Alexander Cyril Stepney, born London, England, September 18, 1942. Even though he was less celebrated than contemporary goalkeeping colleagues such as Gordon Banks, Ray Clemence, Peter Shilton, and Ron Springett, Alex Stepney nevertheless enjoyed a highly rewarding footballing career. While with Manchester United, Stepney won the First Division in 1966-67, the UEFA European Cup in 1967-68, the Second Division in 1974-75, and the FA Cup in 1976-77.
London born Alex Stepney amassed 35 Isthmian League apperances for his local outfit Tooting and Mitcham United before he was discovered by Division Three side Millwall where he would appear in well over 100 first team matches for The Lions. A promising goalkeeping prospect, Stepney was then brought to Chelsea by ambitious Stamford Bridge gaffer Tommy Docherty for a transfer fee estimated to be in the region of £50,000 in May 1966. A mere four months later, however, Manchester United Head Coach Matt Busby decided to splash out a fee of £55,000 for a net custodian who would go on to keep the goal for The Reds for the next thirteen years during which time he won the First Division in 1967, the European Cup in 1968, the Second Division in 1975 and the FA Cup in 1977. A commanding goalkeeper with excellent reflexes between the sticks, Stepney was handed his First Division debut for United in a 1-0 triumph against Manchester City in front of more than 60,000 people at Old Trafford on the 17th of September 1966. He instantly established himself in the first team and his solid and dependable performances for the side throughout the 1967-68 season brought him a long awaited call up to the England side for whom he gained his only international senior cap in a creditable 3-1 friendly fixture win against Sweden at Wembley Stadium on the 22nd of May 1968. At the end of the 1968-69 campaign, though, the regular first team stopper was somewhat surprisingly dropped to the substitutes bench as he was replaced by second choice keeper Jimmy Rimmer. The exceedingly frustrated and restless Stepney still remained there at the start of the new season and subsequently handed in a transfer request which was then rejected by newly hired manager Wilf McGuiness. The Londoner would eventually return to the first team and he appeared in 37 Football League games for the club in the 1969-70 season.
The following league season the two goalkeeping rivals racked up 21 First Division outings each before the far more experienced Alex Stepney managed to re-establish himself as first choice keeper under Frank O’Farrell at the beginning of the 1971-72 campaign. Come December 1972, and the irrepressible Tommy Docherty was hired as the new manager of Manchester United after a difficult and disappointing start to the 1972-73 term. Then, in the summer of 1975, the controversial and flamboyant Docherty blatantly announced that Republic of Ireland player Paddy Roche would be the number one choice goalkeeper at the club, but the youngster made several fatal mistakes early on in the season and Stepney was once again recalled into the first team. Now back in the starting eleven, he helped the red shirts reach the 1976 FA Cup Final at Wembley where they met Second Division Southampton. United started the final well enough and dominated large periods of the first half, but their countless attacks were met with stern resistance by Soton. Gerry Daly and Gordon Hill came inches close to scoring before the sound of the half-time whistle, but The Dell goalkeeper Ian Turner made excellent reflex saves on both occasions. After the break, The Saints slowly but surely started to get a grip on the match and they eventually scored the winning goal of the encounter when ex-Manchester United midfielder Jim McCalliog produced a brilliant throughball for the onrunning Bobby Stokes whose opportunistic shot beat Stepney in the 83rd minute to make the final scoreline 1-0 in favour of the South Coasters.
Despite ending up as the losing side in the 1976 FA Cup Final against Southampton, Manchester United head coach Tommy Docherty had nevertheless created a good foundation for the future; but his days as manager at Old Trafford were numbered because of his affair with the wife of club physiotherapist Laurie Brown, and the colourful head coach had to resign from his post at the end of the 1976-77 campaign. Following the sacking of The Doc in the summer of 1977, former Leyton Orient, Chelsea, and Queens Park Rangers manager Dave Sexton was appointed as the new manager of the club. But the Londoner struggled to adjust to life at Old Trafford and at the end of the rather mediocre 1977-78 season, it was obvious to everyone that some changes would be made and he spent heavily on players such as Garry Birtles, Mickey Thomas, and Ray “Butch” Wilkins. As for Stepney, the ageing netminder finally left for North American Soccer League outfit Dallas Tornadoes at the end of the 1978-79 term, but the likeable character later returned to England to run a public house in Stockport before he became the manager of a van hire company in Rochdale. While at Old Trafford, Alex Stepney clocked up a total of 535 first class appearances for the club and won one English First Division winners’ medal, one FA Cup winners´medal, one English Second Division winners´ medal, and one UEFA European Cup winners´ medal, as well as one FA Cup runners-up medal. Alex Stepney Playing Career: Tooting and Mitcham United, Millwall, Chelsea, Manchester United, Dallas Tornado, Altrincham. Managing Career: None.