Stevie Kirk



Steve KirkStevie Kirk began his career as a youngster with Buckhaven Hibs, from there he moved to his first senior club East Fife. As a 17 year old he spent the 1979/80 league campaign with the Fifers in the Second Division and played 25 league appearances scoring twice.

Stoke City was his next port of call, he spent two seasons in England and only made 12 outings for them. In 1982 he returned to Scotland and joined Maryhill club Partick Thistle, but he never made a competitive start for the ‘Jags’ and he soon joined East Fife again as he looked to get his career back on track.

In season 1982/83 he scored 8 goals in 25 matches for The Fifers. After narrowly failing to gain promotion with them in 1986 he was sold to Motherwell for only £35,000, with Ray Blair being used as a makeweight in the deal as he headed to Bayview.

On the 23rd August 1986 he made his Motherwell debut against Hibernian at Easter Road in a stalemate but a few days later he played against Hamilton Accies at Douglas Park and scored twice as Motherwell recorded a fine 3-0 win. His contribution in his debut season was immense and he scored 10 goals, a figure which could only be matched by forward Andy Walker. As 1986 was the clubs centenary season, a glamour match was arranged against a extremely talented Liverpool side, Motherwell put in a hard graft on the night and Kirk popped up with a goal in a 1-1 draw.

Stevie proved to be an able goalkeeper when called upon as he went in between the sticks on two occasions due to either injury or dismissal. A particular highlight was against Hearts at Tynecastle when Cammy Duncan had to go off with a arm injury after only two minutes, Kirk took the number one shirt and had a nervy start as the Jambos managed to go up 2-0, however as he grew into the match and pulled off some magnificent saves the side rallied back to 2-2, he topped the performance off by saving a penalty kick. Stevie also admitted in a Motherwell documentary that he came close to replacing Ally Maxwell in the 1991 Scottish Cup Final as he was struggling with an injury picked up earlier in the game.

In 1991, the cup winning season he came off the bench to score vital goals in every round, the most important was the extra-time winner in the final against Dundee United which brought the trophy back home to Lanarkshire.

Kirk played in the clubs first foray into European competition and would also become the first goalscorer as well when he netted against Polish outfit GKS Katowice. He would actually go on to be the top European goalscorer for Motherwell a record which was broke by Jamie Murphy many years later.

Stevie eventually left the club in 1995 along with team mate Paul McGrillen and a hefty cash sum in a deal which brought Falkirk star Eddie May to Fir Park. Only weeks after his transfer to Brockville he returned to haunt his former club when he scored in a 2-2 draw, ironically however May got on the scoresheet for the Steelmen.

After his playing career ended he went into management serving East Fife and Arbroath as well as a number of Junior sides. He has put the claret and amber jersey back on a few occasions when returning to play in testimonials or benefit matches.

Name:
Steven Kirk
Height:
5′ 11″
Weight:
11st 4lbs
Date of Birth:
3rd January 1963
Place of Birth:
Kirkcaldy
Position:
Forward
Nationality:
Scottish

Football Career:

East Fife 1979 1980
Stoke City 1981 1982
Partick Thistle 1982 1983
East Fife 1983 1986
Motherwell 1986 1995
Falkirk 1995 1996
Raith Rovers 1996 1998
East Fife 1997 2000
Arbroath 2000 2004

Well Career:

Apps Goals
League:
196 (70) 53
Scottish Cup:
4 (9) 10
League Cup:
4 (2) 6
Other:
3 (1) 5
Total:
207 (82) 74