Born on this day in 1983 is former Sunderland forward Jon Stead. In 40 games, Stead managed just 2 goals for us, a really pitiful record.
Before there was Danny Graham, Jozy Altidore and Danny Graham (again) there was Jon Stead. In the ill-fated Mick McCarthy season, Stead went 9 months without a goal, only to break his duck on April Fools day. People not in attendance that day might’ve checked teletext uncertainly, anticipating the real news to be clarified later, hesitant to accept the fact that our goal shy striker ever made the net ripple. Admittedly, goals were hard to come by that season and up to that game on April Fools day, we had scored only 2 goals in our last 9 games. His only other goal came in an embarrassing 3-1 defeat to Southend. So, if Stead is remembered at all, it is probably unfavourably.
How did Stead make his way to Sunderland and why did McCarthy make the signing? Well, McCarthy was a long time admirer, apparently. Stead was fairly prolific at his boyhood club Huddersfield Town at least comparatively, scoring 22 goals in 68 appearances over two seasons before being purchased by Blackburn Rovers. His time at Blackburn was mixed and his performances and goal scoring record did nothing to suggest that this was the man to keep us in the Premier League.
Nevertheless, Sunderland duly paid £1.8m for Stead’s services. McCarthy’s recruitment let him down and he squandered the limited funds available, signing players like Stead led in part to his downfall. Stead fared a bit better on loan to Derby County. After a barren streak of 6 games without scoring, it looked as if Stead’s poor form would continue at Derby, but he did manage to find the back of the net 3 times. He had 5 goals in 2 years.
We decided to cut our losses, palming Stead off to Sheffield United. From here, his career as an EFL journeyman began. His agent deserves some credit for getting him so much work since in football, strikers who don’t score are not too favourable. Hats off to the negotiator who brokered his moves, likely pointing to his ‘bags of Premier League experience’ whilst carefully avoiding any mention of his goal scoring record.
To be fair to Stead, he did alright at Sheffield United. He did alright at a few other clubs too, having been all over. He just didn't do alright for us. Stead is extremely well travelled. It’s as if his career is based around ground hopping and he has probably taken in most of the 92 grounds in the EFL across stints at Ipswich Town, Coventry City, Bristol City, Huddersfield Town (again), Oldham Athletic, Bradford City, Notts County and finally, Harrogate Town. An exhausting list.
He called an end to his career very recently in 2021. Steady by name and Steady by nature, Jon got to see loads of football grounds, play in lots of different kits and play for the team where he grew up, earning loads of money in the process too. Stead’s move never worked out for us but he enjoyed some limited success elsewhere.
Naturally, he returned to the Stadium of Light to haunt us, scoring for Bradford in the FA Cup as Phil Parkinson’s Bradford beat us 2-0 and made it into the last eight. Typical. This goal meant that he had scored in each round of the Cup, including against Chelsea. Stead was finally scoring regularly against Premier League teams.
He is currently assistant manager at Tampa Bay Rowdies. Based on the photo below (the most mid 2000's football photo in existence) it seems like a pretty natural progression. He was on the beach, at least metaphorically, for most of his Sunderland career.
