Stephen Elliott (soccer player)

Stephen Elliott
Personnel
Surname	Stephen William Elliott
birthday	January 6, 1984
place of birth	Dublin ,  Ireland
position	striker
Juniors
Years	station
	Belvedere FC
	Stella Maris
	Manchester City
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
2003-2004	Manchester City	2 ( 00)
2004-2007	Sunderland AFC	81 (22)
2007-2008	Wolverhampton Wanderers	29 ( 04)
2008-2010	Preston North End	46 ( 07)
2010	→  Norwich City  (loan)	10 ( 02)
2010–2012	Heart of Midlothian	56 (11)
2012–	Coventry City	18 0(4)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals) 2
	Ireland U-20
	Ireland U-21
2004-2006	Ireland	9 0(1)
1 Only league games are given. As of March 23, 2013 2 As of September 2, 2006

Stephen William Elliott (born January 6, 1984 in Dublin ) is an Irish football player who has been under contract with the English third division club Coventry City since 2012 .

Athletic career

After years as a youth player at Manchester City , Elliott's breakthrough with the "Citizens" was denied. He came on February 21, 2004 under coach Kevin Keegan for his first short appearance against Bolton Wanderers (3-1) and his second game against Middlesbrough FC (1: 2) more than two months later was also his last appearance for the club from Manchester.

For a transfer fee of 125,000 pounds - plus further performance-related compensation payments to "City" - he and Mick McCarthy, the coach of the second division AFC Sunderland , signed him in June 2004 . "Sleeves", as Elliott is called in the circle of players, immediately found their way with the "Black Cats" and scored 15 league goals in the 2004/05 season, which brought the club to the second division championship and promotion to the Premier League . Above all through his speed, the direct style of play and the strength of his shot, he recommended himself to his trainer over the long term; the latter subsequently described the purchase price paid to Manchester City as “incredibly cheap”. In the top English league, he could not continue this upward trend due to injury. He had aroused even more desires before his failure with two spectacular long-range goals against Manchester United and Newcastle United . His club relegated to the second division after just a year, and Elliott was back in good shape after his comeback before further injury bad luck set him back again.

On July 17, 2007, Elliott hired - for an alleged transfer fee of 750,000 pounds - with second division rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers , where his former coach McCarthy had already found a new employer a year earlier. The hope that he could return to the top performances shown in the 2004/05 season under his former sponsor was not fulfilled. In his 18 league appearances, he was only seven times in the starting line-up and the goal yield of four goals was unsatisfactory. The "Wolves" therefore granted Elliott the transfer clearance again after only one year.

For an unspecified transfer fee Elliott moved on September 1, 2008 within the Football League Championship to Preston North End and scored with his first league goal for "PNE" on October 18, 2008 the decisive goal for the 2-1 win against Reading FC . In the following years he formed a storm partnership with Jon Parkin in particular . In 2010 Elliott joined Heart of Midlothian .

Irish national team

While in good shape in the 2004/05 season, Elliott received his first appointments to the Irish senior team , having previously stood in both the U-20s during the 2003 Junior World Cup and in the U-21 youth squad. He played his first international match against Croatia on November 16, 2004 and scored his first goal for Ireland on October 8, 2005 during a World Cup qualifier against Cyprus (1-0).

Web links

• Stephen Elliott in the soccerbase.com database
• Profile at Preston North End

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Wolves have end-of-term clear-out. (BBC Sport)