STEPHEN “STEVE” VICKERS

Steve Vickers was born 13 October 1967 at Bishop Auckland, the son of Les and Mary Vickers and brother to Andrea. He was raised at Evenwood and attended local schools at Evenwood and Staindrop.

Below: 1978 – 79: Evenwood (C of E Controlled) Primary School

Winners of the Rudd Cup

Back Row: left to right: Andrew Robinson, Wayne Peairs, Paul Maughan, Pat Partridge, Mr. Hodgson, Clive Stokes, Paul Webb, Stephen Pattinson.

Front Row: Stuart Anderson, John Sanderson, David Smith, Steve Vickers, Graham Knight, Andrew Peairs, Wayne Dodds.

FOOTBALL CAREER

Steve Vickers played as a central defender and made over 600 appearances in the Premier League and Championship, the majority of which were with Tranmere Rovers and Middlesbrough.

1984 – 85: Steve signed for local non-league club, Spennymoor United.
1985 – 93: He began his professional career with TRANMERE ROVERS making 385 appearances scoring 11 goals. Steve was a member of the team which won the 1989-90 Football League Trophy.

1993 – 2001: Steve joined MIDDLESBROUGH for £700,000 making 293 appearances, scoring 20 goals and he played in the 1997 FA Cup Final. He won the club’s Player of the Year Award for the 1993-94 season. He was a regular under Bryan Robson but Steve McClaren’s arrival in 2001 coincided with a loan move to Birmingham City.

2001: Steve was loaned to Crystal Palace (7 appearances) then Birmingham City (5 appearances) later that year.
2001 – 2003: Steve Bruce’s first signing for Birmingham City was Steve Vickers in a £400,000 deal. He made only 14 appearances, scoring 1 goal and was a member of the squad which gained promotion to the Premier League in 2002. In 2003, following 2 injury plagued seasons which included a knee operation, a broken rib and a badly gashed ankle, Steve Vickers retired from professional football after a long and respected career.

LATER CAREER

2010: Head of Youth Recruitment for a sports management firm.

OTHER SPORTING INTERESTS

Steve Vickers is PRESIDENT of EVENWOOD CRICKET CLUB.

He played from the age of 13 for the Junior Team, then under 18s.

Steve played mainly second team cricket but was good enough to turn out for the first team in the Durham County League in seasons prior to 1987.

From 15/05/1980 to 18/08/1985, Steve played for the Juniors scoring 827 runs with a top score of 73 not out; taking 72 wickets 72, including 2 hat-tricks both v Etherley and holding 18 catches.
Between, 16/08/1980 and 11/07/1987, Steve played senior cricket for the Seconds and First XI, scoring a total of 1255 runs, taking 72 wickets and holding 48 catches.

Below: 1983 EVENWOOD CRICKET CLUB

Back Row left to right: Stuart Land, Robin Gill, Denis Wright, Alf Teesdale, Roy Jacobs, Billy Teesdale

Seated: Ian Sowerby, Steve Vickers, Ronnie Horner, Craig Rutherford, Ian Longstaff.

Front: Stephen Jacobs (scorer)

ECC Presentation, Social and Charity Events

Steve supported the Junior teams for many years, particularly when under the charge of Alf Teesdale. He always made time to attend ECC presentation nights and organised for his Boro team mates Andy Townsend and Paul Gascoigne to attend charity functions at the White Swan and Evenwood Social Club.