Kirk Stephens – SkyBlueArchive

Position

Defender

Nationality

Place Of Birth

Coventry

Date Of Birth

February 27, 1955

Age

Games Played

Per Game

Games Started

0.9

Per Game

Minutes

3081

83.3

Per Game

Goals

0.1

Per Game

Assists

0.1

Per Game

Bobby Gould signed Kirk for £50,000 from Luton in the summer of 1984 but injuries meant the hard tackling full-back played only 37 games for City. But for those injuries he could have been at Wembley on that famous day in 1987.

Kirk had failed to make the grade as a teenager and joined Nuneaton Borough, managed at the time by David Pleat. Pleat was lured away by Luton soon after Stephens joined but he had already been impressed by the Coventry-kid. Six years later Pleat returned to Manor Park to sign Kirk.

What followed was the most successful period of Kirk’s career and one of the most successful periods of Luton Town’s history. Pleat led them to Division One and kept them there and Kirk was a key player alongside players such as Ricky Hill, Paul Walsh and Brian Stein. In 1984 with Luton still in the top division Bobby Gould offered him the chance to achieve his main football ambition – to play for the Sky Blues.

Kirk was a massive City fan and had watched the team from the terraces since he was a kid. Unfortunately Kirk suffered a serious cruciate ligament injury in only his third game in a Sky Blue shirt in an innocent clash with Leicester City’s Bob Hazell. He returned a couple of months later but was never 100% fit again. In the autumn of 1985 he tried a comeback but the pain was too much and in May 1986 he retired from top-class football.

He continued to play football at lower levels, for Barnet under Barry Fry, and for his old club Nuneaton, who he also managed for a spell. His family business, Walsgrave Contractors flourished and now employs over 20 people and he has been involved at the Academy since its inception under Richard Money – working with a different age group each year.

Own goals (1)
1984-85
11 May 1985 v Southampton A