Steve Lovell (Welsh footballer)
Encyclopedia
Stephen "Steve" Lovell (born Swansea
Swansea
Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...

, 16 July 1960) is a Welsh
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 former professional footballer. He played professionally for Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace F.C.
Crystal Palace Football Club are an English Football league club based in South Norwood, London. The team plays its home matches at Selhurst Park, where they have been based since 1924. The club currently competes in the second tier of English Football, The Championship.Crystal Palace was formed in...

, Stockport County
Stockport County F.C.
Stockport County Football Club is an English football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester. The club formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, shortly afterwards merging with Heaton Norris F.C., and adopted the current name on 24 May 1890 on the creation of the County Borough of Stockport...

, Millwall
Millwall F.C.
Millwall Football Club is an English professional football club based in South Bermondsey, south east London, that plays in the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football. Founded as Millwall Rovers in 1885, the club has retained its name despite having last played in the...

, Swansea City
Swansea City A.F.C.
Swansea City Association Football Club are a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. One of the most successful clubs in Welsh football, it has won 10 Welsh Cups and led the English Football League First Division in December 1981, before finishing the season in 6th position...

, Gillingham
Gillingham F.C.
Gillingham Football Club is an English professional football club based in the town of Gillingham, Kent. The only Kent-based club in the Football League, they play their home matches at the Priestfield Stadium...

 and AFC Bournemouth and made over 450 Football League appearances.

Playing career

Although born in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

, Lovell began his career as an apprentice with Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace F.C.
Crystal Palace Football Club are an English Football league club based in South Norwood, London. The team plays its home matches at Selhurst Park, where they have been based since 1924. The club currently competes in the second tier of English Football, The Championship.Crystal Palace was formed in...

 in 1977. Playing at the time as a midfielder
Midfielder
A midfielder is an association football position. Some midfielders play a more defensive role, while others blur the boundaries between midfielders and forwards. The number of midfielders a team uses during a match may vary, depending on the team's formation and each individual player's role...

, he managed 74 Football League appearances in six years at Selhurst Park
Selhurst Park
Selhurst Park is an English football stadium located in the London suburb of South Norwood in the Borough of Croydon. It is the current home ground of Crystal Palace Football Club. Its present capacity is 26,309.-History:...

, during which he also had a spell on loan at Stockport County
Stockport County F.C.
Stockport County Football Club is an English football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester. The club formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, shortly afterwards merging with Heaton Norris F.C., and adopted the current name on 24 May 1890 on the creation of the County Borough of Stockport...

. In 1983 he moved to Millwall
Millwall F.C.
Millwall Football Club is an English professional football club based in South Bermondsey, south east London, that plays in the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football. Founded as Millwall Rovers in 1885, the club has retained its name despite having last played in the...

, where manager George Graham
George Graham (footballer)
George Graham is a Scottish former football player and manager. He is best remembered for his success at Arsenal, as a player in the 1970s and then as manager from 1986 until 1995.-Early life:...

 played him as a striker
Striker
Forwards, also known as strikers, are the players on a team in association football who play nearest to the opposing team's goal, and are therefore principally responsible for scoring goals...

 during an injury crisis. He went on to score 13 goals in 11 matches and remained a striker for the remainder of his career.

In 1986 Lovell was injured whilst playing for Wales
Wales national football team
The Wales national football team represents Wales in international football. It is controlled by the Football Association of Wales , the governing body for football in Wales, and the third oldest national football association in the world. The team have only qualified for a major international...

 and was unable to regain a place in the Millwall team and, after a short loan spell with his hometown club Swansea City
Swansea City A.F.C.
Swansea City Association Football Club are a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. One of the most successful clubs in Welsh football, it has won 10 Welsh Cups and led the English Football League First Division in December 1981, before finishing the season in 6th position...

, was sold to Gillingham
Gillingham F.C.
Gillingham Football Club is an English professional football club based in the town of Gillingham, Kent. The only Kent-based club in the Football League, they play their home matches at the Priestfield Stadium...

 for £20,000. During his time with the Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

 club he played over 200 matches and scored nearly 100 goals, finishing as the club's leading scorer in four consecutive seasons 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
Southend United F.C.
Southend United Football Club is an English football club based at Roots Hall Stadium, Prittlewell, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, who play in Football League Two. Their home ground is Roots Hall, and the club plan to move into a new 22,000-seater stadium located at Fossetts Farm.-Stadium:The club has had...

 in 1987 but bizarrely failed to find the net at all when the team won 10–0 against Chesterfield
Chesterfield F.C.
Chesterfield Football Club is an English football club based in Chesterfield, Derbyshire. The club currently plays in Football League One, the third tier of English football. Despite being the fourth oldest Football League club in England, they have spent most of their existence in the lower...

 the following Saturday.

After a brief loan spell with AFC Bournemouth in 1992, Lovell dropped into non-league football
Non-league football
Non-League football is football in England played at a level below that of the Premier League and The Football League. The term non-League was commonly used well before 1992 when the top football clubs in England all belonged to The Football League; all clubs who were not a part of The Football...

, where he played for nine different clubs in nine years, including three separate spells with Sittingbourne
Sittingbourne F.C.
Sittingbourne F.C. are a football club based in Sittingbourne, Kent, England. They were established in 1886 and were founder members of the Kent League. They have reached the 2nd round of the FA Cup at least twice in their history...

. In 2000 he played for Deal Town
Deal Town F.C.
Deal Town F.C. is a football club based in Deal in Kent, England. They were established in 1908 and won the FA Vase in 2000. They are currently members of the Kent League Premier Division.-History:...

 in the FA Vase
FA Vase
The Football Association Challenge Vase is an annual football competition for teams playing below Step 4 of the English National League System...

 final at Wembley. He finally hung up his boots in 2001.

Managerial career

Lovell's first managerial job came at Sittingbourne
Sittingbourne F.C.
Sittingbourne F.C. are a football club based in Sittingbourne, Kent, England. They were established in 1886 and were founder members of the Kent League. They have reached the 2nd round of the FA Cup at least twice in their history...

, where he was player-manager from February 1995 until September 1996, during which he led the team to the Southern League
Southern Football League
The Southern League is an English football competition featuring semi-professional and amateur clubs from the South West, South Central and Midlands of England and South Wales...

 Southern Division championship. He then moved on to Gravesend & Northfleet
Gravesend & Northfleet F.C.
Ebbsfleet United Football Club is an English professional football team currently playing in the Conference National. The team plays their home matches at Stonebridge Road in Northfleet, Kent. However, the club is now looking to build a new stadium in the Ebbsfleet Valley vicinity in...

 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
Hastings United F.C.
Hastings United is a semi-professional English football club who currently play in the Isthmian League Premier Division and are affiliated to the Sussex County Football Association and the Hastings Football Association....

 in 2003 but left the club in 2004 after a drop in form. In 2005 he returned for a second spell managing Sittingbourne
Sittingbourne F.C.
Sittingbourne F.C. are a football club based in Sittingbourne, Kent, England. They were established in 1886 and were founder members of the Kent League. They have reached the 2nd round of the FA Cup at least twice in their history...

, a post he held until October 2007, when he left to take over at Ashford Town
Ashford Town F.C. (Kent)
Ashford United F.C. are an English football club based in Ashford, Kent. The 'new' United was formed in 2011 . Between 1930 and 2010 the town was represented by Ashford Town FC, before it ultimately went into administration...

, where he remained until the club's demise in August 2010.

Family connections with football

Lovell's father Alan was also a footballer, although he only managed a single professional appearance for Stockport County
Stockport County F.C.
Stockport County Football Club is an English football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester. The club formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, shortly afterwards merging with Heaton Norris F.C., and adopted the current name on 24 May 1890 on the creation of the County Borough of Stockport...

. Lovell's son Mark
Mark Lovell (footballer)
Mark Lovell is an English footballer. He briefly played professionally for Gillingham. He is the son of former Welsh international striker and current Ashford manager Steve Lovell, and the grandson of former professional footballer Alan Lovell.-Playing career:Lovell joined Gillingham, one of his...

 also became a footballer, turning professional with his father's old club Gillingham
Gillingham F.C.
Gillingham Football Club is an English professional football club based in the town of Gillingham, Kent. The only Kent-based club in the Football League, they play their home matches at the Priestfield Stadium...

 in 2001. He also made only one professional appearance before dropping into non-league football
Non-league football
Non-League football is football in England played at a level below that of the Premier League and The Football League. The term non-League was commonly used well before 1992 when the top football clubs in England all belonged to The Football League; all clubs who were not a part of The Football...

.
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