Born on this day is Sunderland flop and current Brighton goalkeeper, Jason Steele. The Newton Aycliffe-born shot stopper is widely regarded as one of Sunderland’s worst ever goalkeepers, in one of our worst ever seasons. However, he's now Brighton's first choice number one and will be playing European football with them this season!
Steele came through Middlesbrough’s academy and was a mainstay in the side for a number of years, racking up over 100 appearances at Boro. He won their Young Player of the Year award in the 2011/12 season. In February 2013, he even won the North East Football Writers’ Young Player of the Year!
The keeper joined Blackburn on loan in 2014, making a big impact and establishing himself as number one at Ewood Park. He signed permanently in December, and kept David Raya out of the side - who is now playing in the Premier League with Arsenal. In his third and final season for Blackburn, Rovers were relegated with Steele between the sticks.
He joined recently-relegated Sunderland for a fee rumoured to be around £500,000 under the new management of Simon Grayson. Steele made his debut in the 5-0 thrashing by Celtic, and was at fault for a number of goals. He clearly followed the philosophy of start as you mean to go on. Robin Ruiter soon arrived on Wearside as it was obvious that we need a new option in goal. In January of the same season, he was set to join Derby County on deadline day. Sunderland had already brought in the famous Lee Camp to replace Steele, and he was arguably even worse. However, Steele’s move to Derby fell through and in typical Sunderland fashion, we were left with three shocking goalkeepers.
One of Steele’s many high-profile errors was in a 1-0 loss at QPR, where a long ball came towards him. He totally misjudged the bounce, outside of his area, and inexplicably reached out and palmed the ball away. Of course he was sent off, and yet again Sunderland lost the match. As we all know, the Lads were relegated that season, and Steele left Wearside. Somehow, he managed to blag his way into the Premier League, signing for Brighton! After making his debut in the FA Cup, the keeper had to wait 20 months until his next appearance. During his time at Brighton, he also saved 4 penalties in a 4-3 penalty shootout win over Newport County. Steele later dislodged Robert Sanchez (now playing for Chelsea) as number one and is favoured by Roberto De Zerbi for his ability to play out from the back, acting almost as a sweeper keeper at times.
