Mark Stein (footballer)

Mark Stein
Personal information
Full name Earl Mark Sean Stein[1]
Date of birth (1966-01-29) 29 January 1966[1]
Place of birth Cape Town, South Africa[1]
Height 1.67 m (5 ft 6 in)
Playing position Striker
Club information
Current team
 Rotherham United
(Physiotherapist)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1984–1988 Luton Town 71 (23)
1986 → Aldershot (loan) 2 (1)
1988–1989 Queens Park Rangers 44 (7)
1989–1991 Oxford United 92 (18)
1991 → Stoke City (loan) 5 (3)
1991–1993 Stoke City 123 (68)
1993–1998 Chelsea 63 (25)
1996–1997 → Stoke City (loan) 11 (4)
1997 → Ipswich Town (loan) 11 (3)
1998 → Bournemouth (loan) 11 (6)
1998–2000 Bournemouth 116 (44)
2000–2001 Luton Town 36 (4)
2001–2003 Dagenham & Redbridge 76 (40)
2004 Waltham Forest 7 (3)
Total 486 (255)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.


Earl Mark Sean Stein (born 29 January 1966) more commonly known as Mark Stein is an English former footballer. Born in South Africa, he moved to England with his family as a child.

As a player he was a striker from 1984 until 2004, notably in the Premier League for Chelsea and the Football League for Luton Town, Aldershot, Queens Park Rangers, Oxford United, Stoke City, Ipswich Town and Bournemouth before finishing his career in Non-league with Dagenham & Redbridge and Waltham Forest.[1]

Playing career

Stein was born in Cape Town and moved with his family to London in the 1970s. Both his brothers Brian and Edwin plus Mark decided to become professional footballers, Mark joining Luton Town in 1983. He turned professional in January 1984 and earned three caps with the England under-19 team but he was unable to live up to the heights expected of him at Kenilworth Road and had a short loan spell at Aldershot. In 1987–88, he helped Luton win their first – and only to date – major trophy as they achieved a shock 3–2 over Arsenal in the Football League Cup final, with Stein coming on as a substitute in the final.

In June 1988 he moved on to Queens Park Rangers where he spent the 1988–89 season scoring seven goals in 42 appearances.[1] He signed for Oxford United in September 1989 after failing out of favour at Loftus Road. After two seasons with Oxford Stein found himself out of the side and playing in the reserves.[1] He joined Stoke City on loan in September 1991 and played five matches without scoring.[1] But he impressed manager Lou Macari with his contribution so much that he persuaded the board to pay £100,000 for his services.[1] It proved to be a sound piece of business as Stein went on a fine run, scoring 22 goals in 1991–92 helping Stoke reach the play-offs where they lost to Stockport County although they did beat County in the 1992 Football League Trophy Final with Stein scoring the game's only goal. Stoke fans named Stein "The Golden One" and he went on to top-score in 1992–93 as Stoke won the Second Division title, Stein scoring 33 goals in 57 matches. In 1993–94 Stein hit the headlines after scoring twice past Manchester United in the League Cup. After Macari moved to Celtic Stein also left the Victoria Ground moving to Premier League Chelsea for a fee of £1.5 million.[1]

Whilst at Chelsea, Stein set a Premier League record by scoring in seven consecutive matches from December 1993 to February 1994. The record stood until 2002, when Ruud van Nistelrooy surpassed it.[2] Stein also played in the 1994 FA Cup Final and, in total, he scored 25 goals in 63 games for the West London club, but by the 1996-97 season had lost his place in the first team due to the arrival of new strikers Mark Hughes, Gianluca Vialli and Gianfranco Zola. He returned to Stoke on a short-term loan, scoring four goals in 11 games in 1996–97, the club's final season at the Victoria Ground. He finally left Chelsea in the summer of 1998 when he signed for AFC Bournemouth after a loan spell.

His spell at Dagenham & Redbridge, in the Conference from 2001 to 2003, was notable for its ending, as Stein resigned over the club's refusal to investigate allegations of racist comments made by Daggers manager Garry Hill against Fitzroy Simpson. Mark cited his father's work as a South African anti-apartheid activist as inspiration for this; "My Dad was a political activist who fought against racism in South Africa all his life. So why should I have to put up with it here?"[3] Stein ended his career playing for Isthmian League Division One North club Waltham Forest, scoring three goals in seven appearances in the 2003–04 season.

Physiotherapist

On 28 June 2007 he was appointed as the new physiotherapist at Barnet after taking on a temporary role at the end of the 2006–07 season.[4] On 22 September 2010, he took up a full-time role as physiotherapist at Crawley Town.

Personal life

He is the younger brother of former Luton Town striker Brian Stein; another brother, Ed Stein, played for Barnet.[5] On 12 July 2008 he played for the England XI in the Gordon Banks Charity Match at the Britannia Stadium.

Career statistics

Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other[A] Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Luton Town 1983–84 First Division 1000000010
1984–85 First Division 1000000010
1985–86 First Division 6032000092
1986–87 First Division 218000000218
1987–88 First Division 25116140413913
Total 54199340417123
Aldershot (loan) 1985–86 Fourth Division 2100000021
Total 2100000021
Queens Park Rangers 1988–89 First Division 314314240427
1989–90 First Division 2000000020
Total 334314240447
Oxford United 1989–90 Second Division 419200010449
1990–91 Second Division 348104020418
1991–92 Second Division 7000000070
Total 82183040309218
Stoke City 1991–92 Third Division 36162000964722
1992–93 Second Division 46262044535733
1993–94 First Division 1280044311913
Total 94504088171012368
Chelsea 1993–94 Premier League 18136100002414
1994–95 Premier League 2483100323011
1995–96 Premier League 8000100090
1996–97 Premier League 0000000000
1997–98 Premier League 0000000000
Total 50219210326325
Stoke City (loan) 1996–97 First Division 114000000114
Total 114000000114
Ipswich Town (loan) 1997–98 First Division 72004100113
Total 72004100113
Bournemouth 1997–98 Second Division 114000030144
1998–99 Second Division 43154155345625
1999–2000 Second Division 36113152214615
Total 9030721078511644
Luton Town 2000–01 Second Division 303203110497
Total 303203110364
Career Total 45315237838194018568197
A. ^ The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the Anglo-Italian Cup, Full Members Cup, Football League Trophy, Football League play-offs, Mercantile Credit Centenary Trophy, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.

Honours

Luton Town
Stoke City

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Stoke City 101 Golden Greats. Desert Islands Books. 2002. ISBN 1-874287-55-4.
  2. ↑ "Ruud's record joy". BBC. 20 January 2002. Retrieved 30 April 2008.
  3. ↑ "Daggers Drawn". When Saturday Comes. December 2003.
  4. ↑ "Stein signs new deal with Barnet". BBC Sport. 8 July 2008.
  5. ↑ "Football's band of brothers". London Evening Standard. 27 July 2002. Retrieved 19 November 2010.
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