Steve Bull
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| Steve Bull | ||
| Image:Replace this image male.svg | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Stephen George Bull | |
| Date of birth | 28 March 1965 | |
| Place of birth | Tipton, England | |
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | |
| Playing position | Striker | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1985–1986 1986–1999 2000–2001 | West Bromwich Albion Wolverhampton Wanderers Hereford United Total | 4 (2) 474 (250) 6 (2) 484 (254) |
| National team | ||
| 1989–1990 1989–1991 | England England B | 13 (4) 5 (2) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals | ||
Stephen George Bull, MBE, (born 28 March 1965) is a former English footballer from Tipton who had a long career in the football league with Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Steve Bull was born on the Moat Farm estate (known locally as the "The Lost City") on 28 March 1965. He started school in September 1969 at Wednesbury Oak Primary School and moved up to Willingsworth High School in September 1976, by which time he was excelling in school football teams. The junior teams he played for included Ocker Hill infants, Red Lion and Newey Goodman. He left school in 1981 to join non-league Tipton Town.
He began his professional career, aged 19, with West Bromwich Albion in 1984, and played a handful of Football League First Division games before Albion's relegation in May 1986. Six months later, he signed for local rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers for £65,000 and remained there until the end of his professional career in 1999. Over the next 13 years, he broke no less than four of the club's goalscoring records. He became their all-time leading goalscorer with 306 goals in competitive games (250 of them in the Football League, also a club record) and became their highest goalscorer in a single season when he scored 52 goals in competitive games during the 1987-88 season. He also scored a club record of 18 hat-tricks.
He is regarded as such a legend at the club that one of the main stands at their football ground, the Molineux, is named after him. This commemoration was made in June 2003, with the stand having previously being known as the John Ireland Stand.
His debut for Wolves was against Wrexham on 22 November, 1986. He made 464 league appearances for the club, 561 appearances in total. On leaving Wolves, he went on to play 12 games for Hereford United where he rejoined his old manager Graham Turner.
Bull scored 52 goals in all competitions during the 1987-88 season as Wolves won the Fourth Division championship and became the first of only two teams (the other being Burnley) to have been champions of all four divisions in the English league. The following season he inspired Wolves to a second successive promotion, this time as Third Division champions, with 53 goals - marking an incredible tally of 105 goals in 2 seasons. While still playing in the Third Division, he was selected for the England team and scored against Scotland on his debut at Hampden Park.
Bull continued to perform well in the second tier of the English league, and stayed loyal to his Midlands roots despite interest from the likes of Aston Villa, Coventry City, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Ajax, Manchester United, Liverpool, Rangers, Lazio, Boca Juniors, Newcastle United and even the Italian giants Juventus and Genoa who reportedly had a £3.5m bid turned down prior to the 1990 world cup.
Steve Bull was capped 13 times for the England team, and scored 4 goals in the build up to Italia 90. He went on to score 2 more goals in a friendly against Czechoslovakia in 1989-90, one of which was voted in as number 37 of England's 50 Greatest Goals. His final England goal was against Tunisia, which earned him a place in Bobby Robson's World Cup Squad.
He scored nine goals in 23 appearances for England at full, U-21 and "B" team levels. Despite starting his international career well, Steve Bull did not score another goal for England. He played 4 times during Italia 90 - 3 times as a substitute against Republic of Ireland, Holland and Belgium and once as a starter against Egypt. His final match for England was in October 1990 against Poland, but was not picked again by his future Wolves manager, Graham Taylor.
He came close to achieving his amibition of reaching the top flight in 1995 and 1997, but Wolves lost in the playoffs both times. During his final two seasons at the Molineux, his chances of first-team football were reduced by a series of knee injuries. In July 1999, the 34-year-old Bull finally gave in and announced his retirement.
However, he soon returned to playing as player-coach of Hereford United in the Conference, working under his former Wolves manager Graham Turner.
Known by his adoring fans as 'Bully' for his club loyalty, rapport with supporters and passion for the game he received an MBE for services to Association Football in December 1999, shortly after retiring as a first class player.
Steve Bull played a handful of First Division games for West Bromwich Albion during the mid 1980's, but apart from that his career was spent outside the top division.
Ironically, he left Albion just as they began a sharp decline which saw them slide from the First Division to the Third Division in the space of five years. He went on to spark a revival for Wolves, who won two promotions in a row. Many Albion fans were left wondering as to what their team might have achieved if Bull had stayed with them.
In May 2003, Bull appeared in a testimonial game for West Brom's Bob Taylor at The Hawthorns. He amused many of the Albion fans in attendance by dramatically falling to the ground when the chant went up, "Stand up if you hate the Wolves".
On 29 July 2006, Bull made one final appearance for Wolves in his 20th anniversary testimonial game against Aston Villa at Molineux, playing the first seven minutes of the match.
[edit] External links
- Official Site
- The Unofficial Steve Bull Home Page
- A tribute to Steve Bull
- Steve Bull on wanting to become new Wolves manager
- Steve Bull career stats at Soccerbase
England squad - 1990 FIFA World Cup Fourth Place | |
|---|---|
| 1 Shilton • 2 Stevens • 3 Pearce • 4 Webb • 5 Walker • 6 Butcher • 7 Bryan Robson • 8 Waddle • 9 Beardsley • 10 Lineker • 11 Barnes • 12 Parker • 13 Woods • 14 Wright • 15 Dorigo • 16 McMahon • 17 Platt • 18 Hodge • 19 Gascoigne • 20 Steven • 21 Bull • 22 Beasant • Coach: Bobby Robson | Image:Flag of England.svg |
fr:Steve Bull no:Steve Bull fi:Steve Bull sv:Steve Bull
Categories: 1965 births | Living people | English footballers | England international footballers | England B international footballers | FIFA World Cup 1990 players | West Bromwich Albion F.C. players | Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players | Hereford United F.C. players | Members of the Order of the British Empire | People from Wolverhampton | Football (soccer) strikers | The Football League players
