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Revision as of 08:28, 14 December 2005
Steven George Bull (born 28 March 1965) is an English footballer who had a long and successful career with Wolverhampton Wanderers.
His career was launched with Tipton Town. He transferred to Wolves from the club's arch-rivals, West Bromwich Albion in 1986 for a fee of 65,000 pounds and played there until to 1999, he holds a number of club records:
- Top goal-scorer : 306 goals
- Top league goal-scorer : 250 goals
- Most goals in a season : 52 goals (1987/88)
- Most hat-tricks : 18
He is regarded as such a legend at the club that one of the main stands at their football ground, the Molineux, is named after him.
His debut for Wolves was against Wrexham on 22 November, 1986. He made 464 league appearances for the club, 561 appearances in total. On leaving Wolves, he went on to play 12 games for Hereford United where he rejoined his old manager Graham Turner.
Eyebrows were raised when in 1989 Bull was called up by England coach Bobby Robson as Wolves were in the third tier of English football at the time, but Bull's goals record was simply impossible to ignore. Bull duly came on as a substitute for his debut in the cauldron of a Rous Cup match against Scotland at Hampden Park - and scored with ten minutes to go to complete a 2-0 win.
His England career was often made up of cameo turns in the event of main striker Gary Lineker being unavailable or rested but Bull proved himself a capable and awkward striker against the world's best defenders. One of his two goals against Czechoslovakia at Wembley in a warm-up match for the 1990 World Cup was later voted into a poll of England's 50 Greatest Goals. Robson picked him for the squad which went to the World Cup and he was used as a substitute. He ended up representing England 13 times in total, scoring four goals.
Known by his adoring fans as 'Bully' for his club loyalty, rapport with supporters and passion for the game he received an MBE for services to Association Football.