Dale Stephens

Dale Stephens
Dale Stephens (2018)
Personnel
Surname	Dale Christopher Stephens
birthday	June 12, 1989
place of birth	Bolton ,  England
position	Midfield (central)
Juniors
Years	station
2005-2007	Bury FC
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
2007-2008	Bury FC	9 0(1)
2007	→  FC Droylsden  (loan)	6 0(0)
2007	→  Hyde United  (loan)	4 0(0)
2008-2011	Oldham Athletic	60 (11)
2009	→  Rochdale AFC  (loan)	6 0(1)
2011	→  Southampton FC  (loan)	6 0(0)
2011-2014	Charlton Athletic	84 (10)
2014–	Brighton & Hove Albion	190 (14)
1 Only league games are given. As of November 1, 2019

Dale Christopher Stephens (born June 12, 1989 in Bolton ) is an English football player . As a mostly central midfielder , he is best known as a long-time regular for the Brighton & Hove Albion club , with whom he was promoted to the Premier League in 2017 .

Career

Bury FC & Oldham Athletic

Born in Bolton, Stephens grew up a fanatic of his hometown Wanderers . After leaving school at the age of 16, he signed his first training contract with nearby Bury FC on his way to becoming a professional footballer. Almost four months before his 18th birthday, he made his debut for the then fourth division side against Peterborough United (0: 3). By the end of the 2007/08 season he had played twelve competitive games; in addition , he was briefly loaned to fifth-rate FC Droylsden in autumn 2007 and then one league lower to Hyde United . Stephens could not agree on a future common future with those responsible in Bury and so he moved to the third division Oldham Athletic in July 2008 . There he was initially part of the reserve squad.

At the beginning of the 2009/10 season, Oldham Stephens initially loaned it to the fourth division AFC Rochdale for a good three and a half months , before the latter gradually worked out a regular place after returning from early December 2009. He played a total of 63 compulsory games until March 2011, before he helped out at league rivals FC Southampton until the end of the 2010/11 season and even helped them move up to the second division . This sporting upward development also made other professional clubs for interest and as a creative midfielder, who was praised for a "good eye" and scoring danger, moved Dale in June 2011 to the ambitious third division competitor Charlton Athletic .

Charlton Athletic

Immediately Stephens was with 30 league appearances key players from Charlton Athletic on the way to winning the third division championship and in the following two years he established himself in the Football League Championship, and especially in the 2012/13 season just three points to reach the Play- off games for promotion to the Premier League were missing. In two and a half years for Charlton Athletic, Stephens scored eleven goals in 90 competitive games.

Brighton & Hove Albion

At the end of January 2014, Stephens signed a three and a half year contract with the second division side Brighton & Hove Albion and only three days later he made his debut in the 2-0 defeat by Watford FC . On April 1, 2014, he scored for the first time with a header just before the end of the game against Blackburn Rovers to make it 3-3. A few weeks later, however, he was so badly injured that he had to pause for nine months. After his return in February 2015, he was again instrumental in ensuring that his team managed to stay in the league . In the following 2015/16 season , Stephens only missed one league game and after the first respectable success with the move into the promotion playoffs he succeeded in the following year the direct promotion to the top English division as second division champions . A few days after the last matchday of the 2016/17 season, Stephens signed a new four-year deal in Brighton.

In the defensive midfield, Stephens had matured into a key player and in the first Premier League year he also played 36 of 38 games, with his men in 16th place avoiding relegation in the 2017/18 season. The following year he managed to stay out of the league again and on January 2, 2019 he scored his first Premier League goal against West Ham United (2-2).

Web links

Commons : Dale Stephens (footballer)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Profile at Brighton & Hove Albion
• Dale Stephens in the database of weltfussball.de
• Dale Stephens in the soccerbase.com database

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Dale Stephens tells how Bury helped him to Premier League (The Argus)
2. ↑ Stephens recounts his non-league experiences (brightonandhovealbion.com)
3. ↑ Oldham swoop for Bury's Stephens (BBC Sport)
4. ↑ Addicks seal double deal (cafc.co.uk)
5. ↑ Dale Stephens (brightonandhovealbion.com)