Steve Kember
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Stephen Dennis Kember | ||
| Date of birth | 8 December 1948 | ||
| Place of birth | Croydon, England | ||
| Playing position | Midfielder | ||
| Club information | |||
|
Current team
|
Crystal Palace (chief scout) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1963–1965 | Crystal Palace | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1965–1971 | Crystal Palace | 245 | (35) |
| 1971–1975 | Chelsea | 130 | (13) |
| 1975–1978 | Leicester City | 117 | (6) |
| 1978–1980 | Crystal Palace | 50 | (3) |
| 1980–1981 | Vancouver Whitecaps | 22 | (2) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1981–1983 | Crystal Palace | ||
| 1986–1993 | Whyteleafe | ||
| 2001 | Crystal Palace (caretaker) | ||
| 2001 | Crystal Palace (caretaker with Terry Bullivant) | ||
| 2003 | Crystal Palace | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
|||
Stephen Dennis "Steve" Kember (born 8 December 1948) is an English former footballer who played in the centre of midfield during his career, before going into management. He has a long affiliation with Crystal Palace, where he is currently the chief scout.
In 1963, Kember joined Crystal Palace, as an apprentice, and in 1965, on his 17th birthday, he was rewarded with a professional contract.
By the end of the decade, he was a regular in the Palace midfield, and became a fans' favourite by scoring the winning goal in the home tie with Fulham, in 1969, that secured promotion to the First Division for the first time in the club's history. That season, Kember was one of only three players who played in every game.
In the top flight, Kember continued to impress, gaining England U23 caps, and in the summer of 1971, having helped Palace to survival, he replaced John Sewell as captain, following Sewell's departure to Orient.
However, the captaincy was short-lived, and Kember joined Chelsea for a record fee of £170,000 in September.
At Chelsea, Kember quickly stamped his authority on a place in the starting line-up, playing most of the West-London club's games, that season.
However, Chelsea then fell into decline, and were eventually relegated to the Second Division, at the end of the 1974–75 season. Relegation led to a sell-off of players, and Kember moved back to the top-flight with Leicester City.
At first, he was a regular in Leicester's first team line up, but after two seasons, he was little more than a squad player, only appearing in half of Leicester's games in the 1977-78 season.
Early in the 1978–79 season, Terry Venables signed him back to Crystal Palace. While Kember had been away, the south London club's fortunes had taken a dramatic turn for the worse, being relegated to the Second Division in 1974, and again, to the Third, the following year. They had been promoted in the 1976–77 season, but were still a long way behind where they were when Kember left.
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