Derek James Statham is a former English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 footballer

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 who played at defensive left-back. He played for West Bromwich Albion

West Bromwich Albion F.C.

West Bromwich Albion Football Club, also known as West Brom, The Baggies, The Throstles, Albion or WBA, are an English Premier League association football club based in West Bromwich in the West Midlands...

, Southampton

Southampton F.C.

Southampton Football Club is an English football team, nicknamed The Saints, based in the city of Southampton, Hampshire. The club gained promotion to the Championship from League One in the 2010–2011 season after being relegated in 2009. Their home ground is the St Mary's Stadium, where the club...

, Walsall

Walsall F.C.

Walsall Football Club are an English association football club based in Walsall, West Midlands. They currently play in League One. The club was founded in 1888 as Walsall Town Swifts, an amalgamation of Walsall Town F.C. and Walsall Swifts F.C. The club was one of the founder members of the Second...

 and Stoke City

Stoke City F.C.

Stoke City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire that plays in the Premier League. Founded in 1863, it is the oldest club in the Premier League, and considered to be the second oldest professional football club in the world, after Notts...

.

Statham won three international caps for England

England national football team

The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...

 in 1983 under the management of Bobby Robson

Bobby Robson

Sir Robert William "Bobby" Robson, CBE was an English footballer and manager, who coached seven European clubs and the England national team during his career....

.

Regarded as a solid, classy defender with excellent passing ability, Statham's professional career spanned 16 years, making almost 500 professional league appearances and scoring 11 goals. He made over 330 league and cup appearances for WBA, playing for several years alongside Bryan Robson

Bryan Robson

Bryan Robson OBE is an English football manager and a former player. He is best known for playing in midfield for Manchester United, where he was the longest serving captain in club history. He was the manager of Sheffield United, being relieved of his first team duties at the club in February 2008...

 and the 'Three Degrees' of Cyrille Regis

Cyrille Regis

Cyrille Regis, MBE is a French-born English former footballer. His professional playing career spanned 19 years, where he made 610 league appearances and scored 159 league goals, most prolifically at West Bromwich Albion and Coventry City.-Early life:Regis was born in Maripasoula, French Guiana,...

, Laurie Cunningham

Laurie Cunningham

Laurence Paul "Laurie" Cunningham was an England international footballer. When he joined Real Madrid, he became the first English player in the club's history....

 and Brendon Batson

Brendon Batson

Brendon Martin Batson, MBE is an English former association footballer.Born in St. George's, Grenada, Batson's family moved to England when he was nine. Until then he had never even seen a game of football and a teacher at this school, on watching his early efforts and reflecting on his birthplace...

 in an impressive side assembled by Ron Atkinson

Ron Atkinson

Ronald Ernest Atkinson, commonly known as "Big Ron" and "Bojangles" is an English former football player and manager. In recent years he has become one of Britain's best-known football pundits...

.

Statham left WBA for Southampton in 1987, playing alongside a young Alan Shearer

Alan Shearer

Alan Shearer OBE, DL is a retired English footballer. He played as a striker in the top level of English league football for Southampton, Blackburn Rovers, Newcastle United and for the England national team...

 (in his first professional season) and Matthew Le Tissier

Matthew Le Tissier

Matthew "Matt" Le Tissier is a retired English footballer who played for Southampton and England.An attacking midfielder with exceptional technical skills, Le Tissier is the second-highest ever scorer for Southampton behind Mick Channon and was voted PFA Young Player of the Year in 1990. He was...

, and was an immediate success. He was the club's Player of the Season for 1987-1988.

His last team were semi-professional side Telford United in the English Football Conference

Football Conference

The Football Conference is a football league in England which consists of three divisions called Conference National, Conference North, and Conference South. Some Football Conference clubs are fully professional, such as Luton Town, but most of them are semi-professional...

, where he was a mainstay for the 1993-1994 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.

He currently lives in Spain.

External links

• Superstars in Stripes - Derek Statham West Bromwich Albion F.C. Official Site