Stephen Andrew Berry (born 4 April 1963) 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, rugb ...

who played 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 ...

for

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 ...

Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alder ...

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, Newport County,

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...

and

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

, in the German second division for

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the fourth largest city in the state of Hesse ...

, and in the

Hong Kong First Division League The Hong Kong First Division League () is the second-highest division in the Hong Kong football league system. Established in 1908, it is the third oldest in Asia. The league was formerly the highest division in Hong Kong until the formation ...

for Instant-Dict.

Career

Berry (nicknamed "Chuck") was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

, and played for

Gosport Borough Gosport Borough Football Club is a professional football club based in Gosport, Hampshire, England. The club is affiliated to the Hampshire Football Association and is an FA Charter Standard Community Club. They are currently members of the an ...

before beginning his professional career with

. He made his League debut at the age of 18, on 29 August 1981 in the starting eleven for the Third Division home draw with Lincoln City. He played 35 games in all competitions and scored three goals in the 1981–82 season, but played rarely after the arrival of Bobby Campbell as manager. He joined

on loan in March 1984 and moved to First Division

on a free transfer in July 1984. Aged 21, he made his Sunderland debut on 25 August 1984 in a 3–1 win at home to

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

. He made 45 league and cup appearances including the League Cup Final at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

that season. Sunderland were relegated at the end of the 1984–85 season and he found himself out of favour after the arrival of

Lawrie McMenemy Lawrence McMenemy MBE (born 26 July 1936) is an English retired football coach, best known for his spell as manager of Southampton. He is rated in the ''Guinness Book of Records'' as one of the twenty most successful managers in post-war Englis ...

as manager. He played just one game early the following season, and was transferred to Newport County for £20,000 in December 1985. Sometime later, Newport were facing financial problems and Berry was approached by Lou Macari at Swindon Town and subsequently sold for £15,000. He spent six months at

, playing three league and all the play-off games as the club gained promotion to the Second Division, then joined

in October 1987 in part-exchange for Bobby Barnes, a future teammate at

. That club paid a £45,000 fee to sign Berry on a three-year contract. He played well over a hundred games for the Northamptonshire club before playing seven games for

in the 1992–93 season in the German second division. He then played in Hong Kong for Instant-Dict for three seasons. Returning to England, he joined

Stevenage Borough Stevenage Football Club (known as Stevenage Borough Football Club until 2010) is a professional association football club based in the town of Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, League Two, the fourth tier o ...

, whom he captained to the

Conference National The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-professi ...

title in 1995–96. He moved to

Kettering Town Kettering Town Football Club is a football club based in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of and play at Latimer Park in Burton Latimer. Kettering were the first club to wear sponsorship on their shirts in ...

, where he scored six goals from 89 appearances in all competitions, was club captain and then

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the s ...

, following the dismissal of Gary Johnson. Steve guided Kettering to respectable mid table positions for two seasons on severely restricted budgets. Following the decision by the Board to once again reduce the playing budget, Berry announced his resignation before rejoining Stevenage as a player for the following season. He spent time working for Brian Talbot at

Rushden & Diamonds Rushden & Diamonds Football Club was an association football club based in Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire, England. Nicknamed "The Diamonds", the club played at Nene Park. The club's main rivals were county neighbours Kettering Town F.C., Ke ...

, as both player and coach, and, coming out of retirement following two operations on his Achilles tendon, at Bedford Town. In August 2005, at the age of 42, Berry joined

Cogenhoe United Cogenhoe United Football Club is a football club based in Cogenhoe, near Northampton, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Compton Park. History After playing friendly matches, the club joined the Central V ...

as a player and helped them in their historic

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 compet ...

run, in which they narrowly failed to reach the fourth qualifying round. In 2006, having already started a new career in corporate head-hunting and executive coaching, Berry moved to Paris and was Global Director of Talent for Ipsos Mori, a leading market research agency headquartered in Paris. Following this role Steve decided to set up his own Executive Search business in partnership with some ex colleagues. Tillerman Executive Search, based in the 16e Paris. Nowadays, Steve is focused on coaching the development of Talent for Liqueo, a global Management Consultancy. He also supports ex sports people transition their lives and careers after retiring from professional sport.

References

Bibliography

External links

Stats and photo
at Sporting Heroes * {{DEFAULTSORT:Berry, Steve 1963 births Living people Footballers from Liverpool English footballers Association football midfielders Gosport Borough F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Aldershot F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players SV Darmstadt 98 players Double Flower FA players Stevenage F.C. players Kettering Town F.C. players Rushden & Diamonds F.C. players Bedford Town F.C. players Cogenhoe United F.C. players English Football League players Hong Kong First Division League players National League (English football) players 2. Bundesliga players English football managers Kettering Town F.C. managers Expatriate footballers in Hong Kong English expatriate sportspeople in Hong Kong English expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany