Stephen William Henry Lovell (born 6 December 1980) 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 lea ...
who played as a
striker. Lovell played the majority of his career in the
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 ...
, representing Dundee, Aberdeen and Falkirk, but also played in England for
AFC Bournemouth
AFC Bournemouth ( ) is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. ...
,
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 ...
,
Exeter City
Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third level of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...
,
Sheffield United and
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 ...
.
Career
Portsmouth
Lovell started his career in 1998 when he joined
AFC Bournemouth
AFC Bournemouth ( ) is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. ...
, but then surprisingly signed for
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 ...
for £250,000 despite only making a few brief appearances. He then went on loan to
Exeter City
Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third level of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...
,
Sheffield United (where he scored once against Watford) and
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 ...
.
Dundee
Lovell signed for
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
Dundee
Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...
in the summer of 2002. He spent three seasons at
Dens Park
Dens Park is a football stadium in Dundee, Scotland, which is the home of club Dundee F.C. and has a capacity of . Tannadice Park, the home of rivals Dundee United, is just 200 yards (183 metres) away.
History
Dundee moved to "Dens" from the ...
, scoring 35 goals in 98 competitive appearances.
Aberdeen
In the summer of 2005, following Dundee's relegation from the SPL, Lovell signed for
Aberdeen
Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...
. He made his Aberdeen début against
Kilmarnock
Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...
on 8 August and scored his first goal against
Rangers the following week. Lovell went on to score a further nine times that season. Lovell formed the habit of scoring late goals for Aberdeen, becoming something of a "supersub". These late goals included two in separate matches against
Inverness Caledonian Thistle, which maintained Aberdeen's unbeaten record against that opponent. Lovell also scored a consolation goal in the second leg of Aberdeen's
UEFA Cup
The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star.
Computer scientists and Mathematici ...
match against
Bayern Munich
Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...
in the
Allianz Arena
Allianz Arena (; known as Munich Football Arena for UEFA competitions) is a Association football, football stadium in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, with a 70,000 seating capacity for international matches and 75,000 for domestic matches. Widely kno ...
.
In April 2008, he was told by
Jimmy Calderwood
James Calderwood (28 February 1955 – 19 January 2025) was a Scottish football player and manager. Calderwood played for Birmingham City and Dutch clubs Sparta Rotterdam, Willem II Tilburg, Roda JC and Heracles Almelo. After retiring as a pl ...
that he would not be offered a new contract by Aberdeen and would be free to leave in the summer. It was reported on 18 July that
Hibernian,
Kilmarnock
Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...
and
Falkirk
Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow.
Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...
were all interested in signing him.
Falkirk
In August 2008, Lovell signed for Falkirk on a one-year deal with the option of a further one. He scored his first goal in a
League Cup match against
Queen of the South and netted his first league goal against
Hamilton Academical
Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, who currently compete in . They were established in 1874 from the school football team at Hamilto ...
the following Saturday. Despite a disappointing season for Falkirk in the league, Lovell ended up with a Scottish Cup runners-up medal, after playing the full match in the
final
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
*Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training
*Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...
against Rangers. In May 2009, it was reported that Lovell had undertaken a medical at
Tannadice Park
Tannadice Park, officially known as The CalForth Construction Arena for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Dundee, Scotland. It is the home ground of Dundee United F.C., who have played at Tannadice since the club was founded as Du ...
ahead of a proposed move to
Dundee United
Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...
, although United manager
Craig Levein
Craig William Levein (born 22 October 1964) is a Scottish professional association football, football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of Scottish Premiership club St Johnstone F.C., St Johnstone.
During his playing c ...
later refuted the story and Lovell admitted he knew "absolutely nothing about it". On 27 June 2009, he left Falkirk despite finishing the season as their top league goal scorer after new manager Eddie May refused to renew his contract. Lovell attempted to sue the club the following year for compensation as he claimed he had been entitled to a contract extension.
Partick Thistle
After leaving Falkirk, Lovell signed for
Partick Thistle
Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland and currently plays in the . Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not ...
where he played seventeen games, scoring 3 goals, before leaving on 24 March 2010 to have surgery on a niggling ankle injury.
AFC Bournemouth
In June 2010, Lovell joined his half-brother,
Eddie Howe
Edward John Frank Howe (born 29 November 1977) is an English professional football manager and former player, who is the manager of Premier League club Newcastle United.
A centre-back during his playing career, Howe spent most of his playing ...
at Bournemouth, his second spell at the club. After spending a period of pre-season with the club in 2009 he finally signed following the lifting of the club's transfer embargo. Lovell's contract came to an end after the 2010–11 campaign, but was offered a further year plus one-year option by Cherries boss,
Lee Bradbury, and put pen to paper on 25 May 2011 keeping him at Bournemouth until at least May 2012. Lovell had struggled to overcome an ankle injury and only returned to the squad in April 2011 but showed enough quality to merit a new deal. On 1 September 2011, Lovell announced his retirement from professional football with immediate effect after struggling with injuries for the past two seasons. Lovell scored four goals during his second spell at Bournemouth. His first goal came against Hartlepool in the league, a game in which Bournemouth confirmed their spot in the
2010–11
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...
playoffs despite conceding an injury time goal scored by Hartlepool goalkeeper
Scott Flinders. However, his two goals against Huddersfield in the play off semi final second leg were unable to prevent them from losing on penalties. At the start of the following season, Lovell scored a goal against
West Bromwich Albion
West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...
in the League Cup as they lost 4–1.
On 2 September 2011 Lovell retired from football because of injury.
Personal life
In 2008, Lovell became engaged to Scottish singer-songwriter
Amy Macdonald
Amy Elizabeth Macdonald (born 25 August 1987) is a Scottish singer-songwriter. In 2007, she released her debut studio album, ''This Is the Life (Amy Macdonald album), This Is the Life'', which produced the singles "Mr. Rock & Roll" and "This ...
but the two separated four years later.
He is the half brother of Newcastle United manager,
Eddie Howe
Edward John Frank Howe (born 29 November 1977) is an English professional football manager and former player, who is the manager of Premier League club Newcastle United.
A centre-back during his playing career, Howe spent most of his playing ...
.
Career statistics
Club
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lovell, Steve
1980 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Amersham
English men's footballers
Men's association football forwards
AFC Bournemouth players
Portsmouth F.C. players
Exeter City F.C. players
Sheffield United F.C. players
Queens Park Rangers F.C. players
Dundee F.C. players
Aberdeen F.C. players
Falkirk F.C. players
Walsall F.C. players
Partick Thistle F.C. players
English Football League players
Scottish Premier League players
Scottish Football League players
Footballers from Buckinghamshire
21st-century English sportsmen