Stephen John Chettle (born 27 September 1968) is an English football manager and 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 ...

, who is director of football at Basford United. As a player, he was a defender from 1986 to 2005 and was best known for his time as a player at

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

where he made 415 league appearances and played numerous seasons in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

, won the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

and was a runner-up 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 ...

. Despite playing most of his career in the top level of English football, Chettle never made the England squad, but came close in 1992, despite this Chettle played 12 games for the England Under-21s, captaining them in his final appearance. He went on to play for Barnsley,

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is t ...

and

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in t ...

before ending his career in

Non-League football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is s ...

with stints at

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club moved its home gro ...

and

Ilkeston Town Ilkeston Town Football Club is a football club based in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, England. They currently play in the . History On 30 June 2017, a company, Ilkeston Town F.C. Ltd was registered at Companies House. On 20 July 2017, it was conf ...

. Since his retirement, Chettle had coached at former club Forest at academy level, before joining

Ilkeston Ilkeston is a town in the Borough of Erewash, Derbyshire, England, on the River Erewash, from which the borough takes its name, with a population at the 2011 census of 38,640. Its major industries, coal mining, iron working and lace making/texti ...

in 2014. He went on to join

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...

as a first team coach and twice served as caretaker manager during the 2018–19 season.

Career

Nottingham Forest

Chettle was promoted from the youth team setup at his hometown club of

. His first senior season was the 1986–1987 campaign. He went on to become a talisman in the Forest side of the late eighties and late nineties, and was ever present in each of the sides he played in, and managers he worked under. Steve is held in high regard by the Forest faithful after spending 13 years at the

City Ground The City Ground is a football stadium in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, on the banks of the River Trent. It has been home to Nottingham Forest Football Club since 1898 and has a capacity of 30,445. The stadium was a venue when ...

where he is considered a hero. He was initially part of a young crop of players that came into life at Forest under the famous

Brian Clough Brian Howard Clough ( ; 21 March 1935 – 20 September 2004) was an English football player and manager, primarily known for his successes as a manager with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. He is one of four managers to have won the Engli ...

, and was part of the Forest side that lost the 1991

final at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

, as well as being part of the triumphant 1990

winning side. Chettle went on to play 527 times for Forest in all competitions, scoring 11 goals between 1986 and 1999. Each of Chettle's seasons at Forest were played in the top flight of English football, bar 1993-94 and 1997–98. In the 1994–95 season, he was part of the side that finished a notable third in the

. As players and managers came and left, Chettle stayed with the club, and notably played alongside such Forest greats as

Des Walker Desmond Sinclair Walker (born 26 November 1965) is an English football coach and former player, who played as a defender. At club level he played in seven cup finals for Nottingham Forest at Wembley, winning five of them. He was Forest's pl ...

Stuart Pearce Stuart Pearce (born 24 April 1962) is an English professional football manager and former player, who was most recently a first-team coach for Premier League club West Ham United. He was nicknamed "Psycho" for his unforgiving style of play. ...

Nigel Clough Nigel Howard Clough (born 19 March 1966) is an English professional football manager and former player who is currently the manager of Mansfield Town. Playing predominantly as a forward, but later in his career used as a midfielder, Clough wa ...

, Ian Woan, Steve Stone, Mark Crossley,

Stan Collymore Stanley Victor Collymore (born 22 January 1971) is an English football pundit, sport strategist, and former player who played as a striker from 1990 to 2001, most notably for Nottingham Forest and later Liverpool, who he joined from the for ...

, and Pierre Van Hooijdonk.

Barnsley

In 1999, Forest manager David Platt made Chettle available for loan, and eventually sent him on loan to Barnsley who, like Forest, were struggling in the First Division at the time. The two clubs eventually struck a permanent deal after impressing in the two games played during his loan spell. This would then spell the end for Chettle's 13-year Forest career, as he signed for the

Oakwell Oakwell is a multi-purpose sports development in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England used primarily by Barnsley Football Club for playing their home fixtures, and those of their reserves. While the name 'Oakwell' generally refers to the main ...

club in December 1999. Chettle went on to play out the rest of the 1999–2000 season for the club, as well as competing in the 2000–01 and 2001–02 seasons. His final game for the club was a 5–1 thumping away at

Manchester City 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 Salford to the west. The two ...

on the final day of the season. Chettle was released by Barnsley in the summer of 2002.

Grimsby Town

In July 2002, two months after his release from Barnsley, Chettle and fellow Tykes defender

Darren Barnard Darren Sean Barnard (born 30 November 1971) is a former professional footballer, manager and coach. Barnard was a wing-back and midfielder from 1989 until 2010 in the Premier League for both Chelsea and Barnsley. He also played in the Footba ...

joined league rivals

on one-year contracts. Chettle was seen as an ideal candidate to step in the centre of defence and started the season alongside the club's player-manager Paul Groves and Jamaican youngster

Simon Ford Simon Gary Ford (born 17 November 1981) is a former professional footballer who played as a defender from 2001 to 2013. Having started his career with Charlton Athletic as a youngster, he transferred to Grimsby Town in 2001. He moved on to B ...

. After a slow start to the season for Grimsby, Steve saw his season blighted by injury, and through this, it pushed manager Groves into signing

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games a ...

centre half

Georges Santos Georges Santos (born 15 August 1970) is a former professional footballer and club scout for English Premier League side West Ham United.https://uk.linkedin.com/in/georges-santos-9bbb2726 As a player he was a defender and a midfielder in a ca ...

and

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 ...

's Jason Gavin as cover. Steve eventually returned from injury in early 2003, and went on to score his only goal for The Mariners in a 4–1 home defeat against

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 ...

. Grimsby were relegated at the end of the 2002–03 season, Groves decided against offering Chettle a fresh contract, thus sealing his departure from the

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershir ...

club.

Burton Albion

Several months after his departure from

Blundell Park Blundell Park is a football ground in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England and home to Grimsby Town Football Club. The stadium was built in 1899, but only one of the original stands remains. The current capacity of the ground is 9,05 ...

, Chettle acted upon an offer to work with

, the son of his former Forest manager, and sign with

Conference National The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profes ...

side

. Clough at the time was the player/manager of the non-league club. Chettle signed a one-year contract with Burton, and he would remain with the club for the 2003–04 season. This would be Chettle's only year at Eton Park and he departed in the summer of 2004.

Ilkeston Town

Following one season with Burton, Chettle moved down the non-league footballing ladder, signing for

in July 2004. Chettle featured at centre back that season with notably forming a formidable partnership with long serving ex Grimsby defender Mark Lever. This would eventually be both players' final season, and Chettle decided to retire from competitive football at the end of the 2004–05 season.

Coaching career

Following his retirement and leaving Ilkeston, Chettle moved to run a soccer school in his native

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

. He subsequently worked at the Nottingham Forest Academy, including a spell as coach of the under 18's squad with

Gary Brazil Gary Nicholas Brazil (born 19 September 1962) is an English former professional footballer and football manager, who is now academy manager at Nottingham Forest. He scored 160 goals in 658 league and cup games in an 18-year professional career. ...

. During the 2013–14 season, Chettle departed Forest to become assistant manager at

, also becoming the club's academy manager. He became assistant manager of Nuneaton Town in the summer of 2015, following manager Kevin Wilson. In July 2017, he was appointed manager of

. In August 2018, he joined

's backroom staff, but would still be Ilkeston manager until a permanent replacement was appointed. Following Kevin Nolan's dismissal as manager, Chettle was named as caretaker manager alongside Mark Crossley; their only match in charge was a 3–1 home loss to Forest Green Rovers. In September 2018, he was succeeded as Ilkeston's manager by Martin McIntosh. On 13 November 2018 he was again appointed caretaker manager following the sacking of Nolan's replacement

Harry Kewell Harry Kewell (born 22 September 1978) is an Australian association football coach, manager and former player. His most recent role as a club manager was at English National League side Barnet, and he is currently a first team coach at Celtic ...

. On 25 April 2019, Chettle was named manager of head of development at Basford United.http://www.basfordunited.co.uk/news/basford-united-club-structure-announcement-appoint-2420303.html

Personal life

Chettle's son Callum is also a professional footballer, who plays for him at Basford United.

Honours

;

* First Division (1): 1997–98 *

(2): 1988–89, 1989–90 *

Full Members Cup The Full Members' Cup was an association football cup competition held in English football from 1985 to 1992. It was also known under its sponsored names of the Simod Cup from 1987 to 1989 and the Zenith Data Systems Cup from 1989 to 1992. Th ...

(2):

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker ru ...

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engines ...

References

External links

Steve Chettle Soccer School
*
Steve Chettle profile
at electronicfishcake.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Chettle, Steve 1968 births Living people Footballers from Nottingham English footballers England under-21 international footballers Association football defenders Nottingham Forest F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Burton Albion F.C. players Ilkeston Town F.C. (1945) players Premier League players English Football League players National League (English football) players Nottingham Forest F.C. non-playing staff English football managers Notts County F.C. managers Basford United F.C. managers FA Cup Final players Association football coaches