Stephen David Kirk (born 3 January 1963) is a Scottish 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 le ...

who played for East Fife,

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. ...

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

Raith Rovers Raith Rovers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife. The club was founded in 1883 and currently competes in the Scottish Championship as a member of the Scottish Professional Football Leag ...

and

Arbroath Arbroath () or Aberbrothock ( gd, Obar Bhrothaig ) is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the council area of Angus, Scotland, with a population of 23,902. It lies on the North Sea coast some ENE of Dundee and SSW of Aberdeen. The ...

Playing career

Born in

Kirkcaldy Kirkcaldy ( ; sco, Kirkcaldy; gd, Cair Chaladain) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, ...

, Kirk began his career with

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

side East Fife in 1979 and made 25 appearances for the

Methil Methil (Scottish Gaelic: Meadhchill) is an eastern coastal town in Scotland. It was first recorded as "Methkil" in 1207, and belonged to the Bishop of St Andrews. Two Bronze Age cemeteries have been discovered which date the settlement as ov ...

side before moving to English First Division side

for £10,000 in 1981. He made just twelve appearances for Stoke during the 1981–82 season and after failing to hold down a place in the first team he was released from his contract. He returned to Scotland to play for

. Kirk returned to Bayview in 1982 and stayed for four years, scoring 35 times in 135 appearances and famously helping the Fifers beat Hibs in a memorable Scottish Cup third round replay in 1984, the same season East Fife clinched promotion from Division Two. In 1986, Kirk began a nine-year association with

, which saw him play over 300 league games and scoring in each round, would go on to score the winner in the 1991

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Fir Park Fir Park Stadium is a football stadium situated in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The stadium plays host to the home matches of Scottish Premiership club Motherwell and was the temporary home of Gretna for the 2007–08 SPL season. Mo ...

in 1995, Kirk had spells with

and

before returning first club in East Fife in 1998, eventually becoming player/manager. Kirk's managerial role lasted some fifteen months before his departure in late 1999. Kirk's last senior club was

, whom he joined in late 2000, becoming player-manager in December 2003 and leaving the following August. From here, Kirk became player/manager at Dundonald Bluebell, adopting a similar position at Lochgelly Albert in September 2006. Kirk was appointed manager of Glenrothes Juniors on 30 June 2009. On 11 November 2021, it was announced that Kirk was to be inducted into the Motherwell F.C. Hall of Fame.

Career statistics

Source:

Honours

; Motherwell *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1990–91

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirk, Steve Footballers from Kirkcaldy 1961 births Living people Scottish footballers Scottish Football League players English Football League players East Fife F.C. players Partick Thistle F.C. players Motherwell F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Falkirk F.C. players Raith Rovers F.C. players Arbroath F.C. players Scottish football managers East Fife F.C. managers Arbroath F.C. managers Scottish Football League managers Association football forwards