Steven Scott Blatherwick (born 20 September 1973) is an English football coach and former

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 ...

He played as a defender from 1991 to 2006. He spent much of his career playing for

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

; however, he had previously played 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 Foo ...

with

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

. He also played in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

with

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their home ...

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'The ...

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

and

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, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

. He retired from the game at the age of 32, on medical advice after suffering a back injury. He later became a coach at non-league club

Gainsborough Trinity Gainsborough Trinity Football Club is a football club based in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England. Established in 1873, the club became members of the Football League in 1893 and remained members of the Second Division until 1912, making Gainsbo ...

and briefly managed the club in a caretaker capacity before leaving the game to set up his own sports management company.

Playing career

He started his career at

but did not make a first team appearance for the Magpies. In August 1992, he made the short trip across the River Trent to

. During a five-year spell at the

City Ground The City Ground is a football stadium in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, on the banks of the River Trent. It has been home to Nottingham Forest Football Club since 1898 and has a capacity of 30,445. The stadium was a venue when E ...

he started 10 league matches and had spells on loan at

and

. In July 1997 he signed for

for a £150,000 fee. But just over a year later he was loaned to Chesterfield, making the move permanent in December 1998 for a fee of £50,000. He was to spend the rest of his career at

Saltergate Saltergate, officially the Recreation Ground, was the historic home of Chesterfield Football Club, and was in use from 1871 until the club's relocation in July 2010, a 139-year history that made it one of the oldest football grounds in Englan ...

and helped them win promotion to Division Two in 2001. He retired from playing in October 2006 at the age of 33. He had a testimonial match with former club Nottingham Forest, in which Chesterfield won 1-0 thanks to a goal by veteran striker

Wayne Allison Dr. Wayne Anthony Allison (born 16 October 1968) is an English former association football, footballer and coach. In a career spanning over 20 years, he played for eight clubs and scored more than 200 goals. He played as a Striker (association ...

Coaching career

In 2007 Blatherwick joined former Chesterfield teammate

Dave Reeves Dave Reeves (born 19 November 1967) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward from 1986 to 2009. He played in the Football League for many clubs, including making more than 100 appearances for each of Chesterfield, ...

on the coaching staff at

, with new manager Steve Charles installing Reeves as Assistant Manager, and Blatherwick as a Coach. He was also registered as a makeshift player but had not been named on any squad sheet due to the injury problems that caused his retirement. In August 2009, following the dismissal of Steve Charles, Blatherwick and Reeves were appointed joint caretaker managers, but following the completion of one game in this role, the pair departed the club. Steve continued to study and gained his 'A and B' licence coaching badges. He also gained qualifications as an advanced personal trainer, sports therapist and nutritional adviser. He passed his FA licence agent examination in September 2011 and is studying Sports Psychology.

Personal life

Steve now lives and works in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

and

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, where he has set up his own sports management company called "Elevate Sports Management" His nephew Jack Blatherwick is a cricketer who has played for

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

and

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

Honours

Individual *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premie ...

: 2000–01 Third Division

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blatherwick, Steve 1973 births Living people English footballers Notts County F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Hereford United F.C. players Reading F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players Gainsborough Trinity F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players Association football defenders People from Hucknall Footballers from Nottinghamshire Gainsborough Trinity F.C. managers English football managers