Stephen Pears (born 22 January 1962) is an English former

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 ...

. Born in

Brandon, County Durham Brandon is a village in County Durham, England. It is situated a short distance to the southwest of Durham. Brandon was originally one of the seven townships within the ancient parish of Brancepeth. It grew from a sparsely populated agricultural ...

, he played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...

for

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

and

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartl ...

in a career spanning 20 years.

Career

Stephen Pears started his career at Manchester United as an understudy to

Gary Bailey Gary Richard Bailey (born 9 August 1958) is a former footballer who made nearly 300 appearances in the Football League playing as a goalkeeper for Manchester United. Born in Ipswich, Suffolk, he grew up in South Africa, but went on to be cappe ...

. However, Pears struggled to displace him and break into the first team. During the 1983–84 season, in order to gain match practice, he was sent to Middlesbrough on loan where he became a fan favourite. Middlesbrough attempted to sign him permanently but the club failed to raise the £80,000 fee. However, Middlesbrough made a second attempt to sign Pears and he transferred to the club permanently in 1985. The following season saw the club get relegated. Despite this, his performances gained him critical acclaim from the fans. In 1987–88, Pears helped the club win promotion. In this season, Pears also set a club record of seven consecutive clean sheets. Some of his most notable performances this year came against Everton in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...

and against

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the Nation ...

in a performance which he dedicated to his late father. Pears went to make over 400 appearances for Middlesbrough from 1983 to 1995. During this time in 1992 he was called up to the England squad but had to pull out of the squad after breaking his cheekbone after a collision with

Dion Dublin Dion Dublin (born 22 April 1969) is an English former professional footballer, television presenter and pundit. He is a club director of Cambridge United. As a player he was a centre-forward, notably playing in the Premier League for Manchester ...

. He was released in 1995 after a sell out testimonial match, which also became the last match at

Ayresome Park Ayresome Park was a football stadium in Middlesbrough, Yorkshire, England. It was the home of Middlesbrough F.C. from its construction in time for the 1903–04 season, until the Riverside Stadium opened in 1995. It was demolished in 1997 and ...

before Middlesbrough moved to the

Riverside Stadium The Riverside Stadium is a football stadium in Middlesbrough, England, which has been the home of Middlesbrough since it opened in 1995. Its current capacity is 34,742, all seated, although there is provisional planning permission in place ...

. In this match, Pears was allowed to take a penalty which gave him the prestige of being the last person to score a goal at Ayresome Park. Pears then moved on to Liverpool to provide goalkeeping cover for

David James Dewi, Dai, Dafydd or David James may refer to: Performers *David James (actor, born 1839) (1839–1893), English stage comic and a founder of London's Vaudeville Theatre * David James (actor, born 1967) (born 1967), Australian presenter of ABC's '' ...

, and was issued with the number 27 shirt

However, after making no appearances he moved on to Hartlepool shortly after where he played 19 times before retiring at the age of 35.

Coaching career

Pears was the Middlesbrough Academy goalkeeping coach where he helped to bring through the likes of

Ross Turnbull Ross or ROSS may refer to: People * Clan Ross, a Highland Scottish clan * Ross (name), including a list of people with the surname or given name Ross, as well as the meaning * Earl of Ross, a peerage of Scotland Places * RoSS, the Republic of Sout ...

and

David Knight David or Dave Knight may refer to: *David Knight (American football) David Randall Knight (born February 1, 1951) is a former professional American football player who played wide receiver for five seasons for the New York Jets The New Yor ...

. He moved up from his Academy coach role to become the club's goalkeeping coach in 2007 when

Paul Barron Paul George Barron (born 16 September 1953) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is the head coach for the Las Vegas Mobsters Playing career Born in Woolwich, London, Barron qualified as a PE instructo ...

left for

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional Association football, football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football league system, English football. The club was ...

in 2007. Pears position of goalkeeping coach for the Middlesbrough first team was terminated on 21 November 2013 after Middlesbrough appointed their new manager, Aitor Karanka and he has since been replaced by Leo Percovich. On 4 July 2014, Pears was announced as assistant manager and goalkeeping coach at

. On 5 October, Pears was named caretaker-manager alongside Sam Collins following the departure of

Colin Cooper Colin Terence Cooper (born 28 February 1967) is an English football manager and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a defender who notably played in the Premier League for Nottingham Forest and Middlesbrough. He played over 5 ...

and was kept on as goalkeeping coach following the appointment of Paul Murray as manager on 23 October. On 19 July 2015, Pears was announced as goalkeeping coach at

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

side Gateshead.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pears, Stephen 1962 births Living people Footballers from County Durham English footballers Premier League players English Football League players Middlesbrough F.C. non-playing staff Middlesbrough F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players Liverpool F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. managers Hartlepool United F.C. non-playing staff Gateshead F.C. non-playing staff Association football goalkeepers English football managers Association football goalkeeping coaches People from Brandon, County Durham