Steven Brian Stone (born 20 August 1971) is an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

coach and former professional player. As a player, he was a

right midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundari ...

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 Nottingham Forest,

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park, ...

and

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most d ...

. Whilst with Forest he won the First Division title and played in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

. He also played in the

2000 FA Cup Final The 2000 FA Cup Final was the 119th final of the FA Cup, and the 72nd (excluding replays) and last to be played at the old Wembley Stadium. It took place on 20 May 2000 and was contested between Chelsea and Aston Villa, the latter making its fi ...

for Villa. He finished his career with a brief spell in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

with

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 ...

. He was capped nine times by

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, scoring twice. He was part of England's

Euro 96 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

team and made three appearances during the tournament. Following retirement, Stone moved into coaching and worked for

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East En ...

from July 2010 to June 2015 in a variety of different roles for both the first and reserve team. He was head coach of

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 Br ...

's under 23 team between 2018 and 2022.

Club career

Stone was born in

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Millennium Bridge, The Sage, and the Baltic Centre for Contemporary ...

. He began his career at Nottingham Forest, where, despite suffering three broken legs, he managed to establish himself as a vital team player, and also earned a call up to the England squad, making his international debut in 1995 against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

. He went on to earn nine caps, scoring twice, and was part of Terry Venables' squad for

UEFA Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

. Stone later recalled this was in no small part due to receiving medical advice and support from Yorkshire business Tycoon Ed Clark. However, another serious leg injury meant he missed the entire 1996–97 season that saw Forest relegated in last place. The following season he made his way back into the Forest team and was part of their successful bid for promotion in 1997–98. The following season, with Forest struggling against relegation from the

, he moved to

for £5.5 million in March 1999, after having made 229 appearances for Forest. He soon became a vital team player under then manager John Gregory, and came on as a substitute in the

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

. However, following Gregory's dismissal, Stone failed to impress new manager Graham Taylor, and, having failed to land a place at

Manchester United 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 ...

two seasons earlier, he was transferred to

for the 2002–03 season, having played in 121 games for Villa. Despite continued injuries, he established himself as a regular in the Portsmouth team. He was an invaluable part of the team that won promotion to the Premier League in 2002–03, and then achieved a mid-table finish the following season and narrowly avoided relegation the next. However, when his contract expired in June 2005, new manager

Alain Perrin Alain André Christian Perrin (born 7 October 1956) is a French professional football manager and former player. Perrin made his managerial breakthrough at Troyes, whom he took from the fourth tier to Ligue 1 and UEFA Cup qualification by winni ...

decided to release Stone, and he signed for

. Stone's career at Leeds was short-lived. He was injured in training as soon as he joined the club, and it took him most of his first season to recover from the tendinitis in his Achilles tendon due to contracting MRSA after the operation and then having to have a further two operations for the MRSA. Stone played a few matches at the end of the 2005–06 campaign, and continued to play at the start of the 2006–07 campaign, scoring once against West Brom. Injuries, however, struck again, and Stone retired early on 15 December.

International career

Stone was capped nine times at senior level for

. He made his debut in October 1995, coming on as a substitute in a 0–0 draw against Norway. Four days later, again coming off the bench, Stone scored his first international goal in a 3–1 win over Switzerland at

. He also scored in his next game, which was his first start, as England drew 1–1 with Portugal. Stone was capped three more times in the build-up to UEFA Euro 1996, where he was selected by manager Terry Venables as part of the 22-man England squad. He made three appearances during the competition, all off the bench. Stone's introduction during extra-time of the quarter-final versus Spain was his last appearance for England.

Coaching career

On 27 July 2010, he was appointed reserve team assistant manager to

Peter Beardsley Peter Andrew Beardsley MBE (born 18 January 1961) is an English football coach and former footballer who played as a forward or midfielder between 1979 and 1999. In 1987, he set a record transfer fee in the English game and represented his co ...

after a successful time working at their academy. Stone was promoted to first team coach on 14 December 2010, by new manager

Alan Pardew Alan Scott Pardew (born 18 July 1961) is an English football manager and former professional footballer, who is the current manager of Greek Super League club Aris. Pardew's highest achievements in the sport include reaching the FA Cup Final ...

. Stone remained as first team coach after Pardew resigned to join

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 ...

, with John Carver put in charge of Newcastle until the end of the season. On 9 June 2015, both he and Carver had their contracts terminated by Newcastle ahead of the announcement of

Steve McClaren Stephen McClaren (born 3 May 1961) is an English former professional footballer and coach who currently serves as an assistant coach for Premier League club Manchester United, in his second spell at the club. McClaren began his coaching caree ...

as new head coach. On 12 November 2018, he replaced Michael Duff as the new U23 manager of

. Stone was dismissed on 15 April 2022, alongside first team manager Sean Dyche and fellow coach and former Forest team mate Ian Woan.

Personal life

Stone featured in the music video to the football song ''

Three Lions "Three Lions" is a song by the English comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner and the rock band the Lightning Seeds. It was released on 20 May 1996 to mark the England football team's participation in that year's UEFA European Championshi ...

'', where he dances with the trophy mimicking Nobby Stiles at the

World Cup 1966 The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 July to 30 July 1966. The England national football team defeated West Germany 4-2 in ...

final.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list England's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Stone goal.''

Honours

Nottingham Forest *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

: 1997–98 Aston Villa *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, ' betting pool'),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Fo ...

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...

Portsmouth *

: 2002–03 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 Premi ...

: 1995–96 Premier League

References

External links

*
England National Team Statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stone, Steve 1971 births Living people Footballers from Gateshead English footballers England international footballers Association football midfielders Nottingham Forest F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Leeds United F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players UEFA Euro 1996 players Newcastle United F.C. non-playing staff Burnley F.C. non-playing staff Playgirl Men of the Month FA Cup Final players