Michael Gary Stevens (born in Barrow-in-Furness, England, 27 March 1963) is a retired English footballer who shot to fame in the great Everton side of the 1980s. Barrow-in-Furness is an industrial town and Seaport in Cumbria, England. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Events 196 BC - Ptolemy V ascends to the throne of Egypt. 1309 - Pope Clement V excommunicates Year 1963 ( MCMLXIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a Team sport played between two teams of eleven players and is widely considered Everton Football Club is an English football club located in the city of Liverpool.

A hard-tackling right full back, Stevens advanced through Everton's youth ranks as manager Howard Kendall steadily built a new young side to rival their great foes Liverpool, who were winning trophies and dominating the English game while Everton had been without a domestic honour since 1970. Howard Kendall (born 22 May 1946 in Ryton Tyne and Wear) is an English football manager and former player Liverpool Football Club are an English professional Association football club based in Liverpool England.

Stevens made his Everton debut in 1982 and settled into the senior game quickly as Kendall's otherwise ageing side struggled to make an impact on their rivals and on the top flight in general. However, with a few astute signings and one or two more graduates from the ranks, Everton reached the FA Cup final in 1984, having already lost to their great rivals in the League Cup final earlier in the season. The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football, run by and named after The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup, is an English football competition

Stevens played his part in Everton's opening goal at Wembley against Watford - his pace enabling him to reach a loose ball from a half-cleared cross first and set up Graeme Sharp for a clinical finish. Wembley Stadium is a Stadium in Wembley, located in the London Borough of Brent in London, England. Watford Football Club is an English professional football club based in Watford, Hertfordshire. Graeme Marshall Sharp (born in Glasgow on 16 October 1960) is a former footballer. Everton won 2-0.

The following year, Stevens was an integral part of the Everton team which chased a treble of League championship, FA Cup and European Cup Winners Cup. The Football League First Division was the highest division of The Football League between 1993 and 2004 and the highest division of English football overall between The title was clinched but Everton were beaten by 10-man Manchester United in the FA Cup final. However, a glorious and eventful run in Europe ended in triumph for Everton and Stevens when the Cup Winners Cup was clinched, thanks to a 3-1 win over Rapid Vienna. The Sportklub Rapid Wien (Rapid Vienna is an Austrian football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. The only downside of such a successful season was that the Heysel Stadium disaster and subsequent disqualification of all English clubs from European competition meant that Everton were disallowed from trying their luck in the European Cup the following year. The Heysel Stadium disaster occurred owing to Football hooliganism in which a retaining wall of the Heysel Stadium in Brussels collapsed on May 29 See also List of European Cup and UEFA Champions League winners The UEFA Champions League, which evolved from the European Champion Clubs' Cup is a seasonal club

To cap a fine year for Stevens, he was given his debut for England by Bobby Robson in June 1985, and he quickly established himself as first choice right back for both club and country. The English national football team represents England in international football and is controlled by The Football Association, the governing body for football Sir Robert William Robson Kt CBE (born 18 February 1933 commonly known as Sir Bobby Robson (ˈbɒbi ˈrɒbsən is a former international football Year 1985 ( MCMLXXXV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link displays 1985 Gregorian calendar)

Stevens was again a regular as Everton aimed to defend their League title in 1986, but a rejuvenated Liverpool overhauled them. Year 1986 ( MCMLXXXVI) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar) The two also met in the FA Cup final - the first ever all-Merseyside affair - and Liverpool won that game 3-1 to clinch only the third modern-day "double". Merseyside is a Metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1365900 The Double is a term in football, which refers to winning a country's top tier division and its primary cup competition in the same season Stevens shouldered some of the blame - he played a loose pass which was intercepted by Liverpool's Ronnie Whelan and led to an equaliser for the men in red, who went on to win 3-1. Ronald 'Ronnie' Andrew Whelan (born 25 September 1961 is a former Irish football Midfielder who was an integral part of the dominant Liverpool

Stevens was named in the squad for the 1986 World Cup (along with the Tottenham Hotspur player Gary Stevens, causing a spot of confusion^[1] and played in all of the games as England reached the quarter finals, where they were beaten controversially by Argentina, who went on to win the tournament. The 1986 FIFA World Cup, the 13th staging of the FIFA World Cup, was held in Mexico from May 31 to June 29. Tottenham Hotspur, ˈtɒʔnəm is an English professional football club which currently plays in the Premier League. Gary Andrew Stevens (born Hillingdon, Middlesex, 30 March 1962) affectionately known as "Tea Bag" is a former English The Argentina national football team is the national football team of Argentina and is controlled by the Asociación del Fútbol Argentino (AFA Stevens was not one of the players past whom Diego Maradona weaved on his way to his astonishing second goal of the game, though he was desperately trying to reach the ball at the near post as Maradona stroked it home.

Back at Everton, Stevens again played frequently as the blue half of Merseyside regained the League championship in 1987, although he did incur the wrath of Liverpool fans when a tackle on left back Jim Beglin left the Liverpool player with a shattered leg from which he never fully recovered. Year 1987 ( MCMLXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar) James Martin Beglin (born 29 July 1963 in County Waterford) is a former Irish professional footballer

In the same year, England also qualified for the 1988 European Championships with Stevens in his familiar No. The 1988 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in West Germany. 2 shirt. By now one or two critics had started to scorn him for supposedly poor positional play and ball distribution, but his coaches at club and international level kept resolute faith in him.

At club level, 1988 was not successful for Everton, although Stevens did score a famous goal to give Everton a 1-0 win over Liverpool in the League Cup, at a time when Liverpool were not losing any games at all. Everton were trophyless once again, but England had the European Championships in West Germany to look forward to. West Germany ( Inf German: Westdeutschland or West-Deutschland) was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (

Unfortunately, the competition was a disaster for both England and Stevens. After a shock defeat to the Republic of Ireland, England went into the tough second group game against the Netherlands needing to win. The Republic of Ireland national football team represents Ireland in international football. The Netherlands national football team is the national football team of the Netherlands and is controlled by the Royal Netherlands Football Association Stevens was, however, instrumental in the defeat which followed, losing the ball to Ruud Gullit down the flank, which led to the opening goal of a famous hat-trick by Marco Van Basten. (born as Ruud Dil, September 1 1962 in Amsterdam) is a Dutch football coach and former player who played professionally in the 1980s A hat-trick in Sports is associated with succeeding at anything three times in three consecutive attempts Marcel "Marco" van Basten ( 31 October 1964 in Oog in Al, Utrecht) is a Dutch football manager currently Stevens had come close to blocking Van Basten's shot when he'd been caught napping wide on the flank seconds earlier by Gullit, showing his speed and determination, but it was tough to accept as England wimped out of the tournament without a point.

After the competition, Everton accepted a bid of one and a quarter million pounds from Rangers F.C. for Stevens to move north of the border. The Pound Sterling ( symbol £; ISO code: GBP) subdivided into 100 pence (singular penny) is the Currency Rangers Football Club are an Association football team based in Glasgow Scotland, who currently play in the Scottish Premier League. Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. He retained his England place, having seen off long-term rival Viv Anderson (who had held the slot for much of the period pre-1985), though had to contend with the emergence of Paul Parker of Queens Park Rangers as a serious rival for his place. Vivian Alexander Anderson MBE (born 29 July 1956 in Nottingham) is an English football player and coach who played for Paul Andrew Parker (born West Ham, London, 4 April 1964) is a retired English footballer with QPR and Manchester United Queens Park Rangers Football Club is an English football club, based in Shepherds Bush in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London

Rangers were in the midst of a revolution when Stevens joined, with manager Graeme Souness unashamedly buying non-Scottish players (including many Englishmen) to bolster his side. Graeme James Souness (ˈsuːnɨs (born 6 May, 1953 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish former professional football player and manager Stevens' first season ended with a Scottish Premier Division title. The Scottish Premier League, currently known as the Clydesdale Bank Premier League for sponsorship reasons and often known as the Premier League or SPL He would win five more, plus two Scottish Cups and three Scottish League Cups. The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup, usually known as the Scottish Cup, is the national football cup competition of Scotland The Scottish Football League Cup is an Association football competition open to all Scottish Football League and Scottish Premier League clubs

When England qualified for the 1990 World Cup in Italy, Stevens was duly named in the squad though again a handful of critics had been scathing of his displays. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest However, he was in the side which faced the Republic of Ireland in the opening game. It ended 1-1 - not a disaster, but there were clear problems with the England personnel and tactics and Robson made changes for the next game. Stevens was replaced by Parker, who played so well (despite being more usually a central defender for QPR) that he kept his place up to and including England's dramatic semi-final exit on penalties against West Germany, the eventual winners. Penalty shootouts, properly named kicks from the penalty mark, are a method sometimes used to decide which team progresses to the next stage of a tournament (or wins the tournament The German national football team (Die deutsche Fußballnationalmannschaft From 1950 to 1990 the team was also informally called West Germany in English as since Stevens was recalled to play the host nation in the meaningless third place play-off, which England lost 2-1. The Italian national football team is controlled by the Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio (FIGC and represents Italy in international football competition

Parker's emergence - plus that of Arsenal right-back Lee Dixon - suggested that Stevens' international future was in doubt after the World Cup, especially as Robson had quit to return to club football, but he stuck around sporadically for the next two years, getting occasional starts and sub appearances under Graham Taylor. Lee Michael Dixon (born 17 March 1964 in Manchester, England) is a former English professional footballer who formed part of the highly-respected Graham Taylor OBE (born 15 September 1944 Worksop, Nottinghamshire) is a football manager and a former player

England qualified for the 1992 European Championships but Stevens was left out of Taylor's initial squad in favour of Dixon. The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was hosted by Sweden. When Dixon got injured in the grace period prior to the deadline for squad confirmation, Stevens was recalled, but then he too suffered an injury and withdrew. England ended up taking part in the competition without a recognised right back, and exited in the group stage. Stevens had played his last game for his country. His international career ended with 46 appearances and no goals.

Stevens continued to play for Rangers until 1994, and in 1993 was a key player in their treble winning sides. Year 1994 ( MCMXCIV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar) Year 1993 ( MCMXCIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar) He then returned to Merseyside to see out his career with Tranmere Rovers in a 350,000 pound deal. Merseyside is a Metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1365900 Tranmere Rovers Football Club is an English football club currently playing in Football League One and based at Prenton Park, Tranmere In his first season, Tranmere reached the playoffs, but a semi-final defeat by Reading ended their hopes of Premier League football. Reading Football Club are an Association football club based in the English town of Reading, in Berkshire. The Premier League, colloquially referred to as the Premiership, is an English professional league for football clubs

He retired in 1998 and after a spell as a physiotherapist with the Bolton Wanderers Academy he became a coach at Chester City. Year 1998 ( MCMXCVIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar) Bolton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional football club based in Horwich, in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Chester City Football Club is an English football club from Chester. Everton fans later named him as the right back in the club's all-time greatest XI in a poll on the club's website. A website (alternatively web site or Web site, a back-construction from the Proper noun World Wide Web) is a collection of Web pages ^[2] The XI also featured six others from the mid-1980s era.

References

1. ^ England supporters chanted “Two Gary Stevens! There’s only two Gary Stevens!”
2. ^ Greatest Ever Everton team. A football chant, also referred to as terrace chants, is a term that refers to songs or chants sung at Football matches evertonfc. com. Retrieved on February 23, 2007. Events 1455 - Traditional date for the publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western Book printed from Movable Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.