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The coming season will be Mark Stein's third
in a Daggers shirt and at 37 he is
nearing the end of a magnificent career. Many Daggers fans probably do not
appreciate what a gem of a player Mark is and how lucky we are to have a player
of his ability at the club.
Mark was born in Cape Town in January 1966. He joined Luton Town, then a
First Division club, as a trainee, where his elder brother Brian was already a
player, in 1984. He enjoyed four seasons in his first spell with Luton,
including three top half finishes in the league. In all Mark played 71 games for
the Hatters, scoring 23 goals, including the League Cup final against Arsenal in
1988 when his brother Brian scored a late winner. He also had a brief loan spell with Aldershot in
January 1986. That summer Queens Park Rangers
came in for him and he moved to Loftus Road for £300,000. The move didn't
really work though and after 44 games and 7 goals he was given a free transfer
to Oxford United, then of the second division. Mark was at Oxford for just
over two years, playing 92 games and scoring 18 times. In September 1991 he went
on loan to Stoke City and in November the Potters came up with £100,000 to make
the move permanent. It was at Stoke that Mark really made his reputation with
68 goals in 125 games for the club. The Potters won the new Second Division in
1992/93 and Mark's goal scoring attracted the attention of Chelsea who paid
£1,500,000 for him in October 1993. That season saw Mark appear in the FA Cup
final which was lost 4-0 to Manchester United. Steino stayed a Chelsea player until
October 1998 but his career at the top of the game was cut short by injury.
While with Chelsea he played just 64 games but scored 25 times including setting
a record for goals in consecutive Premiership game that was only beaten by Ruud
van Nistelroy two seasons ago. Steino was loaned to Ipswich and Bournemouth
before moving to Bournemouth permanently in 1998. Playing in the second division
revitalised Mark's career and once again he was a consistent scorer, 44 goals
for the club in 113 games. In the summer of 2000 Mark made what should have
been a great move for him, back to Luton Town. The club was in trouble though
and was relegated that season to the third division. Fickle fans at Luton gave
him a hard time and he scored just 4 times in 36 games. In the summer of 2001
he moved down a level again to the Conference with the Daggers. Again the move
was a good one. In his first season he was second top scorer in the Conference
as the Daggers missed out on promotion on goal difference. But for injury around
Christmas Mark would have won the golden boot and the Daggers possibly the
league. In his second season again Mark finished top scorer for the club and
scored 3 times in the play off's to just miss out again. In all Mark has 47
goals in 83 games in a Daggers shirt, a phenomenal record. Lets hope that this
coming season sees more of the same. Mark is just 3 goals off his 50 for the
Daggers and 9 away from a career 250.  Some
statistics:
League games: 465 (55)
League goals: 193 (0.37 goals per game)
FA Cup games: 37 (5)
FA Cup goals: 9 (0.21 goals per game)
League Cup games: 36 (3)
League Cup goals: 19 (0.48 goals per game)
Other games: 40 (2)
Other goals: 20 (0.47 goals per game)
Total career appearances: 578 (65)
Total career goals: 241 (0.37 goals per game)
See a
gallery of Steino's career here.
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