Steve Vickers (footballer)

Stephen "Steve" Vickers (born 13 October 1967), is an English former association footballer who played as a central defender. He made nearly 600 appearances in the Football League and the Premier League, the majority of which were for Tranmere Rovers and Middlesbrough. While with Middlesbrough he played in the 1997 FA Cup Final.

Steve Vickers
Personal information
Full name Stephen Vickers[1]
Date of birth (1967-10-13) 13 October 1967[1]
Place of birth Bishop Auckland,[1] England
Height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[2]
Position(s) Defender
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1984–1985 Spennymoor United
1985–1993 Tranmere Rovers 311 (11)
1993–2001 Middlesbrough 258 (8)
2001 → Crystal Palace (loan) 6 (0)
2001 → Birmingham City (loan) 5 (0)
2001–2003 Birmingham City 14 (1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Life and career

Vickers was born in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, and played football for local non-League club Spennymoor United. He began his professional career at Tranmere Rovers, where he forged a reputation as one of the classiest defenders in England's lower leagues. At Tranmere he was part of the side that won the 1989-90 Football League Trophy.[3] He subsequently played in the Premier League with Middlesbrough, whom he joined in 1993, winning the club's Player of the Year Award for the 1993–94 season. He was loaned to Crystal Palace in 2001, then to Birmingham City later that year. Whilst at Middlesbrough he played in the 1997 FA Cup Final.

This deal was then made permanent for £400,000, and Vickers helped Birmingham gain promotion to the Premier League in the 2001–02 season. He scored his only goal for the club that season, against Stockport County.[2][4] Vickers retired from playing at the end of an injury-plagued 2002–03 season, which included a knee operation before the start of the season, a broken rib in his first game back,[5] a badly-gashed ankle following a two-footed challenge from Everton's Wayne Rooney which resulted in Rooney's first senior red card,[6] and a succession of minor problems.[7]

After his retirement from playing, he went into property development in his native north-east of England.[8] In 2010, he was employed as head of youth recruitment for the sports management division of a north-east-based law firm.[9]

References
  1. "Steve Vickers". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
  2. "Games played by Steve Vickers in 2001/2002". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 26 October 2013.
  3. "BRISTOL ROVERS 1 V TRANMERE ROVERS 2". trscireland.info. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  4. "Stockport 0–3 Birmingham". BBC Sport. 29 December 2001. Retrieved 1 February 2010.
  5. Hill, Graham (19 January 2003). "Vickers' time is running out". Sunday Mercury. Birmingham. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  6. Culley, Jon (27 December 2002). "Rooney finds out the hard way for Everton". The Independent. Retrieved 7 October 2010.
  7. Clarkson, Ian (8 February 2004). "A blast from the past". Sunday Mercury. Birmingham. Retrieved 6 February 2008.
  8. Tallentire, Philip (24 August 2005). "Where are they now? 10 years at the Riverside". Evening Gazette. Middlesbrough. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011.
  9. "Meet The Team". BHP Sport. Archived from the original on 4 August 2010.
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