Stephen Martin Lomas (born 18 January 1974) is a Northern Irish football

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

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 ...

. As a player, Lomas was a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

from 1991 to 2010. He had spells 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 ...

for both

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 ...

and

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium ...

before moving into the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

with

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus ...

and Gillingham. In 2009, he became player-manager of Non-league side St Neots Town. Lomas was capped 45 times by

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. North ...

, scoring 3 goals. Lomas was appointed manager of

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Football League (SFL). It was abolished in 2013, when t ...

club

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland which is a member of the Scottish Premiership for the 2022–23 season. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun ''aka'' Saint Johnstoun – an ol ...

in 2011. He guided them to

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

qualification places in 2011–12 and 2012–13. He moved to Championship club

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, ea ...

in June 2013.

Club career

Lomas, a

, first made his name with

after joining them in 1991. He soon broke into the first team but will often be remembered at the club for his misfortune of scoring an own goal on the last day of the 1995–96 season, which meant that City could only manage a 2–2 draw at home to

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 were relegated from the Premier League on goal difference. He then moved to

in 1997 for a fee of £2.5 million. He made his West Ham debut on 9 April 1997 in a 0–0 draw with

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 ...

; his first goal coming on 3 December 1997 in a 4–1 defeat of Crystal Palace. He made 227 competitive appearances, scoring 13 goals, became club captain and was a member of the West Ham team which won the

Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, ' betting pool'),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International F ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school s ...

. On 31 August 2005, he was released on a free transfer and joined

. Whilst at QPR he was named captain on occasions and his experience helped Rangers move away from the relegation zone. He left QPR in May 2007, and joined Gillingham on 31 July 2007. On 9 January 2008, Gillingham manager Mark Stimson revealed that Lomas had been placed on the transfer list. On 31 January it was announced that Lomas had been released from his contract.

International career

Lomas was born in Hanover, West Germany, his father was a soldier stationed there. As a child he briefly lived in Hong Kong, before moving to

Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from ga, Cúil Rathain , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, Northern I ...

, Northern Ireland at the age of two. He earned 46

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for the

Northern Ireland national team The Northern Ireland national football team represents Northern Ireland in international association football. From 1882 to 1920, all of Ireland was represented by a single side, the Ireland national football team, organised by the Irish Foo ...

, scoring three goals.

Managerial career

After leaving Gillingham, Lomas took up a coaching role at Norwich City before managing St Neots Town. from 23 March 2009, until July 2010, leading the club to their most successful season for 40 years. He left the club briefly in January 2010, following the departure of chairman John Delaney, but returned after Delaney had been reinstated as Chairman. Lomas resigned from St Neots in July 2010 to pursue his ambition to manage at a league club. At the end of February 2011 he accepted the position of reserve team manager at

St Johnstone

In November 2011, Lomas signed a -year deal to manage

side

following the departure of Derek McInnes to English

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

team Bristol City. Shortly after signing the deal to become first team manager he was joined by former

goalkeeper and Lisburn Distillery manager Tommy Wright who had agreed to join the club as an assistant to Lomas. In his first season as manager of St Johnstone, Lomas took the club to a top 6 finish for the first time since 1999. After Hearts won the Scottish Cup, St Johnstone also qualified for the Europa League, entering the competition in the second qualifying round. Initially there was confusion about who their opponents would be, because of an appeal to CAS by Turkish club, Besiktas, who had been banned from this season's European competition by UEFA. Turkish club, Eskisehirspor were, however, confirmed as opponents of St Johnstone with the first leg to be played in Turkey on 19 July and the second leg at home at McDiarmid Park, Perth on 26 July 2012. Despite a slow start to the 2012–13 season after many changes to the squad – 12 players were out of contract during the summer – St Johnstone had an excellent September, drawing with Dundee United and winning the next four matches, the first against Celtic, ending Ross County's 40 game unbeaten run and beating rivals Dundee, as well as reaching the quarter finals of the

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in exist ...

. On 4 October 2012, Lomas was named SPL Manager of the month, the first time a St Johnstone manager had won the award. On beating the Manager of the Month "curse" in October to record 5th and 6th straight wins against St Mirren and Kilmarnock, Steve Lomas achieved the best run of results at St Johnstone since 1971, reaching second place in the SPL table behind Celtic. In October 2012, Lomas' name began to be linked with vacant manager's positions in English clubs; first at Bournemouth, then Burnley, Fleetwood, Doncaster Rovers and Coventry City. Lomas achieved a second successive top six SPL finish with a game to spare, and in the last game of the season on 19 May 2013, in his first full season in charge, a 2–0 victory over Motherwell gave St Johnstone 3rd place in the SPL and

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

qualification.

Millwall

On 5 June 2013,

made an official approach to speak with Lomas about the vacant managerial position. His appointment as manager was announced on 6 June. Lomas was sacked on 26 December 2013 after the ten men of Millwall lost to

Watford Watford () is a town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal en ...

. Lomas' tenure at Millwall had been up and down. He had won six of 24 games as manager of Millwall but these included wins against higher placed teams such as Blackpool, Leeds and Wigan and he was nominated for the September SkyBet Championship Manager of the Month award after winning three games in a row. Lomas had also drawn six including QPR, Burnley, Reading and Nottingham Forest. Inheriting a team which finished one point above the relegation places on the last day of the 2012–13 season, however, Lomas was unable to achieve a dramatic turnaround in performance and left with the club one place above that in 20th position and four points above the relegation places.

Personal life

He is a nephew of the former

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 ...

and Northern Ireland goalkeeper Harry Gregg.

Honours

West Ham United *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, ' betting pool'),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International F ...

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lomas, Steve 1974 births Living people Footballers from Hanover Association football midfielders Association footballers from Northern Ireland Northern Ireland international footballers Manchester City F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players Gillingham F.C. players St Neots Town F.C. players British association football commentators West Ham United F.C. non-playing staff St Johnstone F.C. managers Scottish Premier League managers Millwall F.C. managers English Football League managers Football managers from Northern Ireland Expatriate sportspeople from Northern Ireland in Germany German expatriate sportspeople in England German people of Northern Ireland descent People from Coleraine, County Londonderry Association football coaches Sportspeople from County Londonderry