Stephen Yates (born 29 January 1970) is an English football coach and 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 ...

. As a player who played as a defender, who notably 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 Fo ...

for

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

, as well as in the

English 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 Engl ...

for

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been ...

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 ...

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

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 ...

and Morecambe. He also played non-league football for

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

and

Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 season. ...

before retiring with

Welsh Premier League The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. Prior to 20 ...

club

Caernarfon Town Caernarfon Town Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl Droed Tref Caernarfon) is a semi-professional Welsh football club based in Caernarfon, Gwynedd. The club is nicknamed "the Canaries" because of its yellow and green strip, a nickname that dates from ...

. In 2013, he returned to his first club, Bristol Rovers, as the club's new kit manager, A year later he combined this role with coaching.

Playing career

Yates began his footballing career as a YTS trainee at

in 1986. In seven years with his home town club he played 197 games without scoring any goals. When manager Gerry Francis moved to

from Bristol Rovers in 1991, a number of Rovers players later followed him to the London club. Yates was one of these, when he joined in August 1993. He made his debut that month against

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 ...

. Yates played 134 league games for

and scored 2 goals before transferring to

in 1999. Yates was a cult hero at Tranmere, and is best remembered for scoring two goals in a

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wi ...

derby against Everton at

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a association football, football stadium in the Walton, Liverpool, Walton area of Liverpool, England. It has been the home stadium of Premier League club Everton F.C. since its completion in 1892. Located in a residential area ...

when Tranmere beat the

outfit 3–0 in the 2000-01

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 ...

. That same season he also scored one of the goals as Tranmere knocked

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

out of the League Cup. Yates remained with the club until 2002 when he transferred to

. Whilst at Tranmere he played in the

2000 Football League Cup Final The 2000 Football League Cup Final was played between Leicester City, in their third final appearance in four years, and First Division side Tranmere Rovers at Wembley Stadium on 27 February 2000. It was the 34th and last League Cup Final to be ...

, coming on as a substitute in the final against

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

. Yates joined

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

in 2003 on a free after a successful trial period. He was also Peter Jackson's first signing as Huddersfield's manager for the second time. He scored his only goal for

against

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 profession ...

. During a fixture with Carlisle United Yates had a bust-up in the tunnel at the

Galpharm Stadium Kirklees Stadium (currently known due to sponsorship as the John Smith's Stadium) is a multi-use stadium in Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, England. Since 1994, it has been the home ground of football club Huddersfield Town and rugby league s ...

with opposing player Richie Foran which resulted in red cards for both players and Yates losing a front tooth. Yates decided to retire in mid-2005, although he came out of retirement in January 2006 to play just 1 game for

. He then transferred to

where he played 3 games and left at the end of the 2005–2006 season. In May 2006, Morecambe snapped Yates up on a free transfer and played 8 games for the Shrimps.

Soccerbase ''Racing Post'' is a British daily horse racing, greyhound racing and sports betting publisher which is published in print and digital formats. It is printed in tabloid format from Monday to Sunday. , it has an average daily circulation of 60 ...

incorrectly state that Yates played 44 games and scored 2 goals during the 2006–2007 season but research has shown that Yates signed for

in September 2006 by his ex-playing colleague

Kenny Irons Kenny Irons (born September 15, 1983) is a former American football running back. He was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the second round of the 2007 NFL Draft. He played college football at Auburn. He is the brother of former Atlanta ...

. Yates played only two games for

. The rest of his spell at the club he was side-lined with injury.

Coaching career

Yates returned to Bristol Rovers in July 2013 as kit man and a year later combined that role with coaching. In his first season as defensive coach, Rovers gained promotion from the Conference. Yates remained at the club until the end of the 2016–17 season as he would be returning to Crete.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yates, Steve 1970 births Living people Footballers from Bristol Men's association football defenders English men's footballers Bristol Rovers F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Scarborough F.C. players Halifax Town A.F.C. players Morecambe F.C. players Caernarfon Town F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players Bristol Rovers F.C. non-playing staff English football managers