Steve Berry (footballer)

Stephen Andrew Berry (born 4 April 1963) is an English former professional footballer who played in the Football League for Portsmouth, Aldershot, Sunderland, Newport County, Swindon Town and Northampton Town,[2] in the German second division for Darmstadt, and in the Hong Kong First Division League for Instant-Dict.

Steve Berry
Personal information
Full name Stephen Andrew Berry
Date of birth (1963-04-04) 4 April 1963
Place of birth Liverpool, England
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[1]
Position(s) Midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1980–1981 Gosport Borough
1981–1984 Portsmouth 35 (3)
1984 → Aldershot (loan) 7 (0)
1984–1985 Sunderland 46 (2)
1985–1987 Newport County 62 (6)
1987 Swindon Town 10 (1)
1987–1988 Aldershot 53 (6)
1988–1991 Northampton Town 129 (7)
1991–1992 Instant Dict 26 (12)
1992–1993 SV Darmstadt 98 8 (0)
1993–1995 Instant-Dict 42 (19)
1995–1996 Stevenage Borough 37 (2)
1996–1998 Kettering Town 89 (3)
1998–1999 Stevenage Borough 27 (0)
1999–2001 Rushden & Diamonds 2 (0)
2003–2005 Bedford Town 24 (0)
2005–2006 Cogenhoe United 9 (0)
Total 606 (61)
Teams managed
1996–1998 Kettering Town (player-manager)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Career

Berry was born in Liverpool,[2] and played for Gosport Borough before beginning his professional career with Portsmouth.[3] He made his League debut at the age of 18, on 29 August 1981 in the starting eleven for the Third Division home draw with Lincoln City. He played 35 games in all competitions and scored three goals in the 1981–82 season, but played rarely after the arrival of Bobby Campbell as manager.[4] He joined Aldershot on loan in March 1984 and moved to First Division Sunderland on a free transfer in July 1984.[5]

Aged 21, he made his Sunderland debut on 25 August 1984 in a 3–1 win at home to Southampton. He made 45 league and cup appearances including the League Cup Final at Wembley that season.[6][7] Sunderland were relegated at the end of the 1984–85 season and he found himself out of favour after the arrival of Lawrie McMenemy as manager. He played just one game early the following season, and was transferred to Newport County for £20,000 in December 1985.[5]

Sometime later, Newport were facing financial problems and Berry was approached by Lou Macari at Swindon Town and subsequently sold for £15,000. He spent six months at Swindon Town, playing three league and all the play-off games as the club gained promotion to the Second Division, then joined Aldershot in October 1987 in part-exchange for Bobby Barnes,[3][8] a future teammate at Northampton Town. That club paid a £45,000 fee[9] to sign Berry on a three-year contract. He played well over a hundred games for the Northamptonshire club before playing seven games for Darmstadt in the 1992–93 season in the German second division.[1] He then played in Hong Kong for Instant-Dict for three seasons.[10][11]

Returning to England, he joined Stevenage Borough, whom he captained to the Conference National title in 1995–96.[12] He moved to Kettering Town, where he scored six goals from 89 appearances in all competitions, was club captain and then player-manager, following the dismissal of Gary Johnson. Steve guided Kettering to respectable mid table positions for two seasons on severely restricted budgets. Following the decision by the Poppies chairman Peter Mallinger to again reduce the playing budget, Berry announced his resignation before rejoining Stevenage as a player for the following season.[13] He spent time working for Brian Talbot at Rushden & Diamonds, as both player and coach,[14] and, coming out of retirement following two operations on his Achilles tendon, at Bedford Town.

In August 2005, at the age of 42, Berry joined Cogenhoe United as a player and helped them in their historic FA Cup run, in which they narrowly failed to reach the fourth qualifying round.[15][16]

In 2006, having already started a new career in corporate head-hunting and executive coaching, Berry moved to Paris and was Global Director of Talent for Ipsos Mori, a leading market research agency headquartered in Paris. Following this role Steve decided to set up his own Executive Search business in partnership with some ex colleagues. Tillerman Executive Search is based in the 16e Paris. In addition to head-hunting Steve is also focused on mentoring and coaching ex sports people transition their lives and careers after retiring from professional sport.[17]

References
  1. "Steve Berry". Fussballdaten. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  2. "Steve Berry". UK A–Z Transfers. Neil Brown. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  3. "Player Profile Steve Berry". Swindon-Town-FC. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  4. "Player Stats Steve Berry". Pompeyrama. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  5. "Steve Berry Sunderland FC". Football Heroes. Sporting Heroes Collections. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  6. "Player Details Steve Berry". The StatCat. Archived from the original on 23 July 2008. Retrieved 18 December 2009.
  7. Fort, Didier (25 February 2001). "England – League Cup Finals 1961–2001". RSSSF. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  8. "Where Are They Now? A–H". Aldershot Football Club 1926–1992. Mark Elliott. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  9. "Aldershot F.C Records". Aldershot Football Club 1926–1992. Mark Elliott. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  10. Alladin, Unus (26 May 1995). "Dickies pair heading home". The Standard. Hong Kong. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  11. Faure, Kevin (28 November 1996). "Instant old-boy lands manager spot". The Standard. Hong Kong. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 18 December 2009.
  12. "Boro Legends". FC Boro. Archived from the original on 8 November 2009. Retrieved 18 December 2009.
  13. "Player Profile Steve Berry". Poppies Fans. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  14. "Steve Berry". Rushden & Diamonds F.C. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  15. "Berry Dons The Boots For Cooks". NonLeague Daily. 15 August 2008. Retrieved 18 December 2009.
  16. "2005/06 Results". Cogenhoe United F.C. Archived from the original on 28 July 2009. Retrieved 18 December 2009.
  17. "Steve Berry". LinkedIn. Archived from the original on 5 December 2012. Retrieved 18 December 2009.

Bibliography
  • Neasom, Mike; Cooper, Mick; Robinson, Doug (1984). Pompey: The History of Portsmouth Football Club. Milestone Publications. ISBN 0-903852-50-0.
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