Full Name: Stephen Mark Agnew
Born: 09 November 1965, Shipley (England)
Nationality: English
Transferred from: Blackburn Rovers, 21 November 1992, Loan
Previous Clubs: Barnsley
Pompey Debut: 21 November 1992 v Tranmere Rovers (W 4-0)
First Pompey Goal: n/a
Games: 7 (5 League, 2 Anglo Italian Cup)
Final Game: 19 December 1992 v Notts County (D 0-0)
Subsequent Clubs: Leicester City, Sunderland, York City

Profile:
Steve Agnew started his career at Barnsley in 1983 and although he made his full league debut having just turned eighteen is was not until the 1986/87 season that he fully established himself as a first team regular. During the next five seasons the skilful Agnew became a firm favourite with Tykes supporters due in part to his versatility but also due to the fact that he would contribute more than his fair share of goals from midfield, albeit mainly from Free-Kicks.

Jack Walkers early 90's revolution at Blackburn Rovers however did not pass many clubs by and when in June 1991 Rovers boss Don Mackay announced he was prepared to make Agnew the Ewood Park club's most expensive signing at £700,000 there was little Barnsley could or indeed wanted to do, to stand in Agnew's way.

Within a few games of the new season however Agnew found himself playing for a different manager as big spending Walker unveiled Kenny Dalglish as Blackburns new manager and with millions of pounds available Dalglish started to build a side that was capable of gaining top flight (and beyond) status.

Despite having played a part in the promotion campaign and the early stages of the subsequent maiden Premiership season that followed it was clear that Agnew was not part of Dalglish's long term plan and a transfer seemed imminent.

In November 1992 Portsmouth manager Jim Smith arranged to take Agnew to Portsmouth initially on loan, but with the option to buy, but in little less than a month; albeit a month that saw Agnew make a total of seven Pompey appearances (including two Anglo Italian Cup fixtures away to Bari and Ascoli), the deal fell through and Agnew returned to Blackburn until the following February when he was sold to Leicester City for £250,000.

In 1993/94 Agnew helped the Foxes gain promotion to The Premiership but as with Blackburn he soon found himself surplus to requirements once the objective had been achieved and less than two years after joining he signed for (soon to become) Peter Reid's Sunderland where remarkably, by now in his early 30's, he once again helped a club gain promotion to The Premiership and although on this occasion he stayed long enough to experience the top flight, the Black Cats were relegated within the year.

Agnew eventually hung-up his professional boots at York City in 2001 and signed for Gateshead where he briefly turned his hand to coaching before resigning in October 2002 after the playing budget was cut. Various youth and assistant coaching/managerial roles at Middlesbrough, Leeds, Hartlepool, Leeds (again) and Middlesbrough (again) followed before in July 2008 he was promoted into his current role of Boro's first team coach after the departure of long serving Steve Harrison.

Career Highlights:
1984 - Makes debut for Barnsley
Jun 91 - Transfers To Blackburn Rovers
Nov 92 - Loaned to Portsmouth
Feb 93 - Signs for Leicester City
Jan 95 - Signs for Sunderland
1998 - Signs for York City
Jul 08 - Gains UEFA Pro License and appointed First Team Coach at Middlesbrough

Other Interesting Facts:
Agnew's debut for Barnsley against Charlton in 1984 lasted all of 15 seconds

During Agnew's final Pompey appearance (Notts County - Fratton Park 19 December 1992) a kit-bag mix up resulted in both Colin Clarke and Paul Walsh wearing a No9 shirt for five second half minutes before the referee noticed

In February 1996 Agnew scored against Pompey for Sunderland in a 2-2 draw at Roker Park. Paul Hall and Carl Griffiths were the Pompey scorers

In July 2008 Steve Agnew gained his UEFA Pro License qualification. Others on the same course included Roy Keane, Gary Ablett and former Pompey players Kevin Ball and Adrian Whitbread

Agnew is related to young Ipswich Town starlet Jordan Rhodes who, in January 2009 whilst on loan at Brentford, scored three goals in 29 minutes making him the youngest player in Brentford's history to score a hat-trick

Vital Pompey Author Chix
Date: April 2009