Steven M. "Steve" Stride (born c. 1950) is the former Operations Director of Aston Villa Football Club.
Stride joined the office staff at Aston Villa in 1972 and seven years later was appointed football secretary, a post he held for 16 years. He was elected to the board of directors in 1995, [1] and two years later published a book, Stride inside the Villa, chronicling his 25 years with the club. [2] In 2005, he took responsibility for running the club while longtime chairman Doug Ellis recovered from heart bypass surgery. [1] Stride was the only director to remain at the club following American businessman Randy Lerner's 2006 takeover. [3] He eventually resigned, with his resignation being effective from May 2007. [4]
Stride was a member of the three-man Football Association-appointed commission which, in 2002, controversially [5] decided that Wimbledon F.C. should be allowed to relocate to Milton Keynes. [6] Stride voted in favour of the move (only Alan Turvey dissented). [7]
Aston Villa Football Club is an English professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park, since 1897. Aston Villa were one of the founder members of the Football League in 1888 and of the Premier League in 1992. Villa are one of the five English clubs to have won the European Cup, in 1981–82. They have also won the Football League First Division seven times, the FA Cup seven times, the League Cup five times, and the European (UEFA) Super Cup once. The club are currently ranked 5th in the all-time English top flight table, since its creation in 1888.
AFC Wimbledon is an English professional football club, based in Merton, London, which, during the 2021-22 season, played in the EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system, after which the club was relegated to the EFL League Two. The club's home stadium is Plough Lane.
Gérard Paul Francis Houllier was a French professional football manager and player. Clubs he managed include Paris Saint-Germain, Lens and Liverpool, where he won the FA Cup, League Cup, FA Charity Shield, UEFA Cup and UEFA Super Cup in 2001. He then guided Lyon to two French titles, before announcing his resignation on 25 May 2007. He became manager of Aston Villa in September 2010. He also coached the France national team between 1992 and 1993. He assisted Aimé Jacquet in the 1998 FIFA World Cup, was part of UEFA's and FIFA's Technical Committee in the 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cup finals, and technical director for the French Football Federation during the 2010 finals. In June 2011, he stepped down from club coaching, leaving his managerial role at Aston Villa, following frequent hospitalisation over heart problems.
Milton Keynes Dons Football Club, usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 2004, following Wimbledon F.C.'s controversial relocation to Milton Keynes from south London, when it adopted its present name, badge and home colours.
Joseph Patrick Kinnear is an Irish former football manager and player. Kinnear played as a defender, spending the majority of his career—ten seasons—with Tottenham Hotspur. With Tottenham he won the FA Cup, the EFL Cup twice, the FA Community Shield and the UEFA Cup. Kinnear was born in Dublin, moving to Watford, England at the age of seven. He was capped 26 times for the Republic of Ireland national football team. Following the end of his playing career he has also been the manager of India, Nepal, Doncaster Rovers, Wimbledon, Luton Town, Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United.
Stephen Roger Bruce is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a centre-back. He is currently the manager of EFL Championship club West Bromwich Albion.
Alexander McLeish is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. He played as a defender for Aberdeen during their 1980s glory years, making nearly 500 League appearances for the club, and won 77 caps for Scotland.
Sir Herbert Douglas Ellis, was an English entrepreneur. He was the chairman of Aston Villa Football Club from 1968 to 1975, and again from 1982 until 2006. Ellis was knighted in the 2012 New Year Honours List for charitable services.
Darren Ashley Bent is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He played in the Premier League and EFL Championship for nine clubs, and at senior international level for the England national team.
Steven James Sidwell is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.
Craig Gardner is an English professional football coach and former player who made 260 appearances in the Premier League and a further 67 in the Championship. He joined the coaching staff at Birmingham City in January 2021, and in June was appointed technical director.
In English football, the Second City derby or Birmingham derby, is the local derby between the two major clubs in the city of Birmingham – Aston Villa and Birmingham City, first contested in 1879. Villa play at Villa Park while Birmingham play at St Andrew's, the two grounds separated by roughly 2.4 miles (3.9 km). It is known as the Second City Derby based on Birmingham being referred to as the second city of the United Kingdom. The two clubs are generally regarded as each other's most fierce rivals. In addition both sides have affiliated women's sides, Aston Villa W.F.C. and Birmingham City W.F.C.
Randolph David Lerner is an American billionaire investor and former sports-team owner. He became the majority owner of the American football team, the Cleveland Browns, of the National Football League, upon the death of his father Alfred "Al" Lerner in October 2002. In August 2012, he sold the team. Lerner became the owner and chairman of English club Aston Villa F.C. of the Premier League in 2006, subsequently Lerner sold the club at a loss in 2016 following their relegation. His personal fortune has been estimated at over US$ 1.1 billion.
Alan Geoffrey Wright is an English football manager and former professional footballer.
Ian Kenneth Taylor is an English former professional footballer and sports television pundit.
Michael John "Mile" Jedinak is an Australian former professional footballer who served as the captain of the Australia national team. He is currently the Loan Player Development Coach at Aston Villa.
Tommy Elphick is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre-back.
The history of Aston Villa F.C. from 1961 to the current season covers the fluctuating fortunes of the club during the 1960s and 1970s, the European Cup victory in 1982 and the present day Premier League club.
Wimbledon Football Club relocated to Milton Keynes in September 2003, 16 months after receiving permission to do so from the Football Association on the basis of a two-to-one decision in favour by an FA-appointed independent commission. The move took the team from south London, where it had been based since its foundation in 1889, to Milton Keynes, a new town in Buckinghamshire, about 56 miles (90 km) to the northwest of the club's traditional home district Wimbledon. Hugely controversial, the move's authorisation prompted disaffected Wimbledon supporters to form AFC Wimbledon, a new club, in June 2002. The relocated team played home matches in Milton Keynes under the Wimbledon name from September 2003 until June 2004, when following the end of the 2003–04 season it renamed itself Milton Keynes Dons F.C..
The 2018–19 season was Aston Villa's third consecutive season in the Championship following their relegation from the Premier League during the 2015–16 season, they finished in fifth place and were the winners of the subsequent play-offs to achieve promotion to the Premier League. It was also their 144th year in existence.