Steven Pressley

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Steven Pressley

Personal information
Full name	Steven John Pressley
Date of birth	11 October 1973 (1973-10-11) (age 35)
Place of birth	Elgin, Scotland
Height	1.84 m (6 ft +1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Centre back
Club information
Current club	Falkirk(Assistant Manager)
Youth career
1989–1990	Inverkeithing BC
Senior career1
Years	Club	Apps (Gls)2
1990–1994	Rangers	034 00(1)
1994–1995	Coventry City	019 00(1)
1995–1998	Dundee United	100 00(6)
1998–2006	Hearts	271 0(19)
2006–2008	Celtic	019 00(1)
2008	Randers	009 00(0)
2009	Falkirk	0010 00(0)
1990–2009	Total	462 0(28)
National team3
1991–1994	Scotland U-21	026 00(1)
2000–2006	Scotland	032 00(0)
1991–2006	Total	058 00(1)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 11:52, 3 June 2009 (UTC). 2 Appearances (Goals) 3 National team caps and goals correct as of 11 October 2006.

Steven John Pressley (born October 11, 1973 in Elgin, Moray) is a Scottish former international footballer, most recently with Falkirk in the Scottish Premier League. He is also joint Scotland assistant manager with Terry Butcher, and is often known by his nickname, Elvis.

Contents 1 Playing career 1.1 Club 1.1.1 Rangers 1.1.2 Coventry then Dundee United 1.1.3 Hearts 1.1.4 Celtic 1.1.5 Randers 1.1.6 Falkirk 1.2 International 2 Coaching career 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Playing career

[edit] Club

[edit] Rangers

Pressley started his career at Rangers as a youngster. During his time at Ibrox, he won a Scottish Cup winner's medal in 1993, appearing as a substitute as Rangers defeated Aberdeen in the final. This would end up being the last cup he would win until 2006 when he won the Scottish Cup with Hearts. Despite being hailed in the media as "the new Richard Gough", he struggled to establish himself as a regular start for Rangers.

[edit] Coventry then Dundee United

He was transferred to English side Coventry City in 1994 for £630,000. He had problems with his form and disciplinary record, before returning to Scotland with Dundee United for a fee of £750,000. He helped United to promotion back to the Scottish Premier League in his first season, followed by a third place finish in the top flight in season 1997-98.

[edit] Hearts

Pressley's influential style of play and his organisational skills were noticed by Hearts manager Jim Jefferies, and he was signed by the Edinburgh club on a Bosman free transfer in 1998. His time at the club during the pre-Romanov years saw Hearts usually being known as the third-best team in Scottish football. He was appointed club captain in 2001-02, only Bobby Parker would hold the Hearts captaincy for a longer period.

Pressley was also at the helm when the team beat VfB Stuttgart, Bordeaux and Basel in European matches. He helped Hearts finish second in the league in 2005/06, third on three occasions, as well as reaching the Scottish Cup and League Cup semi-finals. Pressley led Hearts to success in the Scottish Cup Final on 13 May 2006, albeit on a penalty shoot-out after the club were held to a 1-1 draw with Gretna after extra time. Pressley scored the first penalty for Hearts, who eventually won 4-2. His enrollment into the Hearts Hall of Fame highlights the status which he enjoyed at Tynecastle.

He acted as a spokesman for the playing squad in response to the various controversies affecting the club under the ownership of Vladimir Romanov. On 27 October 2006, Pressley led a press conference, flanked by fellow internationals Craig Gordon and Paul Hartley, announcing that there was "significant unrest in the Hearts dressing room" following majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov's most recent comments.^[1] Romanov stated that he would sell players if Hearts failed to beat Dunfermline Athletic,^[1] a match which ended 1-1.^[2] However, this game was played out in front of a sell-out crowd who showed their vocal backing for Pressley, Gordon and Hartley. Pressley was then absent from the Hearts squad to face Falkirk on 13 November 2006 and he had been reportedly stripped of the captaincy.^[3] A month later, on 9 December 2006, it was confirmed that Pressley and Hearts had parted company^[4] and was reported to be attracting the interest of several clubs.

[edit] Celtic

Despite reported interest from Championship Derby County and Charlton, it was revealed in December 2006 that Pressley had been signed as a free agent by Celtic until May 2008.^[5] Having previously played for Rangers, he joined players such as Maurice Johnston, Alfie Conn and Kenny Miller in crossing the Old Firm divide.

He made his Celtic debut on 2 January 2007 against Kilmarnock and then returned to Tynecastle as stand-in Celtic captain on 14 January. He scored his first competitive goal for Celtic against Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup. He featured in the Celtic team that won the Scottish Cup, making him the first person to do so with three different clubs.^[6] He made fewer appearances during the 2007-08 season, and he left the club after his contract expired in the summer.

[edit] Randers

After his release from Celtic, Pressley continued to train with Celtic Reserves to keep his fitness up and joined Doncaster Rovers, then Blackpool on trial but failed to win a contract at both clubs. Then, on 1 September 2008 he signed for Randers FC of the Danish Superliga on a four-month contract, ending in December.^[7] Although he had the eagerness to play in a foreign country throughout his career, this was the first offer he had received from abroad. He said "The prospect of playing abroad excited me and it's an ideal situation for both parties. I had a couple of opportunities to go to England, but I wanted to play abroad and experience a new challenge".^[8]

Pressley made his debut in a 1-1 draw against AC Horsens on 14 September and played the full 90 minutes of the match.

[edit] Falkirk

Pressley's contract with Randers expired in December 2008, the beginning of the Danish Superliga's Winter break, and he was linked with a move to a number of clubs in Switzerland as well as the manager's job at Inverness in his homeland, but joined Falkirk on 13 January 2009 on a short-term contract until the end of the 2008/09 season.^[9] He made his debut for the club in a 3-1 defeat to Rangers at Ibrox Stadium on January the 18th. Steven's final game for Falkirk came against Rangers in the 2009 Scottish cup final May the 30th at Hampden stadium where Rangers won 1-0.

[edit] International

Pressley was capped 32 times by Scotland. He is the most capped Scottish player at Hearts surpassing the record of 29 caps held by Bobby Walker. He made his debut in 2000 against World and European champions France.^[10] His appearance against Lithuania on 6 September 2006 ensured that he surpassed Bobby Walker's 91-year old record as Hearts' most capped Scotland player.^[11] He was sent off in what proved to be his last appearance for Scotland, a Euro 2008 qualifier against Ukraine on 11 October 2006.^[12] Pressley served a two-match suspension following the red card, which gave current Celtic captain the chance to step up. McManus performed very well in Pressley's absence and ended up keeping him out of the starting eleven. He retired from international football in February 2008 when he was named as Scotland's assistant coach, but continued to play club football until his official retirement in June 2009.

[edit] Coaching career

Along with Terry Butcher, Pressley was named as an assistant to the Scotland manager George Burley in February 2008.^[13] Pressley was Hearts' captain, and club captain, under Burley during his short reign at Tynecastle. Pressley is currently sitting his UEFA pro license.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Steven Pressley career stats at Soccerbase
• Hearts profile at London Hearts
• Scotland profile at London Hearts