's association football forwards Recipients of the British Empire Medal Lisburn Distillery F.C. players Glenavon F.C. players Association football managers from Northern Ireland