Players - Steve Staunton

Steve Staunton
Birthdate: 19 January 1969
Birthplace: Drogheda, Ireland
Other clubs: Dundalk (1985-86), Bradford City (loan 1987-88), Aston Villa (1991-98), Crystal Palace (loan 2000), Aston Villa (2 / 2000-03), Coventry City (2003-05), Walsall (2005-06)
Signed from: Dundalk / Free Transfer
Signed for LFC: 20000 / Bosman, 18.08.1986 / 02.07.1998
International debut: 19.10.1988 vs. Tunisia
International caps: Ireland 102/7 (38/3 at LFC) - 16.06.2002
Liverpool debut: 17.09.1988
Last appearance: 23.11.2000
Debut goal: 20.09.1988
Last goal: 14.09.1999
Contract expiry: 07.08.1991 / 06.12.2000
Win ratio: 52.7% W:78 D:36 L:34
Games/assists ratio: 6.73
Honours: League Championship 1989/90; FA Cup 1989
Total games/goals opposite LFC: 16 / 1
League games / goals / assists: 109 / 0 / 13
Total games / goals / assists: 148 / 7 / 22

Player Profile

The Irishman's versatility proved useful for Liverpool as he could play in a number of different positions. Although "Stan" played as a left-back more often than not, he actually struck a second-half hat-trick when replacing Ian Rush in a League Cup tie against Wigan in October 1989 and even made a brief starring appearance in goal in a Merseyside derby ten years later when Sander Westerveld was sent off a few minutes after Liverpool had made their third and final substitution. Staunton signed from Dundalk in 1986 after a two weeks' trial. The 19-year-old made his breakthrough two years later. Barry Venison and David Burrows had earlier featured as left-back in 1988/89, but Staunton made the position his own in the last three months of the season. He started 22 matches in the following campaign when Liverpool won the title, usually selected when players were missing throughout the team. In 1990/91 Staunton had his longest stay in the team as Dalglish resigned and Souness arrived. Unfortunately for Staunton, he became a victim of the rule restricting the number of non-English players at each club. Souness decided unwisely the defender was dispensable and sold him to Aston Villa in August 1991. Staunton subsequently developed into one of the best left full-backs in the country.

Once Roy Evans had taken over at Anfield in 1994, Staunton was linked with a return to Liverpool almost every single year. Finally, when he arrived in July 1998 he had obviously left his best years behind him at Villa. Experienced though he was as a man who would represent Republic of Ireland over a hundred times, he was used only sparingly in Houllier's first full season in charge in 1999/2000. In the following season, he appeared only twice for the first team, both times as substitute. Two weeks after his final appearance away to Olympiakos in the UEFA Cup, Staunton returned to Villa Park and appeared regularly for Villa for another two years before ending his playing career with spells at Coventry City and Walsall. His final game as a professional footballer came on New Year's Eve, 2005.

In January 2006, three days before his thirty-seventh birthday, Staunton was surprisingly named as Brian Kerr's successor to manage the Republic of Ireland's full international team. It was quite a shock as more high-profile candidates had been mentioned and "Stan" had only had a brief spell as assistant coach at Walsall on his c.v. The Irish had failed to qualify for the World Cup in Germany in 2006 so Staunton's short-term aim was to ensure qualification for the next European championship finals in 2008. Despite another qualification failure under Staunton refused to resign, but matters were taken out of his hands by the Football Association of Ireland in October 2007 and he was replaced as international manager by Don Givens, who took over as temporary manager until a permanent replacement to Steve Staunton was unveiled in Giovanni Trapattoni. Staunton has since served as Gary McAllister's assistant at Leeds United in 2008 and had a disastrous spell as boss of Darlington that he had to prevent dropping out of the Football League and into the Conference. It was a task that proved to be too much for the Irishman. After only five months in charge, Staunton was dismissed in March 2010 after Darlington's twenty-sixth league defeat in 32 matches.
Appearances per season
Season League FA LC Europe Other Total
Totals 109 18 13 7 1 148
1987-1988 0 0 0 0 0 0
1988-1989 21 3 4 0 1 29
1989-1990 20 6 2 0 0 28
1990-1991 24 7 2 0 0 33
1998-1999 31 1 2 6 0 40
1999-2000 12 1 3 0 0 16
2000-2001 1 0 0 1 0 2
A more detailed look at the player's appearances
Apps Minutes Opponent
10 746 Tottenham
9 841 Everton
9 738 Arsenal
8 617 Southampton
7 586 Wimbledon
7 472 Derby
7 383 Sheffield Wednesday
5 450 Nottingham Forest
5 427 Manchester United
5 420 Coventry City
5 368 Norwich City
5 290 QPR
4 360 Crystal Palace
4 341 Middlesbrough
4 334 Charlton Athletic
4 327 Blackburn Rovers
4 300 Aston Villa
4 257 West Ham United
4 211 Luton Town
3 270 Leeds United
3 270 Chelsea
3 238 Newcastle United
3 190 Millwall
2 210 Brighton & Hove Albion
2 180 Hull City
2 180 Swansea City
2 180 Valencia
2 180 Celta Vigo
2 109 Kosice
2 53 Wigan Athletic
1 90 Crewe
1 90 Fulham
1 90 Leicester City
1 90 Brentford
1 90 Bradford City
1 90 Port Vale
1 76 Walsall
1 67 Manchester City
1 44 Olympiacos
1 35 Huddersfield Town
1 8 Sunderland
1 6 Watford
Total Started/substitutions
126 Started
35 On the bench
22 Substitute
27 Substituted
Total Venue
79 Away
65 Home
4 Neutral
Total Competition
65 League
44 Premier League
18 FA Cup
13 League Cup
7 UEFA Cup
1 Centenary Trophy
Total W D L Win % Manager
77 45 22 10 58.4% Kenny Dalglish
42 20 8 14 47.6% Gérard Houllier
16 7 5 4 43.8% Evans / Houllier
8 3 1 4 37.5% Ronnie Moran
5 3 0 2 60% Graeme Souness
Goals per season
Season League FA LC Europe Other Total
Totals 0 1 5 0 1 7
1987-1988 0 0 0 0 0 0
1988-1989 0 0 0 0 1 1
1989-1990 0 0 3 0 0 3
1990-1991 0 1 1 0 0 2
1998-1999 0 0 0 0 0 0
1999-2000 0 0 1 0 0 1
2000-2001 0 0 0 0 0 0
A more detailed look at the player's goalscoring
Total Started/substitutions
4 Started
3 Substitute
Total Competition
5 League Cup
1 Centenary Trophy
1 FA Cup
Total Goal minute period
1 31-45 minutes
1 46-60 minutes
1 61-75 minutes
4 76-90 minutes
Total Goal origin
7 Open play
Assists per season
Season League FA LC Europe Other Total
Totals 13 2 6 1 0 22
1987-1988 0 0 0 0 0 0
1988-1989 5 0 0 0 0 5
1989-1990 3 1 1 0 0 5
1990-1991 4 1 1 0 0 6
1998-1999 0 0 1 1 0 2
1999-2000 1 0 3 0 0 4
2000-2001 0 0 0 0 0 0
A more detailed look at the player's assists
Milestone Appearances
# Date Against Stadium Competition
1 17.09.1988 Tottenham Anfield League
50 31.03.1990 Southampton Anfield League
100 20.10.1998 Valencia Anfield Europe
Milestone Goals
# Minute Date Against Stadium Competition
1 80 20.09.1988 Arsenal Highbury Other
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Scrapbook
The game I remember - Blackburn on 5 January 1991
The game I remember - Blackburn on 5 January 1991
Other Clubs
Club Season Club rank League apps League goals Total apps Total goals
Dundalk 1985-1986 Ireland 1 N/A N/A N/A N/A
Aston Villa 1991-1992 England First Division 37 4 43 4
Aston Villa 1992-1993 England Premier League 42 2 51 2
Aston Villa 1993-1994 England Premier League 24 3 33 3
Aston Villa 1994-1995 England Premier League 35 5 43 5
Aston Villa 1995-1996 England Premier League 13 0 18 1
Aston Villa 1996-1997 England Premier League 30 2 35 2
Aston Villa 1997-1998 England Premier League 27 1 38 3
Bradford City 1997-1998 England First Division 8 0 11 0
Crystal Palace 2000-2001 England First Division 6 1 6 1
Aston Villa 2000-2001 England Premier League 13 0 16 0
Aston Villa 2001-2002 England Premier League 33 0 38 0
Aston Villa 2002-2003 England Premier League 26 0 32 1
Coventry City 2003-2004 England First Division 35 3 38 3
Coventry City 2004-2005 England Championship 35 1 37 1
Walsall 2005-2006 League One 7 0 10 0
Total 371 22 449 26