Steve Francis (footballer)
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Stephen Stuart Francis | ||
| Date of birth | 29 May 1964 | ||
| Place of birth | Billericay, England | ||
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Youth career | |||
| – | Chelsea | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1982–1987 | Chelsea | 71 | (0) |
| 1987–1993 | Reading | 216 | (0) |
| 1993–1999 | Huddersfield Town | 186 | (0) |
| 1999 | Northampton Town | 3 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Stephen Stuart "Steve" Francis (born 29 May 1964) is an English former professional footballer, born in Billericay, Essex, who made nearly 500 appearances in the Football League playing as a goalkeeper for Chelsea, Reading, Huddersfield Town and Northampton Town.[1][2]
He began his career as an apprentice at Chelsea, making his debut as a 17-year-old. Francis was initially a regular in the side, but the arrival of new goalkeeper Eddie Niedzwiecki in 1983 saw him relegated to the reserves for most of the next three seasons. Francis returned to the first team after an injury to Niedzwiecki, but conceded 14 goals in three games over Easter 1986 and never played for the club again.[3] He made a total of 88 appearances in all competitions for Chelsea.[4]
He left in 1987 to join Reading for £15,000,[3] where he played a further 250 games[2] and won the club's Player of the Year award in the 1986–87 season,[5] before joining Huddersfield Town in 1993.[2]
He was Huddersfield's first-choice goalkeeper for four seasons, then fell out of favour[6] and left in 1999 to join Northampton Town, where he made just three league appearances.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ "Steve Francis". UK A–Z Transfers. Neil Brown. http://www.neilbrown.newcastlefans.com/player1/stevefrancis.htm. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
- ^ a b c d "Steve Francis". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. http://www.soccerbase.com/players_details.sd?playerid=2648. Retrieved 28 November 2009.
- ^ a b Barker, Kelvin. "Steve Francis Chelsea FC". Football Heroes. Sporting Heroes Collections. http://www.sporting-heroes.net/football-heroes/displayhero_club.asp?HeroID=36819. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
- ^ "Steve Francis". Historical Player Database. Chelsea F.C. http://theblues.chelseafc.com/cgi-bin/playersearch.pl?Steve%20FRANCIS. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
- ^ "Games, goals, players of the season". Reading F.C. http://www.readingfc.co.uk/page/History/0,,10306~70547,00.html. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
- ^ "Steve Francis Huddersfield Town FC". Football Heroes. Sporting Heroes Collections. http://www.sporting-heroes.net/football-heroes/displayhero_club.asp?HeroID=40041. Retrieved 27 November 2009.
[edit] External links
- Steve Francis career stats at Soccerbase
- League stats at Neil Brown's site
- Two pages of league stats and photos at Sporting Heroes
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