Steve Book

Steven Kim Book (born 7 July 1969) is an English former professional football goalkeeper who is currently employed as the goalkeeping coach at Cheltenham Town.

Steve Book
Personal information
Full name Steven Kim Book[1]
Date of birth (1969-07-07) 7 July 1969
Place of birth Bournemouth, England
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[1]
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Club information
Current team
 Cheltenham Town (goalkeeping coach)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1988–1989 Welton Rovers 36 (0)
1989–1990 Paulton Rovers 28
1990–1991 Frome Town 52
1992–1993 Weston-super-Mare 89
– Bath City
1993–1994 Brighton & Hove Albion 0 (0)
1993–1994 → Slough Town (loan) 2 (0)
– Frome Town 16
1994–1995 Lincoln City 0 (0)
1994–1997 Forest Green Rovers 125 (?)
1997–2004 Cheltenham Town 307 (0)
2004–2005 Swindon Town 2 (0)
2005–2006 Cirencester Town 12 (0)
2005–2006 Bristol Rovers 1
2006–2007 Mangotsfield United 36 (1)
2007–2008 Bristol Rovers 0
2008–2010 Tiverton Town 96 (0)
2010–2012 Cheltenham Town 0 (0)
Total 802 (1)
National team
1999 England C 3 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Book represented a number of clubs in the English football league system during a career which began in 1988 at Welton Rovers and concluded with a two-year stint as player-goalkeeping coach at Cheltenham Town between 2010 and 2012. He then retired from playing to focus on coaching at Cheltenham Town.

Early career

The son of a former professional goalkeeper, Kim Book, and nephew of the former Manchester City manager Tony Book, Steve began his career on the South-West non-league circuit with clubs such as Paulton Rovers, Welton Rovers, Frome Town and Weston-super-Mare. He moved on to Bath City and spent the initial part of the 1993/4 at Brighton without breaking into the first team though he did make a couple of appearances for Slough Town whilst on loan there. A change of management saw him return to the non-league scene with Frome Town before a period at Lincoln City where he was an unused substitute in a couple of League Cup ties in the 1994/95 season.

Forest Green Rovers

In September 1994 he joined Forest Green Rovers. Although his number of appearances are unknown, he spent three years at the Nailsworth club before an £8,000 transfer took him to Cheltenham Town in July 1997.

Cheltenham Town

He was the first choice goalkeeper at Cheltenham for seven years, leading them to promotion into the League, a F A Trophy win, then into Nationwide Division 2 via the playoffs in 2002. His career at Cheltenham also seen him win England semi-pro honours and The Conference Team of the year 98–99. Could win you a game with some outstanding reflex saves and a habit of saving penalties.

He left Cheltenham in the summer of 2004 and joined Swindon Town.

Swindon Town, Bristol Rovers and Non-League

In July 2005, and without a professional club, the Emerson's Green-based Book linked up with Bristol Rovers for training and also to assist coaching the club's younger goalkeepers.[2] On 16 August 2005 he was appointed goalkeeping coach at Bristol Rovers on a permanent basis,[3] succeeding Phil Kite in the role to allow Kite to concentrate fully on his role as physio. Book combined his coaching role with a playing role with Cirencester Town, debuting for the club in the 2–0 Southern Football League Premier Division victory at Chesham United on 13 August 2005. He made twelve league appearances for the club, the final one in a 1–0 defeat at Aylesbury United on 22 November 2005,[4] before leaving the club and signing non-contract terms with Bristol Rovers where he was given the squad number 25.[5]

As a player, he joined Mangotsfield in the summer of 2006 and on 26 August scored the first goal of his career when a sliced free-kick from his own area managed to outfox the Rugby Town goalkeeper. In June 2007, he departed the club by mutual consent after being told he didn't figure in the plans of newly appointed manager Frank Gregan.[6]

In 2008, he joined Southern League Premier Division side Tiverton Town. Is still goalkeeping coach at Bristol Rovers and holds the level twp coaching badge, UEFA C goalkeeping and UEFA B goalkeeping licence. On 10 June 2010, he agreed to join his former club Cheltenham Town as a part-time goalkeeping coach. At this time, Steve Book was given the worst ever Fifa Ultimate Team rating at 40 on Fifa 12 and he is still the worst to date.[7] In August 2011, at the age of 42, Book was again registered as a goalkeeper at Cheltenham for a League Cup match against MK Dons where he sat on the bench.[8]

Career statistics
Club performance
Club Division Years) League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Brighton & Hove Albion Football League 1993 to 1994 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Slough Town(Loan) Football Conference 1993 to 1994 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
Lincoln City Football League 1994 to 1995 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Forest Green Rovers Football Conference 1995 to 1997 125 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Cheltenham Town Football League 1997 to 2004 171 0 20 0 7 0 9 0 207 0
Swindon Town Football League 2004 to 2005 2 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 4 0
Bristol Rovers Football League 2005 to 2006 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Mangotsfield United Southern League 2006 to 2007 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 1
Bristol Rovers Football League 2007 to 2008 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Tiverton Town Southern League Premier Division 2008 to 2010 84 0 2 0 1 0 12 0 57 0
Career totals 221 1 22 0 9 0 23 0 275 1

Playing honours

Cheltenham Town

Tiverton Town

References
  1. Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2003). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2003/2004. Queen Anne Press. p. 54. ISBN 1-85291-651-6.
  2. "Two new faces in training". Bristol Rovers F.C. Official Website. 12 July 2005. Archived from the original on 29 February 2012. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
  3. "Steve booked in for coaching". Bristol Rovers F.C. Official Website. 16 August 2005. Archived from the original on 29 February 2012. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
  4. "Steve Book league appearances, 2005–2006 season". SoccerFactsUK.co.uk. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
  5. "Book signs non-contract forms". 1 December 2005. Archived from the original on 29 February 2012. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
  6. "Book released – three more to go?". NonLeagueDaily.com. 13 June 2007. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
  7. "Booky back at Robins". Cheltenham Town F.C. Official Website. 10 June 2010. Archived from the original on 17 June 2010. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
  8. "Booky on the bench". Cheltenham Town F.C. Official Website. Archived from the original on 19 March 2012. Retrieved 11 August 2011.
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