Steven Pressley facts for kids
Pressley playing for Falkirk in 2009
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Steven John Pressley | ||
| Date of birth | 11 October 1973 | ||
| Place of birth | Elgin, Scotland | ||
| Height | 6 feet 0 inches (1.83 m) | ||
| Playing position | Centre back | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1987–1990 | Inverkeithing United Boys Club | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1990–1994 | Rangers | 34 | (1) |
| 1994–1995 | Coventry City | 19 | (1) |
| 1995–1998 | Dundee United | 100 | (6) |
| 1998–2006 | Heart of Midlothian | 271 | (19) |
| 2006–2008 | Celtic | 19 | (1) |
| 2008 | Randers | 9 | (0) |
| 2009 | Falkirk | 16 | (0) |
| Total | 468 | (28) | |
| National team | |||
| 1991–1994 | Scotland U21 | 26 | (1) |
| 2000–2006 | Scotland | 32 | (0) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 2005 | Heart of Midlothian (caretaker) | ||
| 2010–2013 | Falkirk | ||
| 2013–2015 | Coventry City | ||
| 2015–2016 | Fleetwood Town | ||
| 2018 | Pafos | ||
| 2019 | Carlisle United | ||
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Steven John Pressley (born 11 October 1973) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. He played as a centre back, which is a defender in football. He was most recently the manager of Carlisle United.
Pressley had a long and successful playing career. He played for big clubs like Celtic and Rangers. He played over 100 league games for Dundee United and more than 250 for Hearts. Pressley was the captain of the Hearts team that won the 2006 Scottish Cup Final. He also played 32 times for the Scotland national team. As a player, people described him as hard-working and a great leader.
After he stopped playing, Pressley became a football manager. He was an assistant manager at Falkirk before becoming their main manager in 2010. He also helped George Burley as an assistant manager for the Scotland team. Later, he managed League One club Coventry City. Since then, he has managed Fleetwood Town, a Cypriot club called Pafos, and Carlisle United.
Contents
Steven Pressley: A Football Journey
Playing Career Highlights
Rangers Football Club
Steven Pressley was born in Elgin, Scotland. As a child, he was a fan of Aberdeen. He started his football journey at Rangers. While playing for Rangers, he won the Scottish Cup in 1993. He came on as a substitute in the 1993 Scottish Cup Final when Rangers beat Aberdeen.
Coventry City Football Club
In October 1994, Pressley moved to England to play for Coventry City. The transfer fee was £600,000. He scored one goal for Coventry, and it was against Manchester United.
Dundee United Football Club
Pressley returned to Scotland in July 1995. He joined Dundee United for £750,000. In his first season, he helped Dundee United get promoted to the top league, the Premier Division. The next season, the team finished third in the 1996–97 Scottish Premier Division.
Heart of Midlothian Football Club
Pressley's strong playing style and leadership skills caught the eye of Hearts manager Jim Jefferies. He joined the Edinburgh club for free in 1998. In the 2001–02 season, Craig Levein made Pressley the club captain. Only Bobby Parker was captain for Hearts for a longer time.
As captain, Pressley led Hearts to wins against teams like VfB Stuttgart, Bordeaux, and Basel in European matches. He helped Hearts finish second in the league in 2005/06. They also finished third three other times. He led Hearts to victory in the 2006 Scottish Cup Final. They won 4–2 in a penalty shootout after a 1–1 draw with Gretna. Pressley scored the first penalty for Hearts. He is now in the Hearts Hall of Fame, showing how important he was to the club.
In December 2006, Pressley and Hearts decided to part ways. Many clubs were interested in signing him.
Celtic Football Club
In December 2006, Pressley signed with Celtic until May 2008. This was a big move because he had previously played for Rangers. Only a few players, like Maurice Johnston and Kenny Miller, have played for both rival clubs.
He played his first game for Celtic on 2 January 2007 against Kilmarnock. He returned to Tynecastle, Hearts' stadium, as Celtic's stand-in captain on 14 January. He scored his first goal for Celtic in the Scottish Cup against Inverness Caledonian Thistle. He later scored his only league goal against Hearts. He was part of the Celtic team that won the Scottish Cup. This made him the first player to win the Scottish Cup with three different clubs. He played fewer games in the 2007–08 season. He left Celtic when his contract ended in the summer.
Randers Football Club
After leaving Celtic, Pressley trained with Celtic Reserves to stay fit. He tried out for Doncaster Rovers and Blackpool but did not get a contract. On 1 September 2008, he signed a four-month contract with Randers in the Danish Superliga. He had always wanted to play in a foreign country. He said it was an "ideal situation" for him.
Pressley played his first game for Randers on 14 September. It was a 1–1 draw against AC Horsens. He played the whole 90 minutes.
Falkirk Football Club
Pressley's contract with Randers ended in December 2008. On 13 January 2009, he joined Falkirk on a short-term contract. He played his first game for Falkirk on 18 January in a 3–1 loss to Rangers. He was also a substitute in the 2009 Scottish Cup Final, where Falkirk lost 1–0 to Rangers.
International Career
Pressley played for the Scotland national team 32 times. He was captain on two occasions. He holds the record for being the most capped Scottish player from Hearts, with 32 appearances. This broke the old record of 29 caps held by Bobby Walker.
He played his first international game in 2000 against France. France were the World and European champions at the time. His game against Lithuania on 6 September 2006 made him Hearts' most capped Scotland player. He was sent off in his last game for Scotland. This was a UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier against Ukraine on 11 October 2006. Pressley retired from international football in February 2008. He then became Scotland's assistant coach. He continued to play club football until he officially retired in June 2009.
Management Career
Hearts (Caretaker Manager)
Pressley first experienced being a manager while he was still a player. He was a joint caretaker manager for Hearts for two games at the end of the 2004–05 season. His team lost both games.
Scotland National Team
In February 2008, Pressley was named an assistant to the Scotland manager George Burley. Pressley had been captain for Burley when Burley managed Hearts. Pressley was also working on getting his UEFA Pro Licence, a top coaching qualification. He left his role as Scotland assistant coach in September 2009. This was after Scotland did not qualify for the World Cup.
Falkirk Football Club
In the summer of 2009, Pressley became an assistant manager at Falkirk after he retired as a player. When manager Eddie May resigned on 11 February 2010, Pressley became the new Falkirk manager. He signed a contract until the end of the 2009–10 season. Falkirk was relegated to the First Division at the end of that season. Even though they didn't get promoted back to the top league right away, Falkirk gave him another year on his contract.
Coventry City Football Club
Pressley was announced as the new manager of Coventry City on 8 March 2013. He took over from Mark Robins. Steven Pressley won his first match in charge the next day, a 2–1 away win at Scunthorpe. Later in March 2013, the club faced financial problems and had 10 points taken away. This dropped Coventry City from 10th to 14th place in the 2012–13 Football League One. Coventry City finished the season in 15th place.
In the 2013–14 Football League One season, Coventry City started with another 10-point deduction. They also had to play all their home games in Northampton, 34 miles away. Despite these challenges, the club avoided relegation and finished 18th. They were even close to the play-off spots before their striker Leon Clarke left mid-season.
In September 2014, Pressley signed a four-year contract with Coventry City. The team struggled after this, and they were knocked out of the 2014–15 FA Cup by a non-league club, Worcester City. After a poor run of results in early 2015, Pressley was sacked by Coventry City on 23 February. This was after his 100th league game in charge, and the club had dropped into the relegation zone.
Fleetwood Town Football Club
After leaving Coventry City, Pressley worked as a scout for Premier League club Southampton. On 6 October 2015, Pressley was appointed manager of Fleetwood Town. He replaced Graham Alexander.
Pressley resigned as manager of Fleetwood Town on 26 July 2016.
Pafos Football Club
Pressley became the manager of Cypriot First Division club Pafos in February 2018.
Carlisle United Football Club
Pressley was appointed manager of English League Two club Carlisle United on 16 January 2019. Carlisle was in sixth place when Pressley took over. However, they finished outside the promotion play-offs in 11th place. Pressley made many changes to the team during the summer of 2019. He was dismissed by the club on 13 November 2019, with the team in 19th place.
Other Roles
On 10 May 2021, it was announced that Pressley would become the Head of Individual Development at Brentford. He started this role on 1 July 2021.
Personal Life
Steven Pressley's son, Aaron, also became a professional footballer.
Career Statistics
International Appearances
| Scotland national team | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Apps | Goals |
| 2000 | 2 | 0 |
| 2001 | 0 | 0 |
| 2002 | 3 | 0 |
| 2003 | 10 | 0 |
| 2004 | 5 | 0 |
| 2005 | 8 | 0 |
| 2006 | 4 | 0 |
| Total | 32 | 0 |
Managerial Record
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
| Heart of Midlothian (Joint Caretaker) |  |
11 May 2005 | 29 June 2005 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.00 |
| Falkirk | |
11 February 2010 | 8 March 2013 | 138 | 59 | 35 | 44 | 42.75 |
| Coventry City |  |
8 March 2013 | 23 February 2015 | 100 | 32 | 30 | 38 | 32.00 |
| Fleetwood Town | |
6 October 2015 | 26 July 2016 | 40 | 11 | 15 | 14 | 27.50 |
| Pafos |  |
31 January 2018 | 9 October 2018 | 22 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 36.36 |
| Carlisle United | |
16 January 2019 | 13 November 2019 | 41 | 14 | 8 | 19 | 34.15 |
| Career Total | 343 | 124 | 93 | 126 | 36.15 | |||
Honours
Player Achievements
Rangers
- Scottish Premier Division: 1992–93, 1993–94
- Scottish Cup: 1992–93
Hearts
- Scottish Cup: 2005–06
Celtic
- Scottish Premier League: 2006–07
- Scottish Cup: 2006–07
Individual Awards
- Scottish Premier League Player of the Month: February 2004
Manager Achievements
Falkirk
- Scottish Challenge Cup: 2011–12
Individual Awards
- Scottish First Division Manager of the Month (4): September 2011, October 2011 (shared), January 2012, February 2012
- League One Manager of the Month: October 2013
See also
In Spanish: Steven Pressley para niños
- List of Scotland national football team captains
- Players who played for both Celtic and Rangers
