Stephen Robert Purches (born 14 January 1980 in Ilford, England) is an English retired

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 le ...

who played mostly for

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as B ...

over two spells. He also made over 100 appearances for

Leyton 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 professio ...

. When he retired from football he became the development coach then progressing to first team coach in 2017 at Bournemouth.

Playing career

Purches was a defender who could play at centre back, midfield or full back on either side. He was previously a trainee at

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

but left in 2000 after failing to make a single appearance for the first team. He joined

where he spent seven years and missed only three league games in his time at the club. In summer 2007, he rejected a new contract at Bournemouth and left on a free transfer to join

. Purches watched his first football matches at Orient and described his move as being "like coming home". He was also handed the team captaincy when he arrived. After 132 games in all competitions, he was released by manager

Russell Slade Russell Mark Slade (born 10 October 1960) is an English professional association football, football manager, who was most recently managerial consultant of League Two club Stevenage F.C., Stevenage. Having had an extended career at reserve t ...

on 9 May 2010. On 7 June 2010, Purches re-signed for Bournemouth. On 18 February 2012, Purches broke his leg playing in a match against Rochdale.

Coaching career

On 19 May 2014, Purches formally retired from playing football due to injury and moved into coaching, taking control of Bournemouth's under-21s. In 2017, Purches was promoted to serve as a first-team coach under

Eddie Howe Edward John Frank Howe (born 29 November 1977) is an English professional football manager and former player, who is the head coach of Premier League club Newcastle United. A defender during his playing career, Howe spent most of his playing ...

, before again being promoted to assistant manager in 2020, after Howe left and his successors

Jason Tindall Jason James Tindall (born 15 November 1977) is an English professional football manager and former player, who is currently the assistant manager of Newcastle United. A defender during his playing days, Tindall spent the bulk of his career wit ...

and

Jonathan Woodgate Jonathan Simon Woodgate (born 22 January 1980) is an English football manager and former player who is currently the First Team Coach at EFL Championship club, Middlesbrough. Woodgate began his career at Middlesbrough but moved to Leeds United ...

were respectively named manager. He left the club in June 2021 after the appointment of new head coach,

Scott Parker Scott Matthew Parker (born 13 October 1980) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is currently the head coach of Club Brugge in Belgium. Parker began his career at Charlton Athletic, and ...

References

External links

* 1980 births English men's footballers Living people West Ham United F.C. players AFC Bournemouth players Leyton Orient F.C. players English Football League players Footballers from Ilford AFC Bournemouth non-playing staff Newcastle United F.C. non-playing staff Men's association football midfielders Association football coaches {{England-footy-midfielder-1980s-stub