Luke Steele (footballer)

Luke Steele

Luke Steele playing for Panathinaikos
Personal information
Full name	Luke David Steele [1]
Date of birth	(1984-09-24) 24 September 1984 (age 39)
Place of birth	Peterborough, England
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Position(s)	Goalkeeper, Forward
Team information
Current team	Peterborough Sports (Joint Manager)
Youth career
1993–1999	Peterborough United
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1999–2002	Peterborough United	2	(0)
2002–2006	Manchester United	0	(0)
2004–2005	→ Coventry City (loan)	32	(0)
2006	→ Coventry City (loan)	0	(0)
2006–2008	West Bromwich Albion	2	(0)
2006–2007	→ Coventry City (loan)	5	(0)
2008	→ Barnsley (loan)	14	(0)
2008–2014	Barnsley	195	(0)
2014–2017	Panathinaikos	66	(0)
2017–2018	Bristol City	5	(0)
2018–2020	Nottingham Forest	2	(0)
2019–2020	→ Millwall (loan)	1	(0)
2020	→ Millwall (loan)	0	(0)
2020–2021	Stamford	2	(0)
2021	Notts County	3	(0)
2021–2022	Deeping Rangers	9	(2)
Total		337	(2)
International career‡
2002	England U18	3	(0)
2002–2003	England U19	9	(0)
2004–2005	England U20	2	(0)
Managerial career
2023–	Peterborough Sports
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 12:17, 22 April 2021 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 8:08, 25 September 2015 (UTC)

Luke David Steele (born 24 September 1984) is an English football manager and former professional footballer. He is joint-manager of National League North side Peterborough Sports.

As a player he played professionally as a goalkeeper but spent his final season in the game playing as a forward. He came through the youth academy at Peterborough United before signing for Premier League side Manchester United. Whilst with United he had an extensive loan spell with Coventry City which lead to a permanent, though short-lived, move to West Bromwich Albion. He also played in the Football League with Barnsley, Bristol City, Nottingham Forest and Millwall, as well as stints with Greek side Panathinaikos. He ended his career with a stint at non-league Stamford before a spell with Notts County in the National League. Between 2021 and 2022 he played for non-league side Deeping Rangers as an outfield player.

He was capped internationally at England U18, U19 and U20 level.

Club career

Peterborough United

Born in Peterborough, Steele started his career at local side Peterborough United, where he played alongside Ryan Semple and Sean St Ledger. In December 2001, Steele spent a week on trial with Manchester United, for whom he played in two matches with the club's under-17s side. He returned for three more under-17s appearances and two for the reserves on a month-long loan spell in March 2002. ^{[2] [3]} After returning to Peterborough in April 2002, he made his senior debut in a 2–2 draw away to Reading on 13 April. ^[4] After another appearance in a 2–1 home win over Bury a week later, ^[5] Manchester United paid Peterborough £500,000 on 11 May to sign Steele on a four-year contract, with the fee potentially rising to £2.25 million after a certain number of first-team appearances. ^[6]

Manchester United

Steele began the 2002–03 season as the starting goalkeeper for the Manchester United reserve team, before being usurped by the likes of Ricardo and Roy Carroll, and becoming a regular in the under-19s. Over the course of the season, Steele made 27 appearances for the under-19s, including eight in the FA Youth Cup, in which Manchester United beat Middlesbrough 3–1 on aggregate in the final. ^{[7] [8]} He also made a total of three appearances for the reserves, including a 2–1 defeat to Oldham Athletic in the Manchester Senior Cup on 13 February 2003.

In 2003–04, Steele competed for the starting place in the under-19s side with Tom Heaton, but made just four appearances between August and October before being ruled out for the rest of the season. He made his return in the build-up to the 2004–05 season, playing for the reserves in a friendly against Irish side Cobh Ramblers, before making his first appearance for the Manchester United first team in a 3–1 win over Burnley in Stan Ternent's testimonial on 17 August 2004; after coming on as a substitute for Tim Howard in the 29th minute, Steele was himself replaced by Heaton in the 76th. He then made two league appearances for the reserves before joining Coventry City on a three-month loan on 10 September 2004. ^[9] After conceding 30 goals in 18 appearances in those initial three months, the clubs agreed to extend Steele's loan until the end of the season. ^[10] He finished the season with 62 goals conceded in 36 matches.

Steele returned to Manchester United for the 2005–06 season, where, with Ricardo and Carroll having left the club, and Ben Foster and Tom Heaton out on loan, he became the club's third-choice goalkeeper behind Edwin van der Sar and Tim Howard. After coming on for Van der Sar in the 75th minute of a 3–0 pre-season friendly win over Beijing Hyundai, ^[11] Steele was an unused substitute in four more first-team matches that season, including two matches in the early rounds of Manchester United's League Cup-winning campaign and the FA Cup third round draw with Burton Albion. He also made 19 appearances for the reserves as they won the Premier Reserve League title, the North/South Play-off Shield and the Manchester Senior Cup.

In July 2006, Steele was part of the Manchester United party for their pre-season tour of South Africa, where he shared goalkeeping duties with Ben Foster. He only played in one of the three games, starting the final match against Kaizer Chiefs and making a noteworthy save from Shaun Bartlett's header before being replaced by Foster in the 77th minute. ^[12] He played in one more friendly match for the first team, a 2–1 defeat away to Preston North End, before joining Coventry City on loan for a second time on 4 August 2006. However, the loan was cut short after just six days when Steele and defender Paul McShane were transferred to West Bromwich Albion as part of the deal that took Tomasz Kuszczak to Manchester United. ^[13]

West Bromwich Albion

On 23 December 2006, Steele once again joined Coventry on an initial seven-day emergency loan ^[14] that was subsequently extended to the end of the season. ^[15]

Steele made his Albion debut in a 2–1 win away at Leicester City on 8 December 2007. ^[16]

In February 2008, he joined Barnsley on a one-month emergency loan. They required a goalkeeper for their fifth round FA Cup tie with Liverpool, as Heinz Müller was injured, while on-loan Tony Warner was cup-tied. ^[17] Steele delivered a Man of the Match performance on his debut in a surprise victory over the Premier League side at Anfield, allowing Barnsley to progress to the quarter finals. ^[18] He also won the FA Cup Player of the Round award for his performance in the game. ^[19] He then helped Barnsley reach the semi-finals of the FA Cup by keeping a clean sheet against Chelsea in a game which they won 1–0.

On 17 March 2008, Steele returned from his loan, with talks deadlocked over who should pay his wages during a proposed extended loan period. He rejoined Barnsley three days later, after the two clubs agreed a further loan period until the end of the season, with a view to a permanent transfer. ^[20] Steele represented Barnsley in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley Stadium, where they lost 1–0 against Cardiff City. ^[21]

Barnsley

A permanent transfer to Barnsley was completed on 21 May 2008, with Steele signing a one-year contract after his performances in the FA Cup. ^[22]

On 9 July 2008, Steele was fined £1,000 by the FA for breaching shirt sponsorship rules; during the 2007–08 season he regularly wore an undergarment bearing a logo that was visible above the collar of his official goalkeeping kit. The FA warned him several times of this misconduct but Steele continued to wear the undergarment and was subsequently fined. ^[23]

Panathinaikos

On 17 July 2014, Steele left Barnsley for Super League Greece club Panathinaikos after activating a clause allowing him to leave for nothing should the club be relegated from the Championship. ^[24] He made 29 league appearances during the 2014–15 season as Panathinaikos finished second behind Olympiacos, plus another eight appearances in other competitions. On 29 June 2015, he extended his stay in Greece for another three years by signing a new contract until 2018. ^[25] On 16 September 2016, English goalkeeper Luke Steele was included in UEFA Europa League's "Team of the Week", despite his team's home loss against AFC Ajax. After a string of below-par goalkeeping efforts in the month of November 2016, resulting in unfavourable team results and personal morale drop, Panathinaikos decided to remove him from first-choice keeper until further notice and bring youngster Odysseas Vlachodimos into the starting eleven. ^[26]

Bristol City

On 31 August 2017, Steele signed a one-year contract with Bristol City, with an option of a further year. ^[27]

He was released by Bristol City at the end of the 2017–18 season after making just 8 appearances, the highlight of which was in City's 2–1 win over defending champions Manchester United in the EFL Cup. ^{[28] [29]} Following this, Steele had a trial with Sheffield United during pre-season against Bradford City, but was not taken on by the club.

Nottingham Forest

On 1 August 2018, Steele signed a two-year deal with Nottingham Forest. ^[30] He made his debut for Forest on 14 August in the first round of the 2018–19 EFL Cup against Bury as a substitute, after Jordan Smith had been sent off. The game finished 1–1 after 90 minutes with Forest going through to the second round 10–9 on penalties, one of which Steele scored for Forest. ^[31]

On 8 August 2019, Steele was loaned to Championship side Millwall until January 2020. ^[32]

On 31 January 2020, Steele was loaned back to Millwall for the remainder of the season. ^[33]

Notts County

On 20 April 2021, Steele signed for Notts County on a short-term deal following an injury to first-choice goalkeeper Sam Slocombe. ^[34]

Deeping Rangers

Prior to Steele joining the club, he played for local clubs Peterborough Northern Star reserves and Spalding Sunday League side Jubilee as a striker, ^[35] as well as signing for Northern Premier League Division One South East side Stamford on 14 December 2020 in his natural position. ^[36] In February 2021, following his time at Stamford, Steele was initially set to return to hometown club Peterborough as backup; however, the Football League blocked the move due to Steele already playing for three clubs during the 2020–21 season. ^[37]

Steele would go on to sign for Deeping Rangers as a forward. ^[38] On 4 January 2022, he scored the winning goal a 1–0 win over Sleaford Town. ^[39]

Peterborough Sports

Steele arrived at sports in February 2023. And immediately made an impact, along with joint-manager Michael Gash, winning Manager of the Month, remaining undefeated in the month of March.^{[ citation needed ]}

International career

Steele is an England youth international, having played for his country at under-18, under-19 and under-20 level. He made his under-18 debut against Italy on 4 March 2002, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 3–0 defeat. In June that year, he was selected for a four-team tournament in Lisbon against Portugal, Norway and Slovakia; ^[40] he played in the games against Portugal and Slovakia. ^[41]

In September 2002, Steele progressed to the England Under-19s team, making his debut in a 3–1 away win over Hungary at Hidegkuti Nándor Stadium in Budapest. He was the team's first-choice goalkeeper throughout qualification for the 2003 UEFA European Under-19 Championship, playing the first two games of each qualification round, before Lee Camp took over once qualification was secure. Steele started all three games at the finals in Liechtenstein in July 2003, but England were eliminated with just one win in three group games. ^[42] Steele played just twice for the Under-20s, both friendlies, but he kept a clean sheet in both as England beat the Netherlands and Russia. ^[43]

In September 2005, ^[44] Steele was called up to the England Under-21s team, for the 2007 European Championship qualifiers against Austria and Poland. He was also called up in November 2005 for the England U-21 squad. ^[45]

Managerial career

On 8 February 2023, Steele agreed to become joint-manager of Peterborough Sports alongside Michael Gash. ^[46]

Career statistics

As of match played 27 August 2019

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Peterborough United	1999–2000 [47]	Third Division	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	2000–01 [48]	Second Division	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	2001–02 [49]	Second Division	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
	Total		2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
Manchester United (loan)	2001–02 [49]	Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Manchester United	2002–03 [50]	Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	2003–04 [51]	Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	2004–05 [52]	Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	2005–06 [53]	Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	2006–07 [54]	Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Total		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Coventry City (loan)	2004–05 [52]	Championship	32	0	2	0	2	0	—		36	0
	2006–07 [54]	Championship	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
West Bromwich Albion	2006–07 [54]	Championship	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	2007–08 [55]	Championship	2	0	0	0	0	0	—		2	0
	Total		2	0	0	0	0	0	—		2	0
Coventry City (loan)	2006–07 [54]	Championship	5	0	2	0	0	0	—		7	0
Barnsley (loan)	2007–08 [55]	Championship	14	0	3	0	0	0	—		17	0
Barnsley	2008–09 [56]	Championship	10	0	0	0	1	0	—		11	0
	2009–10 [57]	Championship	39	0	1	0	3	0	—		43	0
	2010–11 [58]	Championship	46	0	1	0	1	0	—		48	0
	2011–12 [59]	Championship	36	0	1	0	1	0	—		38	0
	2012–13 [60]	Championship	33	0	4	0	0	0	—		37	0
	2013–14 [61]	Championship	31	0	1	0	1	0	—		33	0
	Total		209	0	11	0	7	0	—		227	0
Panathinaikos	2014–15 [62]	Super League Greece	29	0	1	0	—		7 [lower-alpha 1]	0	37	0
	2015–16 [62]	Super League Greece	28	0	2	0	—		8 [lower-alpha 2]	0	38	0
	2016–17 [62]	Super League Greece	9	0	3	0	—		12 [lower-alpha 3]	0	24	0
	2017–18 [62]	Super League Greece	0	0	0	0	—		0	0	0	0
	Total		66	0	6	0	—		27	0	99	0
Bristol City	2017–18 [63]	Championship	5	0	1	0	4	0	—		10	0
Nottingham Forest	2018–19 [64]	Championship	2	0	1	0	4	0	—		7	0
	2019–20 [65]	Championship	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	Total		2	0	1	0	4	0	—		7	0
Millwall (loan)	2019–20 [65]	Championship	0	0	0	0	2	0	—		2	0
Career total			323	0	23	0	19	0	27	0	392	0

1. Three appearances in UEFA Europa League, four appearances in Super League Greece play-offs
2. Two appearances in UEFA Europa League, six appearances in Super League Greece play-offs
3. Ten appearances in UEFA Europa League, two appearances in Super League Greece play-offs

Honours

Individual

• Barnsley Player of the Season: 2011–12 ^[66]

References

1. "Notification of shirt numbers: Millwall" (PDF). English Football League. p. 43. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
2. "Posh keeper's Old Trafford loan". BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 5 March 2002. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
3. "Keeper impresses at Man Utd". BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 12 March 2002. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
4. "Reading 2-2 Peterborough". BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 13 April 2002. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
5. "Peterborough 2-1 Bury". BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 20 April 2002. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
6. "Ferguson in Steele purchase". BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 11 May 2002. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
7. "Man Utd youngsters shine". BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 15 April 2003. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
8. "Man Utd land Youth Cup". BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 25 April 2003. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
9. "Coventry make double swoop". BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 10 September 2004. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
10. "Steele loan extended for season". BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 14 December 2004. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
11. Marshall, Adam. "United's battle in Beijing". Sky Sports (BSkyB). Retrieved 17 July 2014.
12. "Man Utd beaten in final tour game". BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 22 July 2006. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
13. "Man Utd clear up Kuszczak details". BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 11 August 2006. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
14. "Coventry seal Steele loan switch". BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 23 December 2006. Retrieved 21 May 2008.
15. "Coventry extend Steele loan deal". BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 5 January 2007. Retrieved 7 May 2007.
16. "Leicester City vs WBA". wba.co.uk. West Bromwich Albion FC. 8 December 2007. Archived from the original on 11 December 2007. Retrieved 8 December 2007.
17. "Steele joins Tykes on loan". wba.co.uk. West Bromwich Albion FC. 14 February 2008. Archived from the original on 17 February 2008. Retrieved 15 February 2008.
18. Bevan, Chris (16 February 2008). "Liverpool 1–2 Barnsley". BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). Retrieved 18 February 2008.
19. "Barnsley keeper wins FA Cup award". BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 27 February 2008. Retrieved 20 March 2008.
20. "Cup hero Steele re-joins Barnsley". BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 20 March 2008. Retrieved 20 March 2008.
21. McKenzie, Andrew (6 April 2008). "Barnsley 0–1 Cardiff". BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). Retrieved 9 April 2008.
22. "Barnsley complete Steele signing". BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 21 May 2008. Retrieved 21 May 2008.
23. "Steele fined for kit rule breach". BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 9 July 2008. Retrieved 9 July 2008.
24. "Barnsley goalkeeper Luke Steele confirms departure". BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 17 July 2014. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
25. "Luke Steele renews until 2018". pao.gr. Panathinaikos FC. 29 June 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
26. "Βγάζει Στιλ, ώρα για Οδυσσέα". sport-fm.gr. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
27. "Luke Steele explains what attracted him to Bristol City ahead of signing on transfer deadline day". www.bristolpost.co.uk. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
28. "Report - Bristol City 2-1 Manchester United". BBC Sport. 20 December 2017.
29. "Gary O'Neil and Luke Steele among four released by Bristol City". BBC Sport. 18 May 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
30. "Steele signs for The Reds". Nottingham Forest. 1 August 2018. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
31. "Nottingham Forest vs. Bury – 14 August 2018". Soccerway. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
32. "Steele departs on loan". nottinghamforest.co.uk. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
33. "Steele heads back to Lions on loan". nottinghamforest.co.uk. 31 January 2020. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
34. "Steele signs". nottscountyfc.co.uk.
35. "Keeper Steele enjoys stint as striker". BBC Sport.
36. "Daniels Add Some Steele". pitchero.com. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
37. "The bizarre reason why Luke Steele couldn't sign for Posh last week". Peterborough Telegraph. 24 February 2021. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
38. "Deeping deliver outstanding defensive display to secure victory". 4 January 2022.
39. "Deeping deliver outstanding defensive display to secure victory". 4 January 2022.
40. "Steele lands England call". BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 23 May 2002. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
41. "Luke Steele". TheFA.com. The Football Association. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
42. "England's Matches - The Under 19's - 1991-2010". England Football Online. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
43. "England's Matches - The Under 20's". England Football Online. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
44. "Charlton's Thomas earns U21 place". 29 September 2005. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
45. "England strengthen for French test". UEFA.com. 4 November 2005. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
46. "Former Peterborough United player becomes joint manager of Peterborough Sports" . Retrieved 3 February 2024.
47. "Games played by Luke Steele in 1999/2000". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
48. "Games played by Luke Steele in 2000/2001". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
49. "Games played by Luke Steele in 2001/2002". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
50. "Games played by Luke Steele in 2002/2003". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
51. "Games played by Luke Steele in 2003/2004". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
52. "Games played by Luke Steele in 2004/2005". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
53. "Games played by Luke Steele in 2005/2006". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
54. "Games played by Luke Steele in 2006/2007". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
55. "Games played by Luke Steele in 2007/2008". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
56. "Games played by Luke Steele in 2008/2009". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
57. "Games played by Luke Steele in 2009/2010". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
58. "Games played by Luke Steele in 2010/2011". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
59. "Games played by Luke Steele in 2011/2012". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
60. "Games played by Luke Steele in 2012/2013". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
61. "Games played by Luke Steele in 2013/2014". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
62. "L. Steele: Summary". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
63. "Games played by Luke Steele in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
64. "Games played by Luke Steele in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
65. "Games played by Luke Steele in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
66. "Barnsley Player of the Season". Barnsley FC. Retrieved 2 January 2024.

External links

• Luke Steele at Soccerway
• Luke Steele at Soccerbase