Steve Darby

For other people named Stephen Darby, see Stephen Darby (disambiguation).

Steve Darby

Personal information
Full name	Stephen David Darby
Date of birth	(1955-01-15) 15 January 1955
Place of birth	Liverpool, Merseyside, England
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Managerial career
Years	Team
1979	East Riffa
1979-19??	Bahrain (assistant coach)
1995–1998	Sydney Olympic
1998–2000	Johor
2001-2002	Vietnam Women
2002–2005	Home United
2005–2008	Perak
2008	Thailand (assistant coach)
2009	Thailand U23
2011	Mohun Bagan
2014	Kelantan

Stephen David "Steve" Darby (born 15 January 1955) is an English football coach and former player. He is well known throughout Asia as a pundit for ESPN Star Sports and most recently the head coach of Kelantan in Malaysia Super League.

Playing career

Darby started out as a goalkeeper for Liverpool Schools and FA Youth Team but never made it professionally and subsequently ended up at Tranmere Rovers before playing for teams in the United States and Australia.

Coaching career

Darby obtained his UEFA A Licence in 1979. He became an official FIFA Instructor for the Oceania region in 1981 and AFC Instructor 1998 and was National Development Manager for the Australian Soccer Federation between 1990-1995.

He then moved on to coach Sydney Olympic, but left in 1998 to coach Johor, where he enjoyed a successful spell, winning Malaysia FA Cup. He left the club in 2001 to take charge of the Vietnam women, whom he led to a gold medal in the SEA Games.

After that, he was appointed youth team coach for Sheffield Wednesday under Terry Yorath, but remained there only for a season before taking over the reins at Singapore's Home United. In his four-year tenure as Home United boss, Darby led them to a league and cup double in 2003 and also a semi-final spot in the 2004 AFC Cup. Also winning the Singapore FA Cup in 2005.

At the end of his Home United contract, Darby was heavily linked to the vacant India manager's post. However, he did not take up that job, choosing instead to join Perak despite having offers from two other Malaysian clubs and a Vietnamese club.

He led Perak to a second spot in the league 2006-07 season and to the Malaysia Cup final and an AFC Quarter final.The furthest a Malaysian club had gone in Asian Competitions at that time.

In October 2008, he was appointed as Thailand assistant coach and works together with Peter Reid who was appointed Thailand chief coach in August. He would stay on as assistant coach to the newly appointed Bryan Robson as his assistant and as the U-23 Team Coach, after previous coach Peter Reid left to become Stoke manager Tony Pulis assistant.

In September 2013, Darby has been appointed as Kelantan head coach after previous coaches contract expires. He familiar with Malaysian football as previously coached Johor and Perak. He was sacked by Kelantan FA after disappointing 0-4 defeat at the hand of Sime Darby F.C.

Personal life

Darby holds a Bachelor (Hons) in Physical Education from the University of Leeds and Post Graduate qualifications in Sports Administration from the University of Canberra. He also holds a TEFL Certificate from Cambridge. He speaks Arabic, French and a little Malay. He is married to Nguyen Thi Van Anh. Their daughter, Quinn Elsa, was born in 2005.

He was previously married to Anissa Tann, who had been one of the Australian national team players in his charge.

External links

• Interview in Mohun Bagan Official Website
• http://mohunbaganac.com/SEPT08/news_details.php?newsid=903
• http://www.yob4ever.com/v2/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=21
• http://www.espnstar.com/studio/studio_coldetail_1464322.html
• http://www.kolkatafootball.com/indiafootball_news_2011/july21stpart_2011.html#bagan_coach