Steve Wicks 1986

Stephen Wicks was born October 3rd, 1956 in Reading, Berkshire. He signed as a professional with Chelsea in May 1974 from the Chelsea juniors. Was a centre-forward when he joined Chelsea as an apprentice, but no match at centre-half indicated his real postition.

Made his league debut on Monday, 31st March, 1975 at home to Ipswich Town in a 0-0 draw, aged 18 years of age. Gained 7 England Youth caps, and was a member in the Under 21 squad during the 1977-78 season. Had five seasons in the first team, notching up 127 appearances and scoring 7 goals.

Left Chelsea half-way through the 1978-79 season for Derby County for a fee of £275, 000. His tough, no nonense, approach made him an attractive proposition for the "Rams" manager Tommy Docherty, who saw him as a short term fix to his sides defensive problems. The giant defender made his debut against Southampton on February 3rd, and his presence alongside Roy McFarland saw County win 2-1, so ending a sequence of five games without a victory. Steve missed just one of the Rams remaining nineteen fixtures and, although many of the Baseball Ground supporters were crtical of him for not having the finesse of McFarland, he battled his way through matches despite carrying an assortment of niggling injuries. Although he did not score during his time at the Baseball Ground, Steve's particular strengh in the air also made him a constant danger at corners and free kicks. A 19th place finish in the First Division saw Derby just escape relegation, but Docherty resigned soon afterwards and was replaced by Colin Addison. Steve started the 1979/80 campaign in the heart of the "Rams" back four but, after a poor start which saw just one win in six starts, the new manager opted to sell him back to Docherty at his new club Queens Park Rangers, the Londoners paying the exact fee of £275, 000 that County had paid for the player nine months earlier. In all Steve made just twenty-four appearances for Derby County and, over a longer time spell in a stronger side, would likely have been more appreciated by the clubs supporters.
This would be his first spell at QPR, during this time 1979 to 1981 Steve would appear in 73 second division league games. He was then transfered to another London club, Crystal Palace, but his stay was brief, just one season 1981-82, playing in 14 league games and scoring 1 goal.
QPR resigned him for the second half of the 1981-82 season, he would appear in 9 games that season, and was part of the successful QPR side that won the Second Division Championship in 1983 and appeared in the Milk Cup Final in 1986. It was during this spell, in 1986, that he was a member of the QPR squad to play under the name of the Rowdies in the "Coca-Cola Classic International Soccer Series" in Tampa.
Steve re-signed for Chelsea in July 1986 at a cost of £470,000. He would make his second Chelsea debut against Norwch City at home, in a 0-0 draw, on August 23rd, 1986. He would make 18 appearances and scored 1 goal. He was suffering with a niggling back injury during the 1987-88 season which required surgery, but he played through the pain to make another 19 appearances. Sadly, at the end of the season Steve was forced to announce his retirement in August 1988, when he was reportedly on the verge of joining Tottenham Hotspur.

Steve was brought in originally to be coach of the 1988 Rowdies team, but was released of his post before the 1988 season due to financial reasons.
He later moved into management with Crawley Town, Scarborough F.C. on October 27th, 1993 then onto Lincoln City on September 4th, 1995, where he held the post for only 42 days, and 7 games, which resulted in 5 loses and 2 draws, and finally Malaysian side Selangor FA from 1997 to 1998.. He was working at Chelsea Football Club as a scout. He is the father of Matthew Wicks who was on the books at Arsenal and played for Brighton and Hove Albion.