Alex Stepney, Manchester United player

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Alex Stepney has played more games for Manchester United than any other goalkeeper. He played under five different managers between 1966-1967 and 1977-1978.

Born and brought up in London, Stepney began his professional career in 1963 with Millwall. In 1966, after three successful years, he moved across the city to Chelsea. Strangely, after just one game for his new club, he was allowed to sign for Manchester United, for what was then a world record fee for a goalkeeper of £55,000. David Gaskell, Harry Gregg and Pat Dunne had all played in goal in the early part of the 1966-1967 season, but Matt Busby clearly felt he needed someone else. Stepney took over on arrival, and was the first-choice goalkeeper thereafter. Manchester United won the League Championship that year and then the European Cup the following year. In the European Cup final against Benfica, Stepney made a memorable last minute save from Eusebio, which took the game into extra-time. These first two seasons were the most successful of Stepney’s career. Over the following ten seasons Stepney and Manchester United had mixed fortunes. The sixties side broke-up, various managers came and went and, in 1973-1974, Manchester United were relegated to the second division. They soon returned with a new young side in which Stepney was the ‘old hand’. He was goalkeeper in two subsequent FA Cup finals, in the second of which, in 1976-1977, Manchester United beat Liverpool 2-1.

Stepney was a steady, rather than flashy, goalkeeper. He had good positional sense and always operated within a well-organised penalty area. He was good at distributing the ball, often beginning an attack with an accurate throw. Some questioned his catching ability in his early days, but this improved as his career progressed. In 1973-1974 Stepney acted as the team’s penalty-taker and, at one point in the season, having scored two penalties, was the leading scorer! Apart from a couple of short spells when Jimmy Rimmer and Paddy Roche took his place, Stepney was the ever-present goalkeeper for twelve seasons. He played for England just once (his career coinciding with many other excellent English goalkeepers) and, after leaving Manchester United in 1978, played briefly in the USA.