This article needs additional citations for
verification. (October 2013) |
![]() | |||
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Stephen Victor Death | ||
Date of birth | 19 September 1949 | ||
Place of birth | Norton, England | ||
Date of death | 26 October 2003 | (aged 54)||
Place of death | Reading, England | ||
Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) | ||
Position(s) | Goalkeeper | ||
Youth career | |||
1967–1969 | West Ham United | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | ( Gls) |
1969 | West Ham United | 1 | (0) |
1969–1982 | Reading | 471 | (0) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Stephen Victor Death (19 September 1949 – 26 October 2003) was an English football goalkeeper who played for Reading for almost the entirety of his career. Death was one of the longest-serving players to appear for Reading. He has been described as "Reading's greatest ever goalkeeper". [1]
Death was an England schoolboy international who made one League appearance for West Ham United on 30 April 1969 in a 1–1 away draw with Manchester City covering for regular goalkeeper Bobby Ferguson. [1] Death had originally joined West Ham as an apprentice in 1967 but by 1969 found his opportunities for first team football blocked by Ferguson and Peter Grotier. [1]
He joined Reading in 1969 and went straight into the team as first choice goalkeeper, and despite being only 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m), the smallest goalkeeper in the Football League, he made the position his own for the next ten years with a total of 537 first team appearances. [1] There were doubts about his height as a goalkeeper immediately on joining Reading. He made his debut on 8 November 1969 in a 1–0 win [2] against Brighton after which the press described him as "an insignificantly built bundle of daredevil energy". Doubts about his height resurfaced after the next game on 22 November 1969 a 6–2 defeat by Southport [3] but Death continued to win the popularity of Reading fans so as to be named their player of the season in his first season for the club. [4]
Death set many other records during his time at Elm Park. He was elected Player of the Season four times for seasons 1969/70, 1972/73, 1973/74 and 1976/77, won PFA Divisional Awards in 1973–74 and 1978–79, [1] collected a Division Four Championship plaque in 1978–79, kept 26 clean sheets in that season, [5] and at one stage made 156 consecutive first team appearances; this remains a club record. Until 31 January 2009, Death held the record of 1,074 minutes without conceding a goal in English league football. [1] [6] This record was subsequently broken by Edwin van der Sar playing for Manchester United versus Everton on 31 January 2009.[ citation needed]
Death was given a testimonial in the 1979–80 season, with over 7,000 watching his Testimonial Match against a Young England XI managed by his former manager at West Ham, Ron Greenwood. [1] He left the game in 1982 and returned to his native Suffolk. He subsequently returned to Reading to work as a greenkeeper at Mapledurham local golf course. [1]
Death died of cancer in 2003, aged 54 in the Duchess of Kent Hospice, Reading. He was survived by his partner, Sharon and his children Justin, Amber and Alexandria. [1]
This article needs additional citations for
verification. (October 2013) |
![]() | |||
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Stephen Victor Death | ||
Date of birth | 19 September 1949 | ||
Place of birth | Norton, England | ||
Date of death | 26 October 2003 | (aged 54)||
Place of death | Reading, England | ||
Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) | ||
Position(s) | Goalkeeper | ||
Youth career | |||
1967–1969 | West Ham United | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | ( Gls) |
1969 | West Ham United | 1 | (0) |
1969–1982 | Reading | 471 | (0) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Stephen Victor Death (19 September 1949 – 26 October 2003) was an English football goalkeeper who played for Reading for almost the entirety of his career. Death was one of the longest-serving players to appear for Reading. He has been described as "Reading's greatest ever goalkeeper". [1]
Death was an England schoolboy international who made one League appearance for West Ham United on 30 April 1969 in a 1–1 away draw with Manchester City covering for regular goalkeeper Bobby Ferguson. [1] Death had originally joined West Ham as an apprentice in 1967 but by 1969 found his opportunities for first team football blocked by Ferguson and Peter Grotier. [1]
He joined Reading in 1969 and went straight into the team as first choice goalkeeper, and despite being only 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m), the smallest goalkeeper in the Football League, he made the position his own for the next ten years with a total of 537 first team appearances. [1] There were doubts about his height as a goalkeeper immediately on joining Reading. He made his debut on 8 November 1969 in a 1–0 win [2] against Brighton after which the press described him as "an insignificantly built bundle of daredevil energy". Doubts about his height resurfaced after the next game on 22 November 1969 a 6–2 defeat by Southport [3] but Death continued to win the popularity of Reading fans so as to be named their player of the season in his first season for the club. [4]
Death set many other records during his time at Elm Park. He was elected Player of the Season four times for seasons 1969/70, 1972/73, 1973/74 and 1976/77, won PFA Divisional Awards in 1973–74 and 1978–79, [1] collected a Division Four Championship plaque in 1978–79, kept 26 clean sheets in that season, [5] and at one stage made 156 consecutive first team appearances; this remains a club record. Until 31 January 2009, Death held the record of 1,074 minutes without conceding a goal in English league football. [1] [6] This record was subsequently broken by Edwin van der Sar playing for Manchester United versus Everton on 31 January 2009.[ citation needed]
Death was given a testimonial in the 1979–80 season, with over 7,000 watching his Testimonial Match against a Young England XI managed by his former manager at West Ham, Ron Greenwood. [1] He left the game in 1982 and returned to his native Suffolk. He subsequently returned to Reading to work as a greenkeeper at Mapledurham local golf course. [1]
Death died of cancer in 2003, aged 54 in the Duchess of Kent Hospice, Reading. He was survived by his partner, Sharon and his children Justin, Amber and Alexandria. [1]