HE was once the second most expensive goalkeeper in the country behind England legend Gordon Banks, and Alan Stevenson also looks a safe pair of hands in his latest role as a York City commercial consultant.

Since persuading Hartlepool to hand him a player/commercial manager role when his days between the sticks were coming to an end in the 1980s, Stevenson has almost established himself as the go-to person when clubs are preparing to relocate from their traditional homes.

Having quickly been head-hunted by Middlesbrough when working for Hartlepool, Stevenson went on to head the commercial department at West Brom before being recruited to maximise the off-pitch potential in stadium moves at Huddersfield, Bolton, Hull, Widnes, Coventry, Doncaster, Shrewsbury and Chesterfield, not to mention Wembley.

The demand for his services has been such that he has been employed by more than one club at once, as he is now, balancing his commitments in North Yorkshire with his director of marketing position at Chesterfield.

His job with the Minstermen will represent the tenth new stadium project that Stevenson has been involved in and the man who once cost Burnley £50,000, when he moved from home-town Chesterfield, reasons that the experience he has garnered over the years should guarantee that the Monks Cross venture is his best to date.

“I am always hoping the next one will be the most successful because it’s all about experience,” the Birmingham-based 62-year-old pointed out. “The first I was involved in at Huddersfield was great but it was a learning curve and there were certain things that I thought ‘I won’t do that with the next one’.

“The size of the stadiums might be different in each project but you face the same problems with all of them and, if you have encountered them before, you usually know how to address them.”

It is impossible to ignore the highest-profile entry in Stevenson’s CV.

As the commercial manager responsible for closing down the old Wembley stadium, he enjoyed organising a host of events, including matches on the hallowed turf that would pitch paying companies against each other in home and away England shirts before the winners were presented with a replica FA Cup in the Royal Box by a hired lookalike of the Queen.

The job was not always as glamorous as expected, however, highlighting that even the most prestigious and world-renowned venues eventually pass their sell-by dates.

“My office was downwind from the men’s toilets and I had to have sandbags outside because it was at the bottom of a slope and the drains could not deal with the flow at half-time during matches,” Stevenson recalled with a grimace.

“So, even though the facade of Wembley was brilliant with the Twin Towers and everything, when you looked at it warts and all, it was a very old stadium that needed replacing.

“Football has moved on and the national stadium needed to do so, along with all the clubs up and down the country.”

Each move has to be given careful consideration with Stevenson using Coventry’s empty 32,000-seater Ricoh Arena as an example of how relocation can cause huge problems if clubs are too ambitious or the background for a new build is unstable.

Despite urging caution as the Sky Blues’ commercial director of six years, Stevenson could not prevent the 1987 FA Cup final winners chasing past glories and, on the club who are currently playing their home games at Northampton’s Sixfields, he said: “The problem with Coventry was, when the collapse of ITV Digital came, they had just been relegated from the top flight for the first time in 34 years and they had players on £40,000-a-week that needed paying off.

“They were only getting gates of 12,000 at Highfield Road and were haemorrhaging money. They then sold the ground to Wimpey Homes and had to pay £600,000-a-year to stay there so they had a gun to their head really and had to move.

“They had horrendous debts and no income coming in but, even though the move went well, there were problems straight away. As beautiful as it was, they did not need a 32,000-capacity stadium with a banqueting hall and all the other fancy stuff.

“Coventry is a city in name but really it is the size of a town. Birmingham don’t need 32,000 seats and Aston Villa are fine with 40,000 and I said at the time it would be too big.

“The argument was, though, if we want to progress we need the facilities. The other problem was the council built it and the deal was not a good one from the start because the money wouldn’t be coming into the club anyway. Realistically, Coventry should have been looking at 20,000 because you have to look at what you can afford.

“I think 6,000 to 7,000 is fine for York City because you can always expand and look to make it 10,000-plus if the club start pushing towards the Championship. But that’s a long way off and, for now, the club needs to consolidate where it is.”

Experience also tells Stevenson that a new stadium will enable the Minstermen to attract a new generation of supporters who will help the club swell their fan base.

On that matter, he explained: “Every stadium move I have been involved in has resulted in more families coming to games. There is a great community department here but nicer facilities, including refreshment areas, toilets, car parking and views from the seats, will always attract more ladies, children and families.

“Chesterfield had 16 parking spaces at Saltergate, now they have 352. They also sell 6,000 or 7,000 replica shirts a season at their new stadium, whereas they were selling about 1,200 before the move.

“You need to bring in more businessmen too, so it’s all about getting that balance right, to make sure that everybody is catered for. Jason McGill is clearly a chairman who is very passionate about the club and wants to see it progress.

“It’s a nice, friendly club and the secret will be to take that friendliness with us to the new stadium. We don’t want to lose that and become too big and officious.”

 

Defensive duo battling for top ranking

DAVID McGURK has moved to within two points of Lanre Oyebanjo at the top of The Press Player of the Year standings.

The 30-year-old defender closed in on Oyebanjo after winning two points towards the contest as our second-highest rated player during last week’s 1-1 draw at Wycombe.

Our man-of-the-match Ryan Brobbel (three) and third-highest rated player Josh Carson (one) collected the other points.

The two Player of the Month bonus points available to the player who received most man-of-the-match votes from our online and Twitter polls were shared by Carson and Dan Parslow.

Lewis Montrose leads that competition ahead of this afternoon’s last game in September at home to Portsmouth.

To be in with a chance of presenting the September Press Player of the Month with a framed photograph before a City home game, vote for your man of the match from today’s game or tweet your choice to @daveflettpress

The Press Player of the Year standings: Oyebanjo 9pts, McGurk 7, Smith 7, Jarvis 6, Montrose 6, Chambers 4, Clay 4, Brobbel 3, Ingham 2, Parslow 2, Puri 2, Carson 1, Davies 1.

The Press Player of the Month latest standings: Montrose 5pts, Parslow 4, Brobbel 3, Oyebanjo 3, Carson 2, Ingham 2, McGurk 2, Puri 2, Jarvis 1.

Goals: Jarvis 4, Brobbel 1, McGurk 1.

Assists: Bowman 1, Brobbel 1, Clay 1, Cresswell 1, Jarvis 1, Smith 1.

Bad boys: Montrose four yellow cards; Cresswell one red, one yellow; Oyebanjo, Smith both two yellows; Bowman one red; Carson, Chambers, Clay, Coulson, Jarvis, Platt all one yellow.

 

Iron clash off

YORK City’s home match with Scunthorpe, scheduled for Sunday, October 13, has been postponed due to international call-ups.

The Minstermen will be without the services of Sander Puri, Josh Carson, Chris Kettings and Ryan Brobbel that weekend and the game will now be rearranged for a later date.

City’s Johnstone’s Paint Trophy second round tie with Rotherham a week on Tuesday is expected to go ahead, however, even without Puri, Carson, Kettings and Brobbel, who will be on international duty for that game as well.

Winger Brobbel, meanwhile, has extended his loan spell from Middlesbrough until January 5.