Steven Robert James (born 29 November 1949) 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 ...

who played at centre-back.

Career

Born in

Coseley Coseley ( ) is a village in the north of the Dudley Metropolitan Borough, in the English West Midlands. Part of the Black Country, it is situated approximately north of Dudley itself, on the border with Wolverhampton. Though it is a part o ...

, England, James started his career as an apprentice at Manchester United in December 1965. His first-team debut for the club came on 12 October 1968 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 ...

. He scored four goals in 161 appearances (including one substitute appearance) during his United career before being transferred to

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

in January 1976. During his time at Old Trafford, he collected a

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third t ...

title medal in 1975 but then lost his place in the first team and this prompted his move to

Bootham Crescent Bootham Crescent in York, England, was the home of York City football club and York City Knights rugby league club. With a capacity of 8,256, it is near the city centre, just over a mile from York railway station. York City leased land at B ...

. He made his debut for York against

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

in January 1976. He missed the whole of the 1978–79 season with injury. He made 119 appearances and scored 2 goals for the club, and joined non-league Kidderminster Harriers in May 1980. He was capped for England at youth international level in 1968. As of June 2012, he was working in a

Waitrose Waitrose & Partners (formally Waitrose Limited) is a brand of British supermarkets, founded in 1904 as Waite, Rose & Taylor, later shortened to Waitrose. It was acquired in 1937 by employee-owned retailer John Lewis Partnership, which still se ...

supermarket. His Division 2 winners' medal was found in a junior school near

Telford Telford () is a town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, about east of Shrewsbury, south west of Stafford, north west of Wolverhampton and from Birmingham in t ...

in January 2012, having been missing for over 30 years.

Honours

Manchester United *

: 1974–75

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:James, Steve 1949 births Living people People from Coseley Sportspeople from the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers Men's association football central defenders Manchester United F.C. players York City F.C. players Kidderminster Harriers F.C. players Tipton Town F.C. players English Football League players