Michael Gary Stevens (born 27 March 1963) is an English

physiotherapist Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is a healthcare profession, as well as the care provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through patient education, physical intervention, disease preventio ...

and retired

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 lea ...

who played as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. Debuting in 1981, he played in the successful Everton side of the 1980s, where he won the English League Championship twice, the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

once, and the

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

once. He was later named by Everton supporters as part of the clubs' greatest ever side. He then transferred to Rangers in 1988, where he won the

Scottish Premier Division The Scottish Football League Premier Division was, from 1975 until 1998, the top division of the Scottish Football League and the entire Scottish football league system. It lay above the Scottish Football League First, Second and (from 1994) ...

in six consecutive years and the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Tranmere Rovers, playing there until his retirement in 1998. He also played for the England national team, gaining a total of 46 appearances, and playing at the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

in both 1986 and

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

. In 2002, Stevens graduated from the

University of Salford The University of Salford is a Public university, public research university in Salford, Greater Manchester, Salford, Greater Manchester, England, west of Manchester city centre. The Royal Technical Institute, Salford, which opened in 1896, be ...

with a degree in physiotherapy. He then worked as a physiotherapist with the

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

Academy, and later became a coach at Chester City. In 2011, Stevens emigrated to

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, Western Australia, continuing in the line of physiotherapy. He is also the uncle of Fontaines DC frontman Grian Chatten

Club career

Everton

A hard-tackling right full back, Stevens advanced through Everton's youth ranks as manager Howard Kendall steadily built a new young side to rival their great foes

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, who were winning trophies and dominating the English game while Everton had been without a domestic honour since 1970. Stevens made his Everton debut on 10 October 1981 against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

and settled into the senior game quickly during the second half of the 1981–82 season as Kendall's otherwise ageing side struggled to make an impact on their rivals and on the top flight in general during the first couple of years after Kendall's appointment in 1981. However, with a few astute signings and one or two more graduates from the ranks, Everton reached the 1984 FA Cup final, having already lost to their great rivals in the replay of the League Cup final earlier in the season. Stevens played his part in Everton's opening goal 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 the London Borou ...

against

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

– his pace enabling him to reach a loose ball from a half-cleared cross first and set up Graeme Sharp for a clinical finish. Everton won 2–0. The following year, Stevens was an integral part of the Everton team which chased a treble of League Championship, FA Cup and

. The title was clinched but Everton were beaten by

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

(reduced to ten men after Kevin Moran was sent off) in the FA Cup final. However, a glorious and eventful run in Europe ended in triumph for Everton and Stevens when the Cup Winners' Cup was clinched, thanks to a 3–1 win over

Rapid Vienna Sportklub Rapid (), commonly known as Rapid Wien or Rapid Vienna in English language, English, is an Football in Austria, Austrian professional football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian cham ...

. The only downside of such a successful season was that the

Heysel Stadium disaster The Heysel Stadium disaster ( ; ; ) was a crowd disaster on 29 May 1985, when Juventus fans were escaping from an attack by Liverpool fans while they were pressed against a wall in the Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, before the start of ...

and subsequent disqualification of all English clubs from European competition meant that Everton were disallowed from trying their luck in the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

the following year. Stevens was again a regular as Everton aimed to defend their League title in 1986, but a rejuvenated Liverpool overhauled them. The two also met in the FA Cup final – the first ever all-

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...

affair – and Liverpool won that game 3–1 to clinch only the third modern-day "

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

". Stevens shouldered some of the blame – he played a loose pass which was intercepted by Liverpool's Ronnie Whelan and led to an equaliser for the men in red, who went on to win 3–1. Stevens again played frequently as the blue half of Merseyside regained the League championship in 1987, although he did incur the wrath of Liverpool fans when a tackle on left back Jim Beglin left the Liverpool player with a badly broken leg—though Beglin's retirement from playing in 1991 was caused by an unrelated knee injury. At club level, 1988 was not successful for Everton, although Stevens did score a famous goal to give Everton a 1–0 win over Liverpool in the League Cup, at a time when Liverpool were in the process of a 29-game unbeaten start to the league season. Everton were trophyless once again.

Rangers

In the summer of 1988, Everton accepted a £1.26 million bid from Rangers for Stevens to move north of the border. Rangers were in the midst of a revolution when Stevens joined, with manager

Graeme Souness Graeme James Souness (; born 6 May 1953) is a Scottish former professional football player, manager and television pundit. A midfielder, Souness achieved his greatest period of success as an integral part of the Liverpool team of the late 19 ...

buying non-Scottish players (including many Englishmen) to bolster his side. Stevens' first season ended with a

title. He would win five more, plus two

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup, also known as the Premier Sports Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League cup in ...

s. Stevens continued to play for Rangers until 1994, and in 1993 was a key player in their treble winning side. His final season saw them retain the Scottish league title and Scottish League Cup, but their hopes of a second successive treble were ended with a shock

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...

Tranmere Rovers

Having started the 1994–95 out of favour at Ibrox as manager Walter Smith selected Alex Cleland at right back in the Rangers team, Stevens accepted an offer to move to English Division One promotion challengers Tranmere Rovers on 22 September 1994 for a fee of £350,000. He featured regularly at right back for the

Prenton Park Prenton Park is a Association football, football stadium in the area of Prenton, Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. It is the home ground of Tranmere Rovers F.C., Tranmere Rovers Football Club since opening in 1912, and formerly the home ground ...

club over the next four seasons, making 127 league appearances and helping them qualify for the playoffs (where they lost to

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

in the semi-finals) before managing three successive mid table finishes. Stevens then retired from playing at the end of the 1997–98 season.

International career

After a fine season for Everton, Stevens was given his debut for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

by Bobby Robson in June 1985, and he quickly established himself as first choice right back for his country. Stevens was named in the squad for the

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-tea ...

(along with the

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

player Gary A. Stevens, which caused a spot of confusion (England supporters humorously chanted "Two Gary Stevens! There's only two Gary Stevens!") and played in all of the games as England reached the quarter-finals, where they were beaten controversially by

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, who went on to win the tournament. England also qualified for

UEFA Euro 1988 The 1988 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in West Germany from 10 to 25 June 1988. It was the eighth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. France national football team, Fr ...

with Stevens in his familiar No.2 shirt. By now one or two critics had started to scorn him for supposedly poor positional play and ball distribution, but his coaches at club and international level kept resolute faith in him. Unfortunately, the competition was a disaster for both England and Stevens. After a shock defeat to the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

, England went into the tough second group game against

the Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

needing to win. Stevens was, however, instrumental in the defeat which followed, losing the ball to

Ruud Gullit Ruud Gullit (; born Rudi Dil; 1 September 1962) is a former Dutch Association football, footballer and subsequent manager. Regarded among the greatest footballers of all time, he was also noted for his Utility player#Association football, abili ...

down the flank, which led to the opening goal of a famous

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

Marco van Basten Marcel "Marco" Van Basten (; born 31 October 1964) is a Dutch former football manager and player who played as a striker for Ajax and AC Milan, as well as the Netherlands national team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all t ...

. Stevens had come close to blocking Van Basten's shot when he'd been caught napping wide on the flank seconds earlier by Gullit, showing his speed and determination, but it was tough to accept as England wimped out of the tournament without a point. When England qualified for the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second ...

in Italy, Stevens was duly named in the squad though again a handful of critics had been scathing of his displays. However, he was in the side which faced the Republic of Ireland in the opening game. It ended 1–1 – not a disaster, but there were clear problems with the England personnel and tactics and Robson made changes for the next game. Stevens was replaced by Paul Parker, who played so well (despite being more usually a central defender for

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

) that he kept his place up to and including England's dramatic semi-final exit on penalties against

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

, the eventual winners. Stevens was recalled to play the host nation in the third place play-off, which England lost 2–1. Parker's emergence – plus that of

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

right-back

Lee Dixon Lee Michael Dixon (born 17 March 1964) is an English pundit and retired professional footballer who played as a right-back. Dixon was also capped 22 times for England. His father Roy was a goalkeeper with Manchester City and many of Dixon's f ...

– left Stevens looking increasingly out of the frame for international football, especially as Robson had quit to return to club football, but he stuck around sporadically for the next two years, getting occasional starts and sub appearances under Graham Taylor. England qualified for

UEFA Euro 1992 The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by Sweden between 10 and 26 June 1992. It was the ninth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. Denmark won the 1992 championship, having been inv ...

but Stevens was left out of Taylor's initial squad in favour of Dixon. When Dixon got injured in the grace period prior to the deadline for squad confirmation, Stevens was recalled, but then he too suffered an injury and withdrew. England ended up taking part in the competition without a recognised right back, and exited in the group stage. Stevens had played his last game for his country. His international career ended with forty-six appearances, although he never scored a goal.

Honours

Everton *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

: 1984–85, 1986–87 *

: 1983–84 *

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier ...

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

: 1984–85 Rangers *

: 1988–89, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94 *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1991–92 *

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup, also known as the Premier Sports Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League cup in ...

: 1990–91, 1992–93 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 Football in England, En ...

: 1984–85 First Division, 1985–86 First Division, 1987–88 First Division

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stevens, Gary 1963 births Living people English radio personalities England men's international footballers England men's B international footballers English men's footballers Everton F.C. players Footballers from Barrow-in-Furness Rangers F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players 1986 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1988 players 1990 FIFA World Cup players English beach soccer players English Football League players Chester City F.C. non-playing staff Bolton Wanderers F.C. non-playing staff Alumni of the University of Salford Association football physiotherapists British physiotherapists Scottish Football League players Scottish Football League representative players Men's association football fullbacks