Stephen Junior Froggatt (born 9 March 1973) is an English former 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 ...

. His senior playing career lasted from 1991 until 2001, when he announced his retirement after failing to recover from injury.

Career

Aston Villa

Froggatt was born in

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

. Youth team coach Dave Richardson poached schoolboy player Froggatt from his old club Leicester. Froggatt began his career Aston Villa as a trainee, before turning professional and making his debut for the team in 1991. He truly established himself during the first

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 ...

season of

1992–93 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 ...

as he made 21 appearances, scoring his first goal (against

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 ...

) in the process, helping the club to end as runners-up. Villa won the

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 ...

in 1994 and although Froggatt was not part of the squad for the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

he played in the semi-final first leg against

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...

. He also won recognition from the England U21s, earning two caps during this season.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Froggatt was sold to First Division

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 July 1994 for £1 million, where he linked up again with

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 ...

, who had given him his YTS contract at Aston Villa. The winger played for four full seasons at Molineux as the club twice failed in the promotion play-offs. In total, he made 111 appearances for Wolves before being sold to a third West Midlands side,

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

Coventry City

Froggatt joined

for £1.9 million in October 1998, by coincidence making his debut against his first club. He was a first choice player throughout his time at

Highfield Road Highfield Road was a football stadium in the city of Coventry, England. It was the home ground for Coventry City F.C. for 106 years. History It was built in 1899 in the Hillfields district, close to the city centre, and staged its final game ...

and his form earned him a surprise call-up to Kevin Keegan's England national team squad in November 1999, over six years after his Under 21 appearances. He went on to be an unused substitute for England in the first leg of the Euro 2000 qualifying Playoff match against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

on 13 November 1999 and also featured in the squad for the second leg and a friendly against Argentina in February 2000. However, his playing career was suffered a fatal blow just days after being included in the England squad, as he was stretchered off after a horror tackle by Sunderland's

Nicky Summerbee Nicholas Summerbee (born 26 August 1971) is an English former professional footballer, sports television pundit and commentator. He notably played in the Premier League for Swindon Town, Manchester City and Sunderland, as well as in the Footb ...

during a

fixture on 12 February 2000. After trying to play on for a handful of further games, he underwent surgery on the injury in summer 2000. He spent the 2000–01 season on the sidelines trying to recover, but was forced to concede defeat and announced his retirement at the end of the season.

Post-retirement

Upon retiring, Froggatt became the press officer at Coventry City and now works as a personal trainer and often appears on television and radio as a football summariser.

Career statistics

Honours

Aston Villa *

: 1993–94 Individual * First Division PFA Team of the Year: 1996–97

References

External links

*
Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Froggatt, Steve 1973 births Living people Footballers from Lincoln, England English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Aston Villa F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Premier League players England men's under-21 international footballers