Steve Archibald
Personal information
Full name Steven Archibald[1]
Date of birth (1956-09-27) 27 September 1956 (age 67)[1]
Place of birth Glasgow, Scotland
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
1973–1974 Fernhill Athletic
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1974 → East Stirlingshire (trial) 1 (0)
1974–1977 Clyde 65 (7)
1977–1980 Aberdeen 76 (29)
1980–1984 Tottenham Hotspur 131 (58)
1984–1988 Barcelona 55 (24)
1986 Barcelona Atlètic 2 (0)
1987–1988 → Blackburn Rovers (loan) 20 (6)
1988–1990 Hibernian 44 (15)
1990 Espanyol 15 (5)
1990–1991 St Mirren 16 (2)
1992 Clyde 4 (2)
1992 Reading 1 (0)
1992 Ayr United 1 (0)
1992 Fulham 2 (0)
1994–1996 East Fife 49 (7)
1996 Home Farm Everton 1 (0)
Total 483 (156)
International career
1979–1980 Scotland U21[2] 5 (1)
1980–1986 Scotland 27 (4)
Managerial career
1994–1996 East Fife
2000–2001 Airdrieonians
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Steven Archibald (born 27 September 1956) is a Scottish former professional footballer and manager. He played prominently as a forward for Aberdeen, winning the Scottish league in 1980, Tottenham Hotspur, winning two FA Cups and a UEFA Cup, and Barcelona, winning the Spanish league in 1985. He also played for several other clubs in Scotland, England, Spain and Ireland.

Archibald played 27 times for Scotland, earning selection for their 1982 and 1986 World Cup squads, and was inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame in 2009. He later managed East Fife and Airdrieonians.

Club career

Archibald was born in Glasgow[1] and raised nearby in Rutherglen. He was playing for local teams such as Croftfoot United and Fernhill Athletic[3] while completing his training as a car mechanic when he was spotted by Scottish First Division club Clyde in 1974.[4] He first came to prominence playing in midfield for Clyde, but after manager Billy McNeill paid £20,000 to bring him to top-division side Aberdeen in January 1978 he was converted to striker, forging a prolific partnership with Joe Harper.[4]

After winning the Scottish Premier Division title in 1980, he moved to London club Tottenham Hotspur for £800,000,[4] where he finished the top scorer in the First Division and won the FA Cup in his first season there.[4] He won a second FA Cup in 1982[4] and then the UEFA Cup in 1984, where he scored his penalty in the final as Spurs overcame Anderlecht in a shootout.[5][6] He also scored for Spurs in their defeat by Liverpool in the 1982 Football League Cup Final.[5] Archibald scored 77 goals in 189 appearances for Spurs between 1980 and 1984,[5] forming successful striking partnerships with Garth Crooks and Mark Falco.

In 1984, he joined Barcelona for £1,150,000,[4] where in his first season he helped them win the La Liga title for the first time in 11 years.[4] He then helped Barça reach the European Cup final in 1986, only to lose on penalty kicks to Steaua Bucharest.[3] He was a popular figure at the Camp Nou until restrictions on fielding foreign players led to him being excluded from the squad in favour of Gary Lineker and Mark Hughes.[3] He was loaned out to Blackburn Rovers for a spell before to returning to Scotland in 1988 to sign for Hibernian.[3]

Archibald scored 16 goals in his first season at Hibernian, including the winning goal in November 1988 in a 2–1 win away against Hearts, Hibs' first away win against their city rivals in over 10 years.[3] He left Hibs in 1990 after falling out with manager Alex Miller, and had a brief return to Spain with Espanyol (then in the Second Division).[3] He then joined St Mirren and was instrumental in bringing former Barcelona teammate Víctor Muñoz to the club.[3]

Archibald's later career saw him make a handful of appearances at a number of clubs in Scotland, England and Ireland, including a nostalgic return to Clyde.[3]

International career

Archibald was a member of the Scotland national team at the 1982 and 1986 World Cups.

On 15 November 2009, he was inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame.[7]

Managerial career and the Airdrie experiment

Archibald's time at East Fife saw the club gain promotion to the First Division, and was also notable for the acquisition of Trinidad and Tobago internationalists Arnold Dwarika and Craig Demmin. He was sacked in 1996 and retired to his home in Spain for the next few years, working on a number of business interests, including as a football agent.

In 2000 Archibald re-emerged in Scottish football when he mounted a bid to buy financially troubled First Division club Airdrieonians. Archibald was allowed to take over the running of the club after being awarded preferred bidder status by the administrators. He installed himself as manager and, using his contacts in Europe, introduced a contingent of Spaniards and other foreign players to the squad, winning the 2000–01 Scottish Challenge Cup.[3]

Although Airdrie supporters were impressed by Archibald and the skills of the imports, he ultimately failed to conclude the purchase of the club, leading to the departure of himself and the foreign players in March 2001,[3] and causing them to narrowly miss out on relegation to the Second Division. They had also been expelled from the Scottish Cup for failing to fulfil a fixture. Airdrieonians went out of business on 1 May 2002, and a new club called Airdrie United was formed and took Clydebank's place in the Scottish Football League.

Music career

Archibald appeared twice in the same episode of Top of the Pops in 1982, firstly singing "We Have a Dream" with the Scotland World Cup squad starring B. A. Robertson and then alongside his Tottenham Hotspur teammates and Chas & Dave singing "Tottenham, Tottenham".

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[8][9][10][11][12][13][14]
Club Season League National cup League cup Europe Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
East Stirlingshire (trial) 1973–74 Scottish Division Two 1 0 0 0 0 0 - - - - 1 0
Clyde 1974–75 Scottish Division One 4 0 0 0 0 0 - - - - 4 0
1975–76 Scottish First Division 16 2 2 0 2 0 - - - - 20 2
1976–77 Scottish Second Division 31 3 1 0 6 0 - - - - 38 3
1977–78 14 2 2 0 2 0 - - - - 18 2
Total 65 7 5 0 10 0 - - - - 80 7
Aberdeen 1977–78 Scottish Premier Division 10 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 - - 10 5
1978–79 32 13 5 4 7 3 4 0 - - 48 20
1979–80 34 12 5 7 11 3 2 0 - - 52 22
Total 76 30 10 11 18 6 6 0 - - 110 47
Tottenham Hotspur 1980–81 First Division 41 20 - 3 - 2 0 0 - - 41+ 25
1981–82 27 6 - 1 - 2 - 0 - - 27+ 9
1982–83 31 11 - 0 - 2 - 2 - - 31+ 15
1983–84 32 21 - 1 - 1 - 5 - - 32+ 28
Total 131 58 18 5 18 7 22 7 - - 189 77
Barcelona 1984–85 La Liga 32 15 8 3 4 1 2 0 - - 46 19
1985–86 13 4 3 1 1 1 4 2 1 0 22 8
1986–87 10 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 12 5
1987–88 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - - 0 0
Total 55 24 11 4 5 2 6 2 3 0 80 32
Blackburn Rovers (loan) 1987–88 Second Division 20 6 - - - - - - - - 20+ 6+
Hibernian 1988–89 Scottish Premier Division 31 13 4 1 3 2 0 0 - - 38 16
1989–90 13 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 - - 15 2
Total 44 15 4 1 3 2 2 0 - - 53 18
Espanyol 1989–90 Segunda División 15 5 - - - - - - - - 15+ 5+
St Mirren 1990–91 Scottish Premier Division 16 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 - - 17 2
Clyde 1991–92 Scottish Second Division 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 - - 4 2
Reading 1991–92 Third Division 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - - 1 0
Ayr United 1991–92 Scottish First Division 1 0 - - - - - - - - 1+ 0+
Fulham 1992–93 Second Division 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - - 2 0
East Fife 1994–95 Scottish Second Division 13 1 - - - - - - - - 13+ 1+
1995–96 31 6 - - - - - - - - 31+ 6+
1996–97 Scottish First Division 5 0 - - - - - - - - 5+ 0+
Total 49 7 - - - - - - - - 49+ 7+
Home Farm Everton 1996–97 1 0 - - - - - - - - 1+ 0+
Career total 483 156 49+ 21+ 54+ 17+ 36 9 1 0 623+ 203+

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Scotland[15] 1980 5 2
1981 7 1
1982 8 1
1983 1 0
1984 2 0
1985 3 0
1986 1 0
Total 27 4
Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Archibald goal.[16]
List of international goals scored by Steve Archibald
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 26 March 1980 Hampden Park, Glasgow  Portugal 3–0 4–1 UEFA Euro 1980 qualifying
2 31 May 1980 Nepstadion, Budapest  Hungary 1–2 1–3 Friendly
3 19 May 1981 Hampden Park, Glasgow  Northern Ireland 2–0 2–0 1980–81 British Home Championship
4 15 June 1982 Estadio La Rosaleda, Málaga  New Zealand 5–2 5–2 1982 FIFA World Cup

Managerial statistics

[17]

Team From To Record
G W D L Win %
East Fife 1994 1996 90 35 25 30 38.89%
Airdrieonians 2000 2001 - - - - -
Total 90+ 35+ 25+ 30+ 38.89%

Honours

Player

Aberdeen
Tottenham Hotspur
Barcelona
Scotland

Manager

Airdrieonians

Individual

References

  1. ^ a b c "Steve Archibald". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  2. ^ "Steve Archibald". www.fitbastats.com. Retrieved 11 October 2012.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Steve Archibald". Hibernian Historical Trust. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Dark Blue Dons - Steve Archibald". AFC.co.uk. Archived from the original on 27 April 2017. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  5. ^ a b c "Steve Archibald". tottenhamhotspur.com. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  6. ^ a b "1984 UEFA Cup Final 2nd Leg Tottenham 1-1 Anderlecht 2-2 on aggregate (Tottenham win 4-3 on penalties)". UEFA.com. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  7. ^ a b Eight more Scots greats enter Hall of Fame The Scotsman, 16 November 2009
  8. ^ Strack-Zimmermann, Benjamin. "Steve Archibald". www.national-football-teams.com. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  9. ^ "Aberdeen Football Club Heritage Trust - Player Profile". afcheritage.org. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  10. ^ "Fixtures 1977 - 1978 | Match | Clyde Football Club". Official Clyde Football Club Website. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  11. ^ "TOPSPURS - the world famous home of Tottenham Hotspur on the internet". www.topspurs.com. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  12. ^ Jugadors, F. C. B. "Steven Archibald stats | FC Barcelona Players". FCB Jugadors. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  13. ^ "Hibernian Player Steve Archibald Details". www.fitbastats.com. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  14. ^ "Past Saints - A". StMirren.info. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  15. ^ Steve Archibald at National-Football-Teams.com
  16. ^ SFA profile
  17. ^ "East Fife Manager Steve Archibald Details". www.fitbastats.com. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  18. ^ "1981/82 Charity Shield". footballsite.co.uk. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  19. ^ "Rous-ing win for makeshift Scots". Glasgow Herald. 27 May 1985. p. 15 – via Google News Archive.
  20. ^ "Airdrie lift Challenge Cup". BBC Sport. 19 November 2000. Retrieved 14 April 2020.

External links

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