Stephen John Perryman MBE (born 21 December 1951) is an English former professional footballer who played as a defender or

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. He is best-known for his successes with Tottenham Hotspur during the 1970s and early 1980s. He has won 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 ...

, League Cup, and

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

all twice with Tottenham in his 17 years at the club. Perryman was voted Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year in 1982 and made a club record 854 first team appearances for Tottenham. He was the director of football at Exeter City from 2003 until his temporary retirement in March 2018.

Playing career

Perryman was born in

Ealing Ealing () is a district in west London (sub-region), west London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. It is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Pl ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

. A

and later defender, he played in a club record 866 first team appearances in all competitions for Tottenham Hotspur between 1969 and 1986 and was their longest serving player. During his seventeen-year career with the north London club, Perryman collected many medals, winning the

in 1972 and 1984 (playing in both legs of the 1972 final and just the first leg of the 1984 final as he was suspended for the second), and the League Cup in 1971 and 1973. He followed in the footsteps of Joe Harvey and Danny Blanchflower and skippered Tottenham to successive

wins in 1981 and 1982. Perryman was also voted the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year in 1982. Perryman did not score often even by the standards of contemporary midfielders, however he scored both goals in a 2–1 home win over AC Milan in the 1972 UEFA Cup semi-final first leg. Spurs went on to win the round 3–2 on aggregate, and then won the title, defeating

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

in the final. After leaving

White Hart Lane White Hart Lane was a Association football, football stadium in Tottenham, North London and the home of Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Tottenham Hotspur Football Club from 1899 to 2017. Its capacity varied over the years; when changed to all-seater i ...

Perryman moved to Oxford United in March 1986, but was cup-tied for their victory in the 1986 Football League Cup final. He then played for

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

as player-manager in the same year, before retiring in 1990.

Coaching career

Perryman became manager of

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 ...

from 1990 to 1993 saving them from relegation in the early years, before managing

Start Start can refer to multiple topics: * Takeoff, the phase of flight where an aircraft transitions from moving along the ground to flying through the air * Starting lineup in sports * Track and field#Starts use in race, Starts use in sport race * S ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

(1995),

Shimizu S-Pulse is a Japanese professional association football, football club located in Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka (city), Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture. S-Pulse is going to compete in the J1 League for the 2025 Season, after winning promotio ...

, (1999–2000) and Kashiwa Reysol in Japan (2001–2002). He also served as caretaker manager for Spurs in November 1994. As a coach, he has won the J.League stage championship (1999 2nd Stage) and the Asian Cup Winners Cup (2000), both with Shimizu S-Pulse. He then worked at Exeter City with no official title to help them stay in the then football Division 3. After this he returned to Japan to manage J.League side Kashiwa Reysol. Perryman lent his name to a brand of Sports stores in the 1980s which were concentrated in the West London area and sported the Tottenham Hotspur cockerel. There were stores in Uxbridge, Ruislip, Greenford, Hayes and Hayes Town (Middlesex). A store in

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

, Norway, also opened in the early 1980s, which is still operating. Between 2003 and 2018, Perryman was director of football for Exeter City. On 5 May 2012, while watching Exeter's final game of the 2011–12 season against Sheffield United at St James Park he became unwell and was taken to Derriford Hospital in

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

where he underwent successful heart surgery. A month later he revealed that he might have died if it had not been for the instant medical support available at the ground, and he spent three weeks in a coma on life support. In January 2018, Perryman announced that he would retire as Exeter City's director of football at the end of the 2017–18 season. However, in August of that year, Perryman joined former Exeter City manager Paul Tisdale at MK Dons, becoming an associate director of the club until November 2019 when Tisdale left.

International career

After 17 matches for England U23, Perryman made a solitary appearance 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 ...

, appearing as a 70th-minute substitute against

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

on 2 June 1982. The game was originally an England B fixture but was subsequently upgraded to full international status meaning Perryman was awarded his cap.

Personal life

Perryman has been married twice, with four children. He is close friends with Ossie Ardiles. He lives in Kington St Michael. Perryman has previously said he is a Labour Party supporter. He was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the 1986 Birthday Honours, "for services to association football".

Career statistics

Club

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Tottenham Hotspur *

: 1980–81, 1981–82 * League Cup: 1970–71, 1972–73 * FA Charity Shield:

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

(shared) *

: 1971–72, 1983–84 * Anglo-Italian League Cup: 1971 * FA Youth Cup: 1969–70

Manager

Shimizu S-Pulse *

J1 League The , the J.League or the for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Japan and the highest level of the Japanese football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation ...

: 1999 Second stage champions, runner-up Suntory Championship * Asian Cup Winners' Cup: 1999–2000

Individual

* FWA Footballer of the Year: 1982 * J. League Manager of the Year: 1999

Notes

References

External links

* * * *
Great players – Steve Perryman
at TottenhamHotspur.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Perryman, Steve 1951 births Men's association football defenders Men's association football midfielders Brentford F.C. managers Brentford F.C. players British expatriate sportspeople in Norway England men's international footballers England men's under-23 international footballers England men's youth international footballers English men's footballers English Football League players English football managers Exeter City F.C. managers Exeter City F.C. non-playing staff Expatriate football managers in Japan Expatriate football managers in Norway Footballers from the London Borough of Ealing People from Ealing IK Start managers J1 League managers Kashiwa Reysol managers Living people Members of the Order of the British Empire Oxford United F.C. players Premier League managers Shimizu S-Pulse managers Tottenham Hotspur F.C. managers Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players UEFA Europa League–winning players Watford F.C. managers Eliteserien managers