Stefan Moore Article

[eamonn]

I think these are the type of articles that Gregg Evan comes through on and the type I subscribe to The Athletic for.

The most depressing thing of all in the ''Why do we all get so old so fast?" sense - Stefan Moore's son is a youth player at the Villa! And only a year or so younger than our lot who worried Liverpool for an hour in the Cup in January...

Stefan Moore: ‘I believed in myself at Villa. When I left, it went. I got all my moves from a good season at 18’

By Gregg Evans Apr 18, 2021 





“It’s raining and I’m on some park pitch playing for Kidderminster Harriers. I can remember looking around and thinking, ‘What has happened to me?’ I was struggling badly. Rejection is hard and I knew I couldn’t do it any more. I had to get out.”

Stefan Moore, the youngest Aston Villa academy graduate to score in the Premier League, is recounting his final days as a full-time professional footballer.

It is the summer of 2009 and for want of a better phrase, his head has gone.

In the seven years since announcing himself to the top flight with a stunning debut goal against Charlton Athletic, Moore has dropped all the way down the divisions and painfully sampled each tier along the way.

By this stage, the novelty of a new adventure has worn off. He is lost in the National League, struggling to make an impact and openly questioning where it has all gone wrong.

“I just thought, ‘What am I doing here?'” he says.

“Kidderminster must have thought, ‘What is he doing here?’ too, because I was just daydreaming… That’s when I knew I should step away from it. Getting out when I did was right. I couldn’t have taken much more.”

By “getting out”, Moore means turning to part-time football.

It is telling that his most enjoyable years came on the non-League circuit playing Saturdays and Tuesdays, while running a taxi firm with a close friend, his first ever “real” day job.

Although the 37-year-old has lost track of all the clubs he has represented, he says with authority that he has experienced every step of the non-League system, as well as all four of the professional leagues.

Laughing, he recalls a time where one club owner paid to sign him with a credit card during a meeting at the Hilton Hotel on Birmingham’s Broad Street.

He shares memories of scoring five goals in the first half of a debut, playing in a 14-0 win, and against a side where the players had to consider nearby animals when shooting or kicking into touch.

“I had a great time and met some great people. OK, so it’s not Villa in the Premier League but I really enjoyed it,” Moore says.

It is warming then that, all these years on and now retired, he was able to find love for the game.

Ten years since turning his back on full-time football, there is a refreshing honesty about why he did not achieve the success that so many predicted, and what made his younger brother Luke enjoy a more fruitful career.

Back in Sutton Coldfield, where Moore has agreed to give a rare insight into his lengthy career with The Athletic, other memories come flooding back, too.

It is coming up to 20 years since the striker first experienced competitive men’s football during a loan spell at Chesterfield. We are close to the spot where he would wait each morning for Thomas Hitzlsperger as the pair drove up to their League Two loan club together.

His mother’s old home is not far away, either. Rarely can a parent from this area say they have raised a child good enough to play regularly for the biggest club on the patch. That Luke joined Stefan in the first team makes the achievement even more unique.

Despite what happened next, that level of success should never be diminished.

“It’s a shame it was only for a few minutes against Manchester United (in 2004) that we played together,” Moore says. “But nobody can ever take that away from us and we’re proud of it.”

Stefan loved his childhood days at Villa so much that he used to hang around Bodymoor Heath asking to train with the other age groups. There were times when he was three years younger than those around him but still scoring goals.

When he scored twice in the FA Youth Cup Final win in 2002, outshining Everton’s Wayne Rooney, he knew the first team was in sight.

“I always remember in the first year of the youth team, Villa arranged a game against Nottingham Forest,” he says. “Bosko Balaban signed the day before so we both played in that game. I played up front with him and I scored two.

“Michael Dawson was playing at the back for Forest and I just thought, ‘I’m as good as these, it’s only a matter of time’.”

That time came after an explosive reserve team game against Liverpool where Moore scored a hat-trick and tormented Markus Babbel and makeshift centre-half, Igor Biscan.

Boss Graham Taylor had seen enough and put him on the bench for the game against Charlton Athletic.

“It was the perfect build-up because I didn’t have to think about what I needed to do,” he says.

“When I came on, I remember nutmegging someone then getting a good cross in. Juan Pablo Angel used to say to me, ‘Do whatever you feel’. He gave me a lot of confidence and it was great to score.”

Villa had Angel, Marcus Allback, Dion Dublin, Darius Vassell, and Peter Crouch; five strikers proven at either Premier League or international level, all ahead of him in the pecking order.

It is why his go-to response for opponents who mocked his drop down into the lower leagues years later was, “Yes, but I’ve actually been up there and nobody can take that away from me, and anyway, we’re all here now”.

Moore was so highly rated at Villa that he was offered a five-and-a-half year deal during a period on the sidelines in his breakthrough season.

The striker, then 19 and nursing a knee injury, agreed on three and a half years. His thinking, he now says, was along the lines of: “Why would I sign for so long, when at the time, all I’m thinking is, ‘I’m going to get another new contract’.”

For those who did not see him play, it is worth a quick reminder that he was as good as the hype. Moore was physically advanced for his age, quick, and a good finisher. Although Villa fans did not get to fully appreciate his qualities, he was around the squad for two full seasons and you don’t get there by chance.

Looking back now he admits his fearless, confident, approach dropped when Taylor was replaced by David O’Leary. The Irishman told the young players in the squad that he had enough seniors around the place so they were not initially needed. Being left out of a pre-season tour in 2003 was a setback, and for Moore, it felt like he was trying to prove himself all over again.

“I haven’t got any regrets about football but if Taylor had hung around for a bit longer, I would have had more of a chance,” Moore says.

“It’s where I first started to realise that managers only really care about the Saturday. When I was in the youth team, Kevin MacDonald cared about me as a person and what I was doing Monday to Friday. He’s the only coach I can look back on and say he really improved me. He’d stop me from being lazy, and football used to be lazy.

“When I went to QPR, for example, we used to train on the same pitch as the rugby team, Wasps. They must have hated us. We came in at 10am and left at 12 noon. They came in at 7am, and left at 5pm!”

Over three years at Villa, Moore scored just two goals in 22 Premier League games.

The strikes in claret and blue came 17 months apart and he explains why he was used fleetingly in greater detail on this week’s 1874 podcast on The Athletic.

“I didn’t achieve what I should have achieved,” says Moore. “I accept it because they were my choices. You can’t look at anybody else. I made some bad decisions or I didn’t do what I should have done.

“I used to go to training and that’s all I would do. I thought that was enough. In the summer, I would never do a run, then in pre-season I would get injured because I didn’t do anything in the summer. It was holiday time, but really you needed to be ticking over. You needed to look after your body.

“Of course I would go out because I was a young kid, but it was more that I should have trained more and done the extra stuff. You have to be so dedicated to your craft and was I? No I wasn’t.”

Perhaps earning a lucrative contract at such a tender age played a part.

“It wasn’t ‘go and buy a Lamborghini’ money but, yes, I got a bit more comfortable with life. At Villa young players couldn’t get too extravagant, though. They would get shut down and that’s right. Until you’re an established footballer at a decent age, I don’t think you should just be able to go and do what you want.”

For all his honesty, there was a huge element of bad luck that effectively ended his Villa career.

Moore was told by David O’Leary that he was starting against Arsenal’s Invincibles in January 2004 after a run of substitute appearances and a goal against Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park.

“After the last training session of the week the manager decided to set up a little five-a-side to finish,” Moore says.

“I went up for a header with Ronny Johnsen, landed on his foot and got injured. It was a bad ankle injury and I ended up having an operation. After that I never really played. I played in the reserves, got good money, but I was thinking, ‘What am I doing, this isn’t proper football’. I should have gone sooner.”

The one bittersweet moment during that period was that Luke, who retired in 2016 and is now an agent, came through, albeit to take his spot in the squad.

The strong relationship between the pair never soured because of that, and it made things easier, Stefan says.

“If it wasn’t my brother it would have been someone else, because I wasn’t doing it,” he candidly adds.

“I know my brother had a much better football career than me. He got promoted three times out of the Championship (with West Brom and Swansea).

“I remember when he became the youngest Villa player to score a hat-trick in the Premier League, against Middlesbrough (in 2006)…I was playing for QPR at the time and I got on the coach after a game against Leeds at Elland Road to hear the news. I couldn’t have been happier.”


As Moore dropped down and the standard became noticeably lower, it soon started to take its toll. Some of the decisions he made are now painful to hear.

Like when Leicester City decided they were not going to turn his loan spell into a permanent one, so he signed for Queens Park Rangers without even discussing the move with manager Ian Holloway.

“My agent said that QPR wanted me and at that point I had a year left at Villa, couldn’t see myself playing, and O’Leary wasn’t having me,” he explains.

“Villa said I could go for free if I left my money there. I just went and signed a contract.

“Holloway was a great guy and he had a frank conversation with me at a later stage, saying that he was supposed to sign Steve Howard from Luton Town to play alongside me. He would have been a perfect foil for me.

“But how was I supposed to do well if I didn’t know where I was fitting in? I should have met him first.”

After commuting daily to London, a decision he now also knows was wrong, a move to nearby Walsall proved a disaster, too.

“I joined because it was close to my house. That was it. I did it for ease. It was a bad decision. I should have gone somewhere that would have suited my style more or where somebody trusted in me from the start.”

Kidderminster in 2008 was the final straw.

“I wasn’t great to live with or be around by this point,” Moore says, explaining how the time had come to jack it in.

“Although I have no regrets, I would have done things slightly different. It’s all on yourself. If you’re doing well then the manager can’t leave you out. You have to have a good look in the mirror and ask yourself why it isn’t working.

“I believed in myself when I was at Villa, but when I went away I didn’t have that self-belief. Really, I got all my moves from one good season when I was 18. Managers used to think ‘I’ll get it out of him’ but nobody could. It never came out.”

To some extent, Moore is doing himself a disservice with that last comment. He smashed in 39 goals in his first non-League season at Halesowen Town, and was the subject of a £25,000 bid from Crawley Town that his club refused to entertain.

St Neots Town, in the United Counties League — step five of the non-League pyramid — came in at a later stage with a £15,000 bid that was eventually accepted.

“Literally the owner paid for me on his card, it was comical,” Moore laughs. “I was into the lowest step of paid football.”

In some ways, that is where the fun really began. Opposition defenders would often wind Moore up about his Premier League days but they would quickly find out that he had a lot to give back in return. Naturally, he took on a custodian role as he moved between clubs. Young players gravitated towards him and managers leaned on him for support.

He picked up a couple of decent deals along the way, too.

“I was getting paid more playing for Brackley Town (in the Southern League) than when I was at Walsall (in League One), talk me through that one!”

“What people forget is that unless you’re in the Premier League or Championship, when you get to 28, 29 as a footballer, people who you went to school with are moving up in their work while you’re heading down. When you get to 35, you’re behind everybody else and there’s a long time left.”

After finally hanging up his boots in 2018, Moore started coaching the 16-to-18-year-olds at Tamworth.

He is doing his UEFA B coaching licence this summer and, to stay in shape, he claims he now runs more than he did when he was a player.

You might catch him down at Bodymoor Heath, where his picture still hangs in the academy corridors, more often now as his son Kobei, 16, has been offered a scholarship at Villa.

The forward who can play anywhere across the front “can’t get ahead of himself with me and my brother around”, Moore says.

Like all academy players these days, though, there is a steely commitment towards the end goal.

“He puts in the extras. He does what needs to be done because football isn’t lazy anymore. He also knows what happens if he doesn’t, but this is his journey now and not mine.”

[Woofles The Wonder Dog]

Thanks eamonn. Stefan...38...jeepers.

[cdbearsfan]

If there's anything on here to make you feel old it's that Stefan Moore's son is on Villa's books!

Interesting article, thanks for sharing. Very honest. I was shocked, shocked I tell you, that O'Leary comes out of it sounding like a twat.

[Mister E]

Whatever happened to DOL and his 'babbies'?!

[SoccerHQ]

Kevin McDonald seems quite a marmite character aswell. Considering what's come out about the bullying culture in recent years yet Stefan isn't the first of the youth players that came through in 2000s to speak more warmly about him.

He's actually got a chapter in this book that I read a few months back and some interesting forgotten names in that:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45023185-the-next-big-thing

Luke of the two should've had a much better career. He was looking good for us around the 2006 period then bust his shoulder and MON went completely cold on him when he came back so bit like Stefan and O'Leary by sounds of it. Also read a rare interview with Luke Moore a Swansea journalist did and think of the two Stefan enjoyed the game far more and both lacked the real desire to truly stay at top level.

It's interesting looking back at that 2002-04 period. Think as a club we got a bit carried away by the youth successes thinking it would be just like Man. United a decade before with half of them becoming excellent prem players but it never really happened.

Don't think Wayne Henderson ever made an appearence for us (saw him and his Wife in Four Oaks the other week), actually thought Rob Edwards looked o.k in a few games in 02/03 but he got injured and then left for Wolves, Ridgewell was very error prone for us but had a solid prem career and helped us out a few times....Davis had a really good career in fairness.

Stephen Cooke was another being hyped massively on here at the time but he barely made a dent in senior football. Whether you like him or not Gabby probably made the best career out of that crop.

Actually thought the 2009/10 lot had more potential. Bannan, Albrighton,Wiemann and Fonz all showed big potential early on but none of them really kicked on. As much as there's regret with what Albrighton has gone on to achieve at Leicester, he wasn't that great for us between 11/12 and 12/13 so wasn't too fussed when he left. Very unlucky not to play for England during their title season.

Isn't half hard to judge if a young player will make it sometimes. Ramsey has a bit about him certainly but how good I don't know and time will tell how we develop all the ones who played in the cup v Liverpool as some will need loans sooner or later rather than just playing under 23 games all the time so we need to be better as a club at doing that than in last 20 years.

[brontebilly]

Kevin McDonald seems quite a marmite character aswell. Considering what's come out about the bullying culture in recent years yet Stefan isn't the first of the youth players that came through in 2000s to speak more warmly about him.

He's actually got a chapter in this book that I read a few months back and some interesting forgotten names in that:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45023185-the-next-big-thing

Luke of the two should've had a much better career. He was looking good for us around the 2006 period then bust his shoulder and MON went completely cold on him when he came back so bit like Stefan and O'Leary by sounds of it. Also read a rare interview with Luke Moore a Swansea journalist did and think of the two Stefan enjoyed the game far more and both lacked the real desire to truly stay at top level.

It's interesting looking back at that 2002-04 period. Think as a club we got a bit carried away by the youth successes thinking it would be just like Man. United a decade before with half of them becoming excellent prem players but it never really happened.

Don't think Wayne Henderson ever made an appearence for us (saw him and his Wife in Four Oaks the other week), actually thought Rob Edwards looked o.k in a few games in 02/03 but he got injured and then left for Wolves, Ridgewell was very error prone for us but had a solid prem career and helped us out a few times....Davis had a really good career in fairness.

Stephen Cooke was another being hyped massively on here at the time but he barely made a dent in senior football. Whether you like him or not Gabby probably made the best career out of that crop.

Actually thought the 2009/10 lot had more potential. Bannan, Albrighton,Wiemann and Fonz all showed big potential early on but none of them really kicked on. As much as there's regret with what Albrighton has gone on to achieve at Leicester, he wasn't that great for us between 11/12 and 12/13 so wasn't too fussed when he left. Very unlucky not to play for England during their title season.

Isn't half hard to judge if a young player will make it sometimes. Ramsey has a bit about him certainly but how good I don't know and time will tell how we develop all the ones who played in the cup v Liverpool as some will need loans sooner or later rather than just playing under 23 games all the time so we need to be better as a club at doing that than in last 20 years.

Who were the best youth players who never made it for us for one reason or another? It's a tough unforgiving trade let's be honest. A poor 12-18 months and it can take its toll on a young players career. Take someone like Andre Green, starting in a playoff semi, didn't he come on in the final? And then effectively unemployed about a year later after a number of unsuccessful loan spells. I remember when he came through first under Bruce on the left wing scoring goals, certainly looked a player with real potential.

The likes of Bannan and Weimann have had solid careers in the second tier, maybe found their level.

[SoccerHQ]

The fonz would be a big one probably, scored a couple for us in europa and the cups when he broke through at 18 but never happened for him in his limited starts in the prem.

Basically been playing in leagues 1 and 2 for last 5 years and only turned 30 in February.

I suspect he'll be giving a similar interview to Stefan Moore in 5 years time.

[BC54 VFC]

Message to Gregg Evans: You cannot have varying grades of uniqueness; something is either unique, or it isn't!

Stefan Moore thought he was better than he was and had a bit of an attitude issue, and that was his biggest downfall.

Stephen Cooke was a real genuine prospect and I think he would have had a good career in the game were it not for his extreme bad luck with injuries. The last time I saw him was at Lilleshall, just before his release from Villa in 2005; he cut a very forlorn figure as he made his way back to his car (BMW with personalised registration) after yet more specialist treatment.

[Dick Edwards]

I used to go to watch the reserves regularly, mainly to see Stephen Cooke. He was a wonderful footballer. I thought it was just a matter of time before he was bossing the midfield in the first team. It never happened. I can think back 45 years to another midfield prospect who excited me, a kid called Frank Pimblett who fell away. There have been loads over the years. It just proves that talent isn't enough. Luke Moore always impressed me more than his brother and I thought he was destined for the very top when I first saw him as a youngster. He at least had a long career at a decent level.

[LeeB]

I was at a private function around the time we were celebrating the 25th anniversary of the European Cup win, Sid was asked who the best youth prospect he'd had was, and without hesitation he said Stephen Cooke, and he blamed O'Leary squarely for him not breaking through.
He said he was way too good to be jobbing with cloggers in the lower leagues, and is heart wasn't in it when it come to that.

[Neil Hawkes]

I have been hostile towards players throughout the years, (Stefan was not one of them), I have only ever been hostile to one manager when they where in charge at our club & that was O'Leary, the feckless sugar bag.

[darren woolley]

Great article Eamonn.

[eamonn]

In the words of Dave W - Thanks Big Daz.

[Exeter 77]

Is there anyone who has a good word to say about O'Leary?

[Ian.]

Nice article that, thanks Eamonn.