Steven James McGavin (born 24 January 1969) is an English 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 ...

. He now works as head of national recruitment for Aston Villa Academy. Having previously held recruitment roles at both Norwich City and Ipswich Town.

Playing career

Born in

North Walsham North Walsham is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the North Norfolk district of the county of Norfolk, England. The town is located south of Cromer and Norwich is south. Demography The civil parish has an area of ...

, McGavin played non-League football for Sudbury Town in his late teens and early 20s, before being signed by

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its ea ...

for £10,000 in July 1992. After scoring 17 goals in 58 games, he was signed by

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

for £150,000 in January 1994. However, after 23 matches and only two goals, he was sold to

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 188 ...

for £175,000 in March 1995. In January 1999 he was released by Wycombe, and in February signed for

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth level of English football. The team are known as "The Shrimpers", a reference ...

on a free transfer, but failed to score in eleven appearances. He signed for Northampton Town in August that year, but did not make a first team appearance. In October he returned to Colchester, where he made 75 appearances over two seasons. After being released by Colchester in July 2001, he returned to non-League football and signed for

Dagenham & Redbridge Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club (), often known simply as Dagenham and abbreviated when written to Dag & Red, is a professional association football club based in Dagenham, Greater London, England that play in the , the sixth level of the En ...

. He later moved on to Harwich & Parkeston (where he was player-manager),Soccer: Steve takes time to mull over options
Clacton Gazette, 10 January 2003 Stanway Rovers, Clacton Town, and

Bury Town Bury Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club, based in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England. The club are currently members of the and play at Ram Meadow. History Early history The club was established by William Lake at a meeti ...

. McGavin also played amateur football for Real Benalmadena in Andalucia, Spain.

Coaching career

McGavin was briefly player-manager of Harwich & Parkeston in the 2002-03 season. After retirement, McGavin worked within Colchester United's commercial department. Additionally, he shortly coached at youth level: training the U12s at Marbella Paraiso CF. In August 2012, McGavin was appointed head of academy recruitment at

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...

. He joined

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 ...

in 2017, and later

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

in similar roles.

Personal life

McGavin's youngest son, Brett McGavin, is also a footballer.

Honours

Colchester United *

Football Conference The National League of English Football Clubs is a professional Association football, football league in England that consists of 72 teams, divided equally between the National League (division), National League North and National League South ...

: 1991–92 *

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

: 1991–92 Individual * Non-League Player of the Year: 1991-92

References

External links

Steve McGavin
at Colchester United Archive Database * {{DEFAULTSORT:McGavin, Steve 1969 births Living people People from North Walsham English men's footballers Men's association football forwards English Football League players National League (English football) players Sudbury Town F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Dagenham & Redbridge F.C. players Harwich & Parkeston F.C. players Stanway Rovers F.C. players F.C. Clacton players Bury Town F.C. players Footballers from Norfolk