Steven Pressley

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Steven Pressley
Personal information
Full name Steven John Pressley
Date of birth October 11, 1973 (age 33)
Place of birth    Flag of Scotland Elgin, Scotland
Height ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Nickname Elvis
Playing position Central Defender
Club information
Current club Celtic
Number 17
Youth clubs
Inverkeithing BC
Rangers
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1990–1994
1994–1995
1995–1998
1998–2006
2006–
Rangers
Coventry City
Dundee United
Hearts
Celtic
034 0(1)
019 0(1)
100 0(6)
271 (19)
010 0(0)   
National team2
2000– Scotland 032 0(0)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 20:40, 1 April 2007 (UTC).
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of October 11, 2006 (UTC).
* Appearances (Goals)

Steven John Pressley (born 11 October 1973 in Elgin) is a Scottish international footballer, currently playing for Scottish Premier League club Celtic. He is often known by his nickname, "Elvis".

Contents

He started his career at Rangers as a youngster, but despite being hailed in the media as "the new Richard Gough"[citation needed], struggled to establish himself as a regular and was transferred to English team Coventry City in 1994 for £630,000. He only lasted a year in England, where he had problems with his form and disciplinary record, before returning to Scotland with Dundee United for a fee of £750,000. He went on to have an exceptionally good spell at United where he helped them to third place in the league in season 1996-97.

His influential style of play and his organizational skills were noticed by Hearts manager Jim Jefferies, and he was signed by the Edinburgh club on a Bosman free transfer in 1998. He helped Hearts finish second in the league in 2005/06, third on three occasions, as well as reaching the Scottish and League Cup semi-finals. He was regarded by Hearts fans as the club's talisman in the way John Robertson was previously,[citation needed] and acted as a spokesman for the playing squad in response to the various controversies affecting the club under the ownership of Vladimir Romanov. His enrollment into the Hearts Hall of Fame highlights the status which he enjoyed at Tynecastle.

Pressley led Hearts to success in the Scottish Cup Final on 13 May 2006 albeit on a penalty shoot out after Hearts were held to a 1-1 draw with Gretna after extra time. Pressley scored the first penalty for Hearts who eventually won 4-2.

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 'Elvis', Gordon and Hartley.

On 13 November 2006, Pressley was absent from the Hearts squad to face Falkirk and had been reportedly stripped of the captaincy.[3]

On 9 December 2006 it was confirmed that he and Hearts had parted company.[4] Pressley was reported to be attracting the interest of several clubs.

On 27 December 2006, he was spotted watching Charlton Athletic against Fulham with his agent and Charlton representatives. The comments from the Charlton manager, Alan Pardew, after the game, seemed to confirm that he would sign for them during the January transfer window.

Despite this interest from Charlton, it was revealed on 29 December 2006 that Steven Pressley had been signed as a free agent by Celtic until May 2008.[5].

Having previously played for Rangers, he joins players such as Maurice Johnston, Alfie Conn, Kenny Miller and Mark Brown in crossing the Old Firm divide. He made his debut on 2 January 2007 against Kilmarnock F.C. and, on 14 January, returned to Tyncastle as stand-in Celtic captain. On 25 February 2007 he scored his first competitive goal for Celtic against Inverness CT in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup.

Pressley is also a Scotland international, having been capped 32 times since his debut in 2000 against France.[6]

His appearance against Lithuania on 6th September 2006 ensured he surpassed Bobby Walker's record as Hearts' most capped Scotland player in their 2-1 victory in Kaunas. A record which has stood for 91 years.[7] He became the first Scottish player to be sent off in Scotland's Euro 2008 qualifying campaign, in their away game against Ukraine on 11 October 2006,[8] which, incidentally was also Scotland's first international defeat in the campaign. This game fell on the day of Pressley's 33rd birthday.

  1. ^ a b "Romanov issues player ultimatum", BBC Sport website, 27 October 2006.
  2. ^ "Hearts 1-1 Dunfermline Athletic", BBC Sport website, 28th October 2006.
  3. ^ "Pressley loses captain's armband", BBC Sport website, 13th November 2006.
  4. ^ "Pressley and Hearts part company", BBC Sport website, 9 December 2006.
  5. ^ "Celtic win race to sign Pressley", BBC Sport website, 29th December 2006.
  6. ^ "France spoil Scottish party", BBC Sport website, 29th March 2000.
  7. ^ Pressley set to equal Scots cap record at Hearts Scotsman.com Sport, 2 September 2006. Accessed 16th October 2006
  8. ^ "Ukraine 2-0 Scotland", BBC Sport website, 11 October 2006.


Celtic F.C. - Current Squad

1 Boruc | 2 Telfer | 3 Naylor | 5 Caldwell | 6 Balde | 7 Żurawski | 9 Miller | 10 Vennegoor of Hesselink | 11 Hartley | 12 Wilson | 14 Riordan | 15 Sno | 16 Gravesen | 17 Pressley | 18 Lennon | 20 Jarošík | 21 Brown | 24 Perrier-Doumbé | 25 Nakamura | 26 Sheridan | 37 Beattie | 41 Kennedy | 42 McGlinchey | 44 McManus | 46 McGeady | 48 O'Dea | 49 Cuthbert | 50 Irvine | 51 Riley | 53 Ferry | 54 Conroy | Manager: Strachan

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