Trevor Steven

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Trevor McGregor Steven (born 21 September 1963) is an English former professional footballer who played as a right-sided midfielder. He progressed through the ranks at Burnley, making his debut in 1981 regularly scoring over the next two seasons. Everton boss Howard Kendall, who was building a new team based on youth, decided to make a bid for him. He became known as a member of the successful Everton side of the 1980s and went on to be part of the Rangers '9-in-a-row' team. Steven was also successful with France's Marseille and gained 36 international caps for England. He works as a presenter for RTÉ Sport in Ireland.^[2]

Club career

Burnley

Steven began his career with

Everton

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Burnley accepted £300,000 for the 19-year-old Steven who joined

Rangers

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Graeme Souness, then manager of Rangers, offered Steven the chance to pair up with his friend Gary Stevens and reform their partnership down the right. Offers came in from other big clubs, including Manchester United, where Alex Ferguson was rebuilding his midfield around Bryan Robson, but Steven chose Ibrox when he exited Goodison Park in the 1989 close season. His main reason for doing so seemed to be the attraction of European football, as the ban on English clubs was ongoing and Steven had been denied the chance to play in the European Cup with Everton as a consequence. So, after 299 appearances and 60 goals, he left Everton in a £1.5 million deal and went to Glasgow.^[7]

Despite being the latest in a sequence of high-profile England internationals signed by Souness, Steven's arrival at Ibrox was relatively low-key, principally because it coincided with the controversial signing of Mo Johnston – the first high-profile, established Roman Catholic player to be signed by Rangers in the post-war period. Steven rapidly became a solid member of the Rangers squad, securing a league championship in his first season, and another title plus the Scottish League Cup in the second.^[8]

Marseille and return to Rangers

In August 1991, Steven moved for £5.5 million

However, his future in the south of France had looked uncertain within months of his arrival. In December 1991, it was reported that the financially troubled club were prepared to sell Steven back to Rangers to cut their heavy losses.^[10] However, he stayed with the club until the end of the season. Despite reports on 22 July 1992 that Steven had agreed to sign for English league champions Leeds United,^[11] he returned to Rangers four days later for a fee of £2.2million.^[12]

Steven's second period at Ibrox was undermined by a succession of minor injuries, although they were league champions in each of the next five seasons (one of them as treble winners and two as double winners) before Steven retired from playing in 1997. He was a regular player in the first of his seasons back at Ibrox, but managed just 11 appearances in the 1994–95 season (when Rangers won their seventh successive title and their fifth that Steven had been involved in) and with the arrival of Paul Gascoigne he managed only six league appearances.^[8] His final season, 1996–97, brought eight league appearances and one goal as Rangers matched Celtic's record of nine successive Scottish league titles.^[13]

International career

A very successful season at club level for Steven was completed when, in February 1985, he was called up by England coach

When he was awarded his fifth cap against Italy at the beginning of a summer mini-tournament in North America, he was joined behind him by his Everton teammate Gary Stevens, therefore transferring an effective partnership to the international stage. However, Steven soon had a rival for the right flank as Robson began to explore various combinations for his wide men. Chris Waddle was a more flamboyant and explosive player than Steven, but Robson often preferred the consistency and team play of Steven on the right wing and he became a frequent choice as a result.

Steven scored his second England goal in a 5–0 thumping of the USA in Los Angeles at the conclusion of the summer tour. In January 1986 he scored the opening goal in a 4–0 win over Egypt in Cairo and continued to be selected as the World Cup neared, and was selected by Robson for the squad which would represent England in Mexico at the World Cup.

Robson preferred Waddle as his one orthodox wide man for the opening game against Portugal, but England played poorly and lost 1–0. No changes were made, despite this defeat, and England suffered a nervy and embarrassing goalless draw against Morocco, meaning they had to win their final group game or they were out. As a consequence, Steven got his World Cup chance as Robson ditched Waddle and went for the creative but disciplined pairing of Steven on the right and Steve Hodge on the left. It paid dividends, as Steven combined down his flank with Stevens to set up an opening goal for Gary Lineker; Hodge then set up Lineker's second, and Steven delivered a corner which went uncleared, allowing Lineker to complete his hat-trick. Steven played as England thrust aside Paraguay in the second round but in the quarter-final, with England 2–0 down against Argentina, he was sacrificed midway through the second half by Robson to give John Barnes his first run-out. Barnes single-handedly destroyed the Argentine defence but could only set up one goal and England were eliminated.

The next year he played a full part in a robust qualification campaign for the

His form at Rangers persuaded Bobby Robson to retain him in the England squad. After playing in the end-of-season

Robson's successor

Since he retired, Steven has worked in the media. In his early career, he worked as a co-commentator for the BBC during their coverage of the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Steven now acts as a pundit for RTÉ Sport in Ireland, having covered the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany for the broadcaster. He is also a regular contributor to RTÉ's coverage of the Premier League and UEFA Champions League, acting both as analyst and co-commentator. He contributed to RTÉ Sport's coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the 2014 FIFA World Cup.^[15][16]

Career statistics

International goals

Scores and results list England's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Steven goal.

List of international goals scored by Trevor Steven^[17]

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	26 March 1985	Wembley Stadium, London, England	Republic of Ireland		2–1	Friendly
2	16 June 1985	Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, US	United States		5–0	Friendly
3	29 January 1986	International Stadium, Cairo, Egypt	Egypt		4–0	Friendly
4	29 April 1992	Lenin Central Stadium, Moscow, CIS	CIS		2–2	Friendly

Honours

^[18]

Burnley

• Football League Third Division: 1981–82

Everton

• Football League First Division: 1984–85, 1986–87
• 1988–89
• FA Charity Shield: 1984, 1985, 1986 (shared), 1987
• 1984–85

Rangers[8]

• Scottish Premier Division: 1989–90, 1990–91, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97^{[citation needed]}
• Scottish League Cup: 1990–91, 1992–93, 1993–94; runner-up: 1989–90

Marseille

• Ligue 1: 1991–92

References

External links

• Trevor Steven at Soccerbase
• Trevor Steven – FIFA competition record (archived)