OTD: MARCUS STEWART HAT-TRICK

On this day in 2005, Marcus Stewart scored a hat-trick as we beat Watford 4-2 at home in the Championship.

During his time at Ipswich Town, Stewart fired the side to promotion with the winning goal in the play-off final. The following season, he was the second-top scorer in the Premier League with an impressive 19 goals as Ipswich finished 5th.

However, Ipswich were relegated the following season and Stewart himself only scored six. Following Ipswich’s relegation, Peter Reid’s Sunderland came calling to allow Marcus to return to the Premier League.

As we all know, things didn’t go to plan under Reid in the 2002/03 season. Stewart found himself on the bench for the majority of the season, limited to substitute appearances and scoring just once in the league. This came in a 2-1 loss against West Bromwich Albion, where the Baggies’ relegation was confirmed despite their victory.

After scoring consecutively against Preston North End, Watford, Bradford City and Crystal Palace in the Championship, Stewart began to start more often and forged a strong partnership with Kevin Kyle. He finished the season with 14 goals as Sunderland finished third and lost in the play-off semi-finals against Palace.

In the 2004/05 season, Stewart was a major part of the side that stormed to the Championship title and won promotion. He scored 16 goals in the league, including hat-tricks against Gillingham and Watford, and became a cult hero with a natural goalscoring ability.

Marcus, after firing the lads back to the Premier League, decided to leave on a high. Despite knowing that he’d be perfectly capable of staying at Sunderland and sitting on the bench, earning a small fortune, he decided to leave the club as he knew he was too old for Premier League football. Stewart joined Bristol City, having loan spells at Preston North End and Yeovil Town whilst there. He moved to Yeovil permanently in 2007 and then transferred to Exeter City the next year. Stewart helped Exeter to automatic promotion out of League Two in 2009, before retiring in 2011.

The former striker then embarked on a coaching career, becoming a first-team coach at Exeter and then taking up a role as a development coach at Bristol Rovers in 2012. A year later, he became assistant manager at Rovers and left the club in 2018. After this, he was appointed assistant manager at Walsall and then moved back to Yeovil to become Head of Player Development in June 2022; a role he would hold until May 2025.

On September 8th 2022, Stewart was diagnosed with motor neurone disease after 12 months of testing. At the time of his diagnosis, Marcus said: “I would like to take the opportunity to thank those closest to me for their unwavering support since my recent diagnosis. As I take the time to adjust, my intention is to continue to enjoy my work in football and spend time with my family. In the future, I would like to use my platform within football to help raise awareness around MND, but in the short-term, I would like to ask for privacy on behalf of myself and my family.”

Stewart was inducted into the Ipswich Town Hall of Fame in 2023 and, in the same year, a charity football match was held for the Darby Rimmer MND Foundation at the Memorial Stadium (the home of Bristol Rovers) with Marcus in attendance.

Marcus and his wife Louise have set up a JustGiving page with all proceeds going to the Darby Rimmer MND Foundation. You can support and donate here.

For more information on MND, please click here.