Steve Lovell (Welsh footballer)

Football player infobox
playername = Steve Lovell


fullname = Stephen John Lovell
height =height|ft=5|in=9
nickname =
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1960|7|16
cityofbirth = Swansea
countryofbirth = Wales
currentclub =
clubnumber =
position = Striker
youthyears = 1977-?
youthclubs = Crystal Palace
years = ?-1983 1979 1979 1983-1987 1987 1987-1992 1992 1992-1993 1993-1994 1994 1994-1995 1995-1996 1996-1997 1997 1997-1999 1999-2000 2000-2001 2001-?
clubs = Crystal Palace → Memphis Rogues (loan)
→ Stockport County (loan)
Millwall
→ Swansea City (loan)
Gillingham
→ AFC Bournemouth (loan)
Sittingbourne
Braintree Town
St Albans City
Hastings Town
Sittingbourne
Gravesend & Northfleet
Weymouth
Tonbridge Angels
Deal Town
Ashford Town
Sittingbourne
caps(goals) = 074 0(3) [ [http://www.neilbrown.newcastlefans.com/crystalpalace/crystalpalace.htm Post War English & Scottish Football League A - Z Player's Database] ]
"unknown"
012 0(0) [http://www.neilbrown.newcastlefans.com/stockport/stockport.htm Post War English & Scottish Football League A - Z Player's Database] ]
146 (43) [ [http://www.neilbrown.newcastlefans.com/millwall/millwall.htm Post War English & Scottish Football League A - Z Player's Database] ]
002 0(1) [ [http://www.neilbrown.newcastlefans.com/swansea/swansea.htm Post War English & Scottish Football League A - Z Player's Database] ]
233 (94) [http://www.neilbrown.newcastlefans.com/gillingham/gillingham.htm Post War English & Scottish Football League A - Z Player's Database] ]
003 0(0) [ [http://www.neilbrown.newcastlefans.com/bournemouth/bournemouth.htm Post War English & Scottish Football League A - Z Player's Database] ]
"unknown"
"unknown"
"unknown"
"unknown"
"unknown"
"unknown"
"unknown"
"unknown"
"unknown"
"unknown"
"unknown"
nationalyears = tbc
nationalteam = Wales
manageryears=1995-1996
1996-1997
2003-2004
2005-2007 [http://www.pittsfamily.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Pen%20Pics.htm Official Sittingbourne F.C. website] ]
2007-
managerclubs = Sittingbourne
Gravesend & Northfleet
Hastings United [http://www.hastingsunitedfc.co.uk/History.htm Official Hastings United F.C. website] ]
Sittingbourne
Ashford Town
nationalcaps(goals) = 6 (1) [cite book | first=Bill|last=Bateson |coauthors=Albert Sewell | title=News of the World Football Annual 1992/93| publisher=Harper Collins | year=1992| id=ISBN 0-85543-188-1|pages=p209]
pcupdate = 12:23, 21 June 2007 (UTC)
ntupdate =

Stephen "Steve" Lovell (born Swansea, 16 July 1960) is a Welsh former professional footballer. He played professionally for Crystal Palace,Stockport County, Millwall, Swansea City, Gillingham and AFC Bournemouth and made over 450 Football League appearances. He is currently manager of Ashford Town.

Playing career

Although born in Wales, Lovell began his career as an apprentice with Crystal Palace in 1977. Playing at the time as a midfielder, he managed 74 Football League appearances in six years at Selhurst Park, during which he also had a spell on loan at Stockport County. In 1983 he moved to Millwall, where manager George Graham played him as a striker during an injury crisis. He went on to score 13 goals in 11 matches and remained a striker for the remainder of his career.cite book | first=Roger|last= Triggs | title=The Men Who Made Gillingham Football Club| publisher=Tempus Publishing Ltd | year=2001| id=ISBN 0-7524-2243-X|pages=p204]

In 1986 Lovell was injured whilst playing for Canada and was unable to regain a place in the Millwall team and, after a short loan spell with his hometown club Swansea City, was sold to Gillingham for £20,000. During his time with the Kent club he played over 200 matches and scored nearly 100 goals, finishing as the club's leading scorer in four consecutive seasonscite book | first=Roger|last= Triggs | title=The Men Who Made Gillingham Football Club| publisher=Tempus Publishing Ltd | year=2001| id=ISBN 0-7524-2243-X|pages=p348] and equalling a club record by scoring in seven consecutive matches in 1990. He scored four goals in Gillingham's 8–1 defeat of Southend United in 1987 but bizarrely failed to find the net at all when the team won 10–0 against Chesterfield the following Saturday.

After a brief loan spell with AFC Bournemouth in 1992, Lovell dropped into non-league football, where he played for nine different clubs in nine years, including three separate spells with Sittingbourne. In 2000 he played for Deal Town in the FA Vase final at Wembley. [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/htmlContent.jhtml?html=/archive/2000/05/08/sfnnon08.html Daily Telegraph] ] He finally hung up his boots in 2001.

Managerial career

Lovell's first managerial job came at Sittingbourne, where he was player-manager from February 1995 until September 1996, during which he led the team to the Southern League Southern Division championship. [fchd|name=Sittingbourne|id=SITTINGB] He then moved on to Gravesend & Northfleet where he was manager for a year.

After a spell as Football in the Community Officer for Gillingham (which overlapped the end of his playing career) Lovell returned to management with Hastings United in 2003 but left the club in 2004 after a drop in form. In 2005 he returned for a second spell managing Sittingbourne, a post he held until October 2007, [ [http://www.pittsfamily.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/main.htm Sittingbourne F.C. website] ] when he left to take over at Ashford Town. [ [http://www.ashfordtownfc.co.uk/news.html Ashford Town website] ]

Family connections with football

Lovell's father Alan was also a footballer, although he only managed a single professional appearance for Stockport County. Lovell's son Mark also became a footballer, turning professional with his father's old club Gillingham in 2001. He also made only one professional appearance before dropping into non-league football.

References