Alan Stubbs

Date of Birth: 06 10 1971
Place of Birth: Kirkby
Position: Defender
Nationality: England

A lifelong Everton fan Stubbs was released by the Toffees as a schoolboy and started his professional career at Bolton Wanderers. Alan made over 200 appearances for Bolton before a move to Glasgow to join Celtic for a fee of ?3.5 million in the summer of 1996.

Alan got into trouble for this transfer after using an agent who was not FIFA registered, but eventually no action was taken against him, or Celtic, and the agent was given a small fine. This wasn't the last time he was involved in controversy in Scotland, he was caught on tv cameras giving Rangers' fans an obscene hand gesture after a cup final defeat.

His time at Celtic was extremely successful, he won the domestic treble in his final season, but Stubbs battled testicular cancer while there and twice he beat it.

In July 2001, despite Celtic's offer of a new contract, Alan realised a dream by signing for his boyhood idols Everton. Stubbs had 3 good seasons with the club before leaving, amid accusations of Everton trying to insert a clause in his contract to do with his cancer returning, to join Sunderland on a free in August 2005.

Alan's time at Sunderland is probably best forgotten and he was back at Everton in January 2006. Stubbs was pivotal in their recovery from a bad start to the season to reach a mid table finish. But Alan did ensure the Sunderland faithful would remember him with a bitter taste in their mouths after saying that being there was like being injured for 6 months, and that he had cheered Tim Cahill when Cahill scored a last minute winner for Everton against Sunderland on New years Eve while he was still a Sunderland player.

Unsurprisingly Sunderland fans booed his every touch when the sides met later in the season. Alan is also supposed to have encouraged Wayne Rooney to leave Everton for Manchester United (some people even speculated that it was to do with the agent they shared and the ?1.5million the agent stood to gain from the deal!), according to some sources he encouraged Rooney to go to a bigger club, which for obvious reasons, upset a lot of the Goodison Park faithful.

Stubbs signed a new one year contract with Everton at the end of the 2005/6 season.

Alan Stubbs