Hull City

At 16 years of age, another key moment had arrived and Hull City , then in the second division, was chosen above the first division alternatives. The same pragmatic, level headed approach is visible here. Many boys might have been seduced by the glamour of 1st Division clubs like Boro & Leeds but he felt that at those clubs “boys often got lost in the system and never had an opportunity to play in the first team....and I thought I would progress quicker at Hull , which was the case, and I did”

Physically he was, as he puts it, “a late developer” but within a year the change was obvious. What had been a slight physique had been transformed and he was now the shape that would give him eight successful years as a midfield player with Hull . The clubs recommended diet of steak and Guinness take the credit, slightly different from the more scientific approach at Middlesbrough .

From Player to Coach

Ambition took him to Derby and Arthur Cox. Three successful years there as the club moved from the third to first division were followed by spells at Bristol and finally Oxford . Appearances were limited by injury, a stress fracture of the back was diagnosed and Steve thinks it may have been longstanding, a result of the amount of sport he played when very young.

It was then that another opportunity presented itself. The Oxford first team coach moved on and the others coaches moved up. A vacancy appeared as youth team coach and Steve, out with injury, was appointed on a three month trial and at the end of the season he was given the post. I “enjoyed it and had little talent for it”, he states modestly, “It was a fantastic opportunity and a great learning curve for me and I worked 24 hours a day, seven days a week...playing and running two teams...it was a hectic time.”

It was there he established himself as an innovative coach, embracing scientific method and learning from other sports. He also, as he puts it, “could get away with a lot of things” elaborating that what he did with the youth team and reserves could not “hurt the club so much if you got beat!”