Steve Book
Full nameSteven Kim Book[1]
Birth date7 July 1969 (age 57)
Birth placeBournemouth, England
Height5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[1]
PositionGoalkeeper
Years 11988–1989
Years 21989–1990
Years 31990–1991
Years 41992–1993
Years 61993–1994
Years 71993–1994
Years 91994–1995
Years 101994–1997
Years 111997–2004
Years 122004–2005
Years 132005–2006
Years 142005–2006
Years 152006–2007
Years 162007–2008
Years 172008–2010
Years 182010–2012
Clubs 1Welton Rovers
Clubs 2Paulton Rovers
Clubs 3Frome Town
Clubs 4Weston-super-Mare
Clubs 5Bath City
Clubs 6Brighton & Hove Albion
Clubs 7→ Slough Town (loan)
Clubs 8Frome Town
Clubs 9Lincoln City
Clubs 10Forest Green Rovers
Clubs 11Cheltenham Town
Clubs 12Swindon Town
Clubs 13Cirencester Town
Clubs 14Bristol Rovers
Clubs 15Mangotsfield United
Clubs 16Bristol Rovers
Clubs 17Tiverton Town
Clubs 18Cheltenham Town
Caps 136
Caps 228
Caps 352
Caps 489
Caps 60
Caps 72
Caps 816
Caps 90
Caps 10125
Caps 11307
Caps 122
Caps 1312
Caps 141
Caps 1536
Caps 160
Caps 1796
Caps 180
Goals 60
Goals 70
Goals 90
Goals 100
Goals 110
Goals 120
Goals 130
Goals 151
Goals 10
Goals 170
Goals 180
Totalcaps802
Totalgoals1
Nationalyears 11999
Nationalteam 1England C
Nationalcaps 13
Nationalgoals 10

Steven Kim Book (born 7 July 1969) is an English former professional football goalkeeper who is the former goalkeeping coach at Cheltenham Town.

Book represented a number of clubs in the English football league system during a career which began in 1988 at Welton Rovers and concluded with a two-year stint as player-goalkeeping coach at Cheltenham Town between 2010 and 2012. He then retired from playing to focus on coaching at Cheltenham Town.

Career

Early career

The son of former professional goalkeeper Kim Book and nephew of the former Manchester City manager Tony Book, Book began his career on the South-West non-league circuit with clubs such as Paulton Rovers, Welton Rovers, Frome Town and Weston-super-Mare. He moved on to Bath City and spent the initial part of the 1993–94 at Brighton without breaking into the first team though he did make a couple of appearances for Slough Town whilst on loan there. A change of management saw him return to the non-league scene with Frome Town before a period at Lincoln City where he was an unused substitute in a couple of League Cup ties in the 1994–95 season.

Forest Green Rovers

In September 1994 Book joined Forest Green Rovers. He spent three years at the Nailsworth club making 125 appearances, before an £8,000 transfer took him to Cheltenham Town in July 1997.

Cheltenham Town

Book was the first-choice goalkeeper at Cheltenham for seven years, leading them to promotion into the League, a FA Trophy win, then into the Football League Second Division via the playoffs in 2002. His career at Cheltenham also seen him win England semi-pro honours and The Conference Team of the year 1998–99.

He left Cheltenham in the summer of 2004 and joined Swindon Town.

Swindon Town, Bristol Rovers and non-League football

In July 2005, and without a professional club, the Emersons Green-based Book linked up with Bristol Rovers for training and also to assist coaching the club's younger goalkeepers.[2] On 16 August 2005, he was appointed goalkeeping coach at Bristol Rovers on a permanent basis,[3] succeeding Phil Kite in the role to allow Kite to concentrate fully on his role as physio. Book combined his coaching role with a playing role with Cirencester Town, debuting for the club in the 2–0 Southern Football League Premier Division victory at Chesham United on 13 August 2005. He made twelve league appearances for the club, the final one in a 1–0 defeat at Aylesbury United on 22 November 2005,[4] before leaving the club and signing non-contract terms with Bristol Rovers where he was given the squad number 25.[5]

As a player, he joined Mangotsfield in the summer of 2006 and on 26 August scored the first goal of his career when a sliced free-kick from his own area managed to outfox the Rugby Town goalkeeper. In June 2007, he departed the club by mutual consent after being told he didn't figure in the plans of newly appointed manager Frank Gregan.[6]

In 2008, he joined Southern League Premier Division side Tiverton Town. Is still goalkeeping coach at Bristol Rovers and holds the level two coaching badge, UEFA C goalkeeping and UEFA B goalkeeping licence. On 10 June 2010, he agreed to join his former club Cheltenham Town as a part-time goalkeeping coach. At this time, Steve Book was given the worst ever Fifa Ultimate Team rating at 40 on Fifa 12 and he is still the worst to date.[7] In August 2011, at the age of 42, Book was again registered as a goalkeeper at Cheltenham for a League Cup match against MK Dons where he sat on the bench.[8]

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
ClubYearsLeagueFA CupLeague CupOtherTotal
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Brighton & Hove Albion1993 to 1994Football League0000000000
Slough Town(Loan)1993 to 1994Football Conference2000000020
Lincoln City1994 to 1995Football League0000000000
Forest Green Rovers1995 to 1997Football Conference125
Cheltenham Town1997 to 2004Football League171020070902070
Swindon Town2004 to 2005Football League2000102040
Bristol Rovers2005 to 2006Football League1000000010
Mangotsfield United2006 to 2007Southern League3100000031
Bristol Rovers2007 to 2008Football League0000000000
Tiverton Town2008 to 2010Southern League Premier Division8402010120570
Career total2211220902302751

Honours

As a player

Cheltenham Town

Tiverton Town

  • Devon St. Luke's Cup runner-up: 2008–09

References

  1. ^ Hugman, Barry J. (ed.) (2003). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2003/2004. Queen Anne Press. p. 54. ISBN 1-85291-651-6.
  2. ^ "Two new faces in training". Bristol Rovers F.C. 12 July 2005. Archived from the original on 29 February 2012. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
  3. ^ "Steve booked in for coaching". Bristol Rovers F.C. 16 August 2005. Archived from the original on 29 February 2012. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
  4. ^ "Steve Book league appearances, 2005–2006 season". SoccerFactsUK.co.uk. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
  5. ^ "Book signs non-contract forms". 1 December 2005. Archived from the original on 29 February 2012. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
  6. ^ "Book released – three more to go?". NonLeagueDaily.com. 13 June 2007. Archived from the original on 29 September 2012. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
  7. ^ "Booky back at Robins". Cheltenham Town F.C. Official Website. 10 June 2010. Archived from the original on 17 June 2010. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
  8. ^ "Booky on the bench". Cheltenham Town F.C. Official Website. Archived from the original on 19 March 2012. Retrieved 11 August 2011.
  9. ^ "Cheltenham crack Diamonds". BBC Sport. 6 May 2002. Retrieved 24 June 2025.