Derek James Statham (born 24 March 1959) is an English former footballer who played at left-back. He played for West Bromwich Albion, Southampton, Walsall and Stoke City.
Statham won three international caps for England in 1983 under the management of Bobby Robson.
Career Statham was born in Wolverhampton and began his career with West Bromwich Albion where he earned a reputation as a solid, classy defender with excellent passing ability. He made over 330 league and cup appearances for West Brom, playing for several years alongside Bryan Robson and the 'Three Degrees' of Cyrille Regis, Laurie Cunningham and Brendon Batson in an impressive side assembled by Ron Atkinson. In total Statham spent 12 years at the Hawthorns making 373 appearances for the club, scoring 11 goals in all competitions.
Statham left West Brom for Southampton in 1987, playing alongside a young Alan Shearer (in his first professional season) and Matthew Le Tissier, and was an immediate success winning the club's player of the season award for 1987–88. He stayed at Southampton for the 1988–89 season before joining Stoke City in August 1989. He played 21 times for Stoke in 1989–90 as the team suffered relegation to the Third Division. He played in 28 games in 1990–91 before being released at the end of the season.
He later played for Walsall, where he played his final professional game in the 1992–93 season. His last team were semi-professional side Telford United in the English Football Conference, where he was a mainstay for the 1993–94 season.
In 2004, he was named as one of West Bromwich Albion's 16 greatest ever players, in a poll organised as part of the club's 125th anniversary celebrations.
Career statistics Club + Appearances and goals by club, season and competitionClubSeasonLeagueFA CupLeague CupOtherTotalDivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsWest Bromwich Albion1976–77First Division1610000001611977–78First Division4006030004901978–79First Division3916030805611979–80First Division1602050202501980–81First Division3100040003501981–82First Division3505181205021982–83First Division3222010003521983–84First Division1601000001701984–85First Division3041040003541985–86First Division3702160204711986–87Second Division60100000701987–88Second Division1000000010Total299826234114037311Southampton 1987–88First Division3802021104111988–89First Division262215020353Total642417130764Stoke City1989–90Second Division1900020002101990–91Third Division221303000281Total411305000491Walsall1991–92Fourth Division2900020203301992–93Third Division210003030270Total500005050600Telford United1993–94Football Conference340000000340Career total4881133351222059416
A. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the Football League Trophy, Full Members Cup, and UEFA Cup.
International Source:
National teamYearAppsGoalsEngland198330Total30
References
External links