Alan Stephenson (born 26 September 1944) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

, who played as a defender. He made a total of 386 appearances in the

Football league The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

for

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

and

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

. At the end of his career, he played for Durban United in South Africa.

Playing career

Starting as an amateur footballer aged sixteen, Stephenson signed professional terms on 15 February 1962 and made his senior debut for Crystal Palace as a seventeen-year-old on 24 March 1962. Dominating in the air and solid in defence he made a major contribution towards Palace's climb up, and promotion from, the Third Division. He was appointed as captain by manager

Dick Graham Richard D. Graham (6 May 1922 – 7 March 2013) was an English footballer and football manager who played and coached in the Football League. He played as a goalkeeper for Crystal Palace, making over 150 league appearances. He went on to mana ...

and from 1964, rarely missed a game playing alongside Brian Wood. Stephenson was sold to West Ham in 1968 for a club record fee of £80,000. He made his first appearance for West Ham on 16 March 1968 in a 0–0 away draw with

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

. Joining a team which contained

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

winning heroes

Martin Peters Martin Stanford Peters (8 November 1943 – 21 December 2019) was an English Association football, footballer and manager. As a member of the England national football team, England team which won the 1966 FIFA World Cup, he scored the second o ...

Geoff Hurst Sir Geoffrey Charles Hurst (born 8 December 1941) is an English former professional Association football, footballer. A Striker (association football), striker, he became the first player to score a Hat-trick#Association football, hat-trick in a ...

and

Bobby Moore Robert Frederick Chelsea Moore (12 April 1941 – 24 February 1993) was an English professional footballer. He captained West Ham United for more than ten years, and was the captain of the England national team that won the 1966 FIFA ...

, he made over 100 appearances for West Ham, most of them alongside Moore. Stephenson failed to solve the defensive problems which had existed since the departure of Ken Brown in 1965 and, following a loan spell for

in season 1971–72, he was transferred for £32,000 to

for whom he made 98 appearances until 1975. In 1975, Stephenson moved to South Africa, playing for Durban United before returning in 1977 to coach at

Orient The Orient is a term referring to the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of the term ''Occident'', which refers to the Western world. In English, it is largely a meto ...

. He coached their reserve team but after four years with Orient, quit football to run a

pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...

and to work as an education and welfare officer with

Essex County Council Essex County Council is the county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Essex in England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county; the non-metropolitan county excludes Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock which ...

International career

Stephenson made seven appearances for the England Under-23 team. He also played two games for an FA team which played games in Australia in 1971. In both games, in June 1971, the FA team won 1–0.

References

External links

*
Stats at PompeyRama
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephenson, Alan 1944 births Living people English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Crystal Palace F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Fulham F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Durban United F.C. players People from Chesham English Football League players English expatriate men's footballers England men's under-23 international footballers British publicans Leyton Orient F.C. non-playing staff English football coaches Footballers from Buckinghamshire