TREVOR STEVEN 

Date and Place of Birth 21st September 1963 - Berwick-on-Tweed   Transfers to and from Burnley youth from summer 1980 to Everton - July 1983 (£300,000)   First and Last Burnley Games Huddersfield Town (h) - 14th April 1981 sub: replaced Derek Scott   Crystal Palace (a) - 17th May 1983   Other Clubs ---------------------------------------- Everton, Rangers, Marseille, Rangers

Burnley Career Stats

Profile by Tony Scholes

In the summer of 1980 I went to Gawthorpe to watch a pre-season game, if memory serves me correctly then it was Burnley's B team against Padiham Wanderers. It was a fixture that had become something of a regular event at the time and this one was no different to any of the others with the odd 'hard' challenge going in from time to time from the Padiham team.

No different - that was the case for most of the game, but with not too long remaining we made some substitutions and one of the lads coming on was one of our new apprentices, a player I'd not seen before.

I don't think he'd been on the pitch much over a minute when in one move he brought the ball down and beat two men, and when he repeated it I realised we might just have a talent on our hands. I spoke to George Bray on the touchline, enquiring as to who it was and suggesting he looked good. "One of the new lads," said George, and in his own style of understatement added: "He's not bad."

That not bad lad was called Trevor Steven. I was convinced I'd seen a real talent and from that one showing predicted a potential England career. As it happens, his Burnley career was short, only three years but in that time he certainly made an impact.

He was just about winning a regular place in the reserves by the end of the 1980/81 season but in April he was named as the substitute (there was only one then) for a home game against Huddersfield and got on to make his debut.

It was the sign of things to come and the following season was only three games old when he got his first start at Bristol Rovers and it was clear then that he was in the side for a lot longer than just the occasional game. For the next two seasons only injury would ever rule him out of the starting line up.

In a team of six teenage regulars he was simply outstanding as the Clarets won the 3^rd division championship. It wasn't just the occasional good performance but game after game, and when he scored his first Burnley goal it was a memorable one, crashed in from fully thirty yards at Elm Park against Reading.

Promotion in 1982 suggested a bright future for Burnley and Steven, but a year later it was all to come to an end as we suffered immediate relegation back to the 3^rd division. He'd turned in more excellent performances but a Burnley side that had hardly been strengthened struggled throughout the season in the league despite two incredible cup runs.

It was inevitable that this young 18-year-old talent would go and that he would go to the First Division. That's exactly what happened and he signed for Everton for £300,000 an amazing fee at the time for a player of his age.

Things didn't go too well for him at Everton initially, or for his new club, and he lost his place in the side. There were even suggestions that he could be on his way back to Turf Moor, but if there was anything in that it soon came to an end as he got back in the Everton side that for the next three years were as good as any side in the country, winning two championships, an FA Cup and a European Cup Winners Cup.

After six years at Goodison Park he made a £1.5 million move to Rangers and his time in English league football was over although his success certainly wasn't. Two years in Glasgow led to a £5.5 million move to Marseille although with the French club in difficulties he returned to Rangers after a year for a knock down £2.4 million.

He spent four more years at Ibrox although in the last two years he wasn't a regular and he left in the summer of 1996. Again there were rumours of a Turf Moor return with Burnley now under the management of his former Everton team mate Adrian Heath, but Trevor Steven took the decision to retire.

I'd got it right when I first saw him play, although in fairness it wasn't too difficult to see the talent. His career was one of glittering success and also included 36 England caps, taking in two World Cups in 1986 and 1990.

Trevor was a fantastic talent, one of the best I've ever seen at Burnley. What a pity his era was one when we were no longer a top club otherwise we might well have had the privilege of seeing him in claret and blue for a lot longer than we did.