Dennis Stevens

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Dennis Stevens
Personnel
birthday November 30, 1933
place of birth Dudley ,  England
date of death December 20, 2012
Place of death Bolton ,  England
position Half forward , outside runner
Juniors
Years station
until 1948 Worcestershire Boys
1948-1950 Bolton Wanderers
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1950-1962 Bolton Wanderers 273 (90)
1962-1965 Everton FC 120 (20)
1965-1967 Oldham Athletic 33 ( 00)
1967-1968 Tranmere Rovers 32 ( 03)
1 Only league games are given.

Dennis Stevens (born November 30, 1933 in Dudley , † December 20, 2012 in Bolton ) was an English football player . The striker , who was retired to the position of outside runner later in his career , won the FA Cup with Bolton Wanderers in 1958 and, after moving to Everton FC in 1963, the English championship title .

Athletic career

Stevens joined the Bolton Wanderers youth division at the age of 15 , having previously played for the Worcestershire Boys . In December 1950 he rose to the professional division of the club. Almost three years later he made his debut as a half-forward on September 26, 1953 at Preston North End (1: 3) and it lasted until the 1955/56 season, in which he became a regular. This was largely due to the injury-related retirement of Harold Hassall , who had previously acted in this position. As a "second striker" on the side of the striker Nat Lofthouse , Stevens contributed exactly 13 league goals in four consecutive seasons up to 1959 and the sporting development carried the club up to fourth place in the English elite class . In addition, he received a nomination for the English senior national team in April 1957 , but he was not used. The greatest success for him was winning the FA Cup with Bolton in 1958 . On the way to the final, he scored goals against Preston North End, Stoke City and the Wolverhampton Wanderers . The 2-0 final win over Manchester United , in which Stevens showed another good performance, was then remarkable in several ways. After the Munich plane crash, "United" went into the game with a very weak replacement and one of the fatalities was a cousin of Stevens' in Duncan Edwards . From a sporting point of view, the victory was controversial, as Nat Lofthouse attacked the opposing goalkeeper Harry Gregg hard in the decisive 2-0 , which experts classified as a clear foul play. In the 1959/60 season Stevens moved to the center-forward position after the injury of Lofthouse and he developed into the top scorer with 15 goals that year. In March 1962 he finally hired for £ 35,000 at Everton , although the then stately transfer fee in its own appendix was not considered appropriate for a 28-year-old who was in "the shape of his life".

To make matters worse, the Everton supporters did not receive him with open arms, as they mourned the crowd favorite Bobby Collins , who had migrated to Leeds United and who was to replace Stevens. However, he quickly did a lot of persuasion by consistently performing well and after his arrival a total of 112 competitive games without interruption. The somewhat more spectacular attackers like Alex Young or Roy Vernon benefited from his team-friendly style of play . He acted more withdrawn behind the two center strikers and was considered to be the “engine” in the offensive midfield, strong in duels and safe on the ball. Although relatively small with a height of around 1.70 meters, he asserted himself well in the duels with a powerful style of play. He was less of a playful highlight, but on the way to winning the English league title in 1963 - his first full Everton season - he was a key player. In the 1964/65 season, coach Harry Catterick pulled him back to the outside runner position after the arrival of center forward Fred Pickering on the defensive . There he found himself increasingly difficult - now also getting on in years - especially when the young Colin Harvey turned out to be more than an alternative. So he moved to third division Oldham Athletic in December 1965 for £ 30,000 . In Oldham he celebrated a respectable success because he still managed to keep the league with the team initially placed at the bottom of the table . From March 1967, the Tranmere Rovers became the last professional station . There he managed to get promoted from the fourth division straight away, but the following year he ended his active career due to a back injury.

After saying goodbye to the football shop, he opened a men's outfitter in Harwood . Stevens died in December 2012 after a long illness.

Title / Awards

Web links

Individual references / comments

  1. ^ Ivan Ponting: Everton Player by Player . Hamlyn, London 1998, ISBN 0-600-59581-1 , pp. 38 .
  2. ↑ "Dennis Stevens dies after long illness" (toffeeweb.com)
personal data
SURNAME Stevens, Dennis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH November 30, 1933
PLACE OF BIRTH Dudley
DATE OF DEATH December 20, 2012
Place of death Bolton