Alan Stubbs

Alan Stubbs

220px Stubbs while in training with Hibernian
Personal information
Full name	Alan Stubbs
Date of birth	(1971-10-06) 6 October 1971
Place of birth	Kirkby, Lancashire, England
Height
Position(s)	Centre back
Team information
Current team	Rotherham United (manager)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1990–1996	Bolton Wanderers	202	(9)
1996–2001	Celtic	93	(3)
2001–2005	Everton	124	(3)
2005–2006	Sunderland	10	(1)
2006–2008	Everton	45	(3)
2008	Derby County	9	(1)
Total		483	(20)
International career
1994	England B	1	(0)
Managerial career
2014–2016	Hibernian
2016–	Rotherham United
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Alan Stubbs (born 6 October 1971 in Kirkby, Lancashire) is a retired English footballer, who is currently the manager of Rotherham United. He played as a centre back for Bolton Wanderers, Celtic, Everton (two spells), Sunderland and Derby County until his retirement, due to a knee injury, in August 2008. Stubbs then worked as a coach for Everton, and started his management career with Hibernian in 2014.

Club career

Bolton Wanderers

Stubbs started his career at Bolton Wanderers, turning professional in 1990 when they were members of the Football League Third Division. He played 23 league games that season but it was a disappointing first season at Burnden Park for Stubbs as his side missed out on automatic promotion on goal difference and were beaten by Tranmere Rovers in the playoff final. He remained a regular player in 1991–92 but this campaign brought further frustration as Bolton finished 13th in the Third Division and manager Phil Neal was dismissed to make way for Bruce Rioch.

Stubbs remained part of Rioch's plans as Bolton began 1992–93 in the new Division Two (following the creation of the FA Premier League and the renumbering of the three remaining Football League divisions) and scored twice in 42 league appearances as they sealed promotion as runners-up. He became club captain soon afterwards and in 1994–95 led them through their best season in years where they reached Wembley twice. The first visit to Wembley came in March, where they reached the Football League Cup final for the first time in their history, only to lose 2–1 to Liverpool. The return to Wembley for the Division One playoff final two months later was a happier occasion for Stubbs and his colleagues, though for 75 minutes it looked as though it would be another disappointment as Bolton trailed 2–0 to Reading in the contest for a place in the Premier League. But a remarkable turnaround saw them drawing 2–2 after 90 minutes to force extra time, and they went on to win 4–3 and return to the top flight for the first time since 1980.

Before the start of the season, Bolton manager Bruce Rioch departed to Arsenal and attempted to bring Stubbs with him, but this was unsuccessful.

However, during the summer and into the beginning of the next season he made no secret of his desire to leave the club, which did not go down well with fans who made their feelings clear for the rest of the season. However, he remained with Bolton throughout their 1995–96 campaign, their first in the top flight for 16 years, which was mostly spent in the bottom two places of the table and ended with them being relegated in bottom place.

Celtic

He joined Celtic on 10 July 1996 for £4 million, a record signing for Celtic and at the time the second biggest sale for Bolton. The deal became subject of scrutiny from FIFA, who initially fined Celtic £41,000 and Stubbs £28,000 for the use of unlicensed agents during the transfer. These fines were later reduced to £22,000 and £18,000 respectively on appeal.

His first season at Celtic, 1996–97, saw him play regularly but Stubbs did little to justify his expensive transfer fee as Rangers clinched their ninth successive Scottish League championship.

The following season (1997–98 season) saw a new manager, Wim Jansen, in charge at Celtic and a new partner in central defence alongside Stubbs, Danish international Marc Rieper. Both these factors saw an upturn in Stubbs' fortunes at Celtic, and his pairing with Rieper in defence made Celtic a much more formidable obstacle to rivals Rangers. After an initial shaky start to the season, Celtic began to find their form and Stubbs picked up his first winner's medal on 30 November 1997 with Celtic beating Dundee United 3–0 in the Scottish League Cup Final.

Stubbs is probably best remembered for his injury time goal 11 days earlier (19 November 1997) in a 1–1 draw with Rangers, which kept Rangers lead in the league at the time over Celtic to a recoverable 4 points. Many believe that this was the most important goal of the season for Celtic; they would later go on to overtake Rangers in the league and win the Scottish Premier Division that season, their first league title since 1988, and prevent Rangers from securing a record breaking 10 league titles in a row.

Stubbs continued to impress at Celtic with his strong presence in defence, good range of passing and occasional goal. However a routine drug test after the Scottish Cup Final defeat to Rangers in May 1999 revealed Stubbs was suffering from testicular cancer. Stubbs recovered and continued to be a mainstay in the Celtic side, picking up another winner's medal in March 2000 when he came on as a second-half substitute for Ľubomír Moravčík during Celtic's 2–0 win over Aberdeen in the Scottish League Cup Final. Stubbs also played 11 games in their 2000–01 SPL title winning season under new manager Martin O'Neill. However he missed most of that campaign as he discovered early in the season that the cancer had come back. and had again to undergo treatment. Stubbs later recalled about this in Daily Mail columns as part of "The Footballers' Column", quoting:

I was only diagnosed with testicular cancer because I had to submit a urine sample for a random drugs test. It turned out I was producing a hormone that is usually found in pregnant women. I later had a relapse when a tumour was found at the base of my spine. I had chemotherapy and came back and played the game again. It can be done. There is life after cancer. I feel I’m a much better person for that experience, too. It has made me appreciate things a lot more.

Stubbs again recovered from his illness, making his comeback in May 2001 in a league match against Hibernian where he came on as a second-half substitute to a rousing reception from both sets of fans and scored Celtic's fourth goal in a 5–2 win. However, Stubbs wife never truly settled in Scotland and his own battles with cancer saw the family look to make a return home to England.

Everton

He joined Everton in July 2001 after winning his battle against cancer, and after his Celtic contract expired. On his arrival at Goodison Park, Stubbs stated it had always been his dream to play for the club. Stubbs confirmed at the time part of his motive for moving to Everton was that he wanted to return home to his native Merseyside with his wife Mandy.

Stubbs quickly became a regular member of the team and excelled during his first season, as Everton finished 15th and reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. Stubbs continued to be a consistent performer in the heart of the Toffees defence during the 2002–03 as he helped them finish seventh in the Premier League (their highest finish since 1996) under new manager David Moyes, and 2003–04, although they dipped to 17th and narrowly avoided relegation in this campaign.

The 2004–05 season was another successful campaign for Stubbs. Although a shoulder injury kept him out in April, he made 36 appearances, scoring once - in a 2–1 win against Portsmouth. He captained Everton to a 4th place finish in the league which entered Everton into the qualifying rounds of the Champions League. He was set to continue as a vital part of the squad in 2005–06, but refused to sign a new contract as the club were willing to offer him only a one-year deal, and later revelations suggested a "cancer clause" in the contract that Stubbs was unhappy with; claims Everton denied.

Sunderland

Stubbs signed for Sunderland on 2 August 2005. Despite a promising start, his form soon dipped, and he often found himself out of the team. He sparked controversy among the Sunderland fans when he celebrated a last minute goal scored by Tim Cahill as Everton beat Sunderland at the Stadium of Light in late 2005. In the weeks leading up to the January transfer window, Stubbs was constantly linked with a move back to Everton, and was spotted by the Sky Sports cameras at Goodison Park when Sunderland weren't playing well. This led to a fierce denial from Stubbs, claiming he was only at Goodison because his daughter was an Everton fan. However, Stubbs' final appearance at the Stadium of Light was to be the 3–0 victory over Northwich Victoria in the FA Cup. He scored once for Sunderland, in a 3–1 defeat at Arsenal on 5 November 2005. This was one of the worst seasons in Sunderland's history, as they were relegated with a then record Premier League low of three wins and 15 points.

Everton

Stubbs returned to Everton on a free transfer on 20 January 2006, signing a contract that was due to last until the end of the season. His form improved dramatically following his return, leading to manager David Moyes referring to him as "indispensable" in March.

Despite the arrival of Joleon Lescott that summer, Stubbs maintained his place in starting line up and proved to be a pivotal figure behind Everton's push for a UEFA Cup place.

In September 2007 after the murder of Rhys Jones, an 11-year-old Everton fan shot dead in Croxteth, Stubbs delivered a reading at his funeral to a packed Liverpool Cathedral including members of Everton and Liverpool.

Derby County

On 31 January 2008, Stubbs moved to Derby County in an 18-month deal on a free transfer. Derby's relegation from the Premiership with 11 points meant that Stubbs had been involved in the campaigns of the teams with two lowest points totals attained since the league's inception. On 20 August 2008, just after the start of Derby's 2008–09 Football League Championship campaign, it was announced that a recurring knee injury had forced him to retire from playing football.

International career

Stubbs won an England 'B' cap on 10 May 1994 in a match against Northern Ireland 'B' at Hillsborough. England won the match 4–2, with Stubbs coming on during the second half as a substitute for Chris Bart-Williams.

Coaching career

Everton

Stubbs coaching the Everton reserve team in 2011.

In September 2008, Stubs returned once more to Everton, this time as a coach. In May 2013, Stubbs was interviewed by Bill Kenwright for the vacant manager's role at Everton, but Roberto Martínez was eventually selected to be the team's new manager. Despite this, Stubbs later credited Martínez for inspiring him to become a manager in his own right.

Hibernian

Stubbs was appointed head coach of Scottish club Hibernian (Hibs) in June 2014 on a two-year contract, as Terry Butcher's successor after being relegated to the Scottish Championship. This came after Hibs opened talks with Everton's permission to talk to Stubbs, who believed he was ready to become a new manager. In his first press conference, Stubbs aimed to help Hibs win promotion back to the Scottish Premiership by rebuilding the squad ahead of the new season. To do that, Stubbs also recruited his own backroom staff, consisting of assistant coach Andy Holden, player-coach Alan Combe, head physiotherapist John Porteous, strength and conditioning coach Paul Green, and first-team coach John Doolan.

Under Stubbs management at Hibs, he made ten signings, which four of them were on loan. Stubbs' first official match in charge was against Livingston; unusually, the Hibs goalkeeper (Mark Oxley) scored the first goal. Stubbs guided Hibs to second place in the 2014–15 Scottish Championship, securing the position above Rangers on the last day of the season. Hibs entered the Premiership play offs at the semi-final stage, but lost 2–1 on aggregate to Rangers. Stubbs also guided Hibernian to a semi final place in the 2014–15 Scottish Cup, where they lost 1–0 to Falkirk. Under his guidance, Hibernian finally lifted their Scottish Cup "Jinx" winning the trophy for the 2015-16 season, for the first time in 114 years.

Rotherham United

Stubbs was appointed manager of Football League Championship club Rotherham United on 1 June 2016.

Managerial statistics

As of match played 21 May 2016.

Managerial record by team and tenure

Team	From	To	Record
			P	W	D	L	Win %
Hibernian	24 June 2014	Present	100	58	19	23	58.00
Total			100	58	19	23	58.00

Honours and achievements

Player

Bolton Wanderers

• Football League Second Division promotion: 1992–93 (third tier)
• Football League First Division play-offs: 1994–95 (promoted to first tier)

Celtic

• Scottish League Championship: 1997–98, 2000–01
• Scottish League Cup: 1997–98, 1999–2000

Manager

Hibernian

• Scottish Cup: 2015-16

Individual

• Scottish Championship Manager of the Month (4): September 2014, February 2015, October 2015, November 2015

External links

• Alan Stubbs career statistics at Soccerbase

Sporting positions
Preceded by Duncan Ferguson	Everton captain 2004-2005	Succeeded by David Weir
Preceded by Robbie Savage	Derby County captain 2008	Succeeded by Paul Connolly