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

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

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 lea ...

. As a player, Lomas was a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

from 1991 to 2010. He had spells in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

for both

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

and

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 ...

before moving into 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 ...

with

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

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 ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

, scoring 3 goals. Lomas was appointed manager of

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

club St Johnstone in 2011. He guided them to

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

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 Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

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 port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

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 ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

; 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 The captain of a football/soccer team, sometimes known as the skipper, is a team member chosen to be the on-pitch leader of the team; they are often one of the older or more experienced members of the squad, or a player that can heavily influ ...

and was a member of the West Ham team which won the

Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was discon ...

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

. 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 Mark Nicholas Stimson (born 27 December 1967) is an English former footballer and manager. He is currently assistant manager of Cray Wanderers. He signed his first professional contract with Tottenham Hotspur in 1985, but was unable to gain ...

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 , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, No ...

, 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 Java ...

for the Northern Ireland national team, scoring three goals.

Managerial career

After leaving Gillingham, Lomas took up a coaching role at

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

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 St Johnstone 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 sys ...

team

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

. 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. 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 fifth- and sixth-straight wins against St Mirren and Kilmarnock, 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 at 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 third place in the SPL and

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

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 non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

. 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 United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

and Northern Ireland goalkeeper Harry Gregg.

Honours

;Player West Ham United *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

;Manager St Neots Town * Hunts Senior Cup: 2009–10 *Hinchingbrooke Cup: 2008–09

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lomas, Steve 1974 births Living people Footballers from Hanover Men's association football midfielders Association footballers from County Londonderry Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland Northern Ireland men's 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 Association football managers from Northern Ireland Expatriate sportspeople from Northern Ireland in Germany German expatriate sportspeople in England German people of Northern Ireland descent Sportspeople from Coleraine, County Londonderry Association football coaches from Northern Ireland