Jason Steele (footballer)

Jason Steele
Steele playing for Blackburn Rovers in 2016
Personal information
Full name Jason Sean Steele[1]
Date of birth (1990-08-18) 18 August 1990 (age 34)[2]
Place of birth Newton Aycliffe, England
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)[2]
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team
 Brighton & Hove Albion
Number 23
Youth career
0000–2007 Middlesbrough
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2007–2015 Middlesbrough 131 (0)
2010 → Northampton Town (loan) 13 (0)
2014 → Blackburn Rovers (loan) 31 (0)
2015–2017 Blackburn Rovers 82 (0)
2017–2018 Sunderland 15 (0)
2018– Brighton & Hove Albion 35 (0)
International career
2006 England U16 1 (0)
2006–2007 England U17 10 (0)
2007–2009 England U19 16 (0)
2010–2013 England U21 7 (0)
2012 Great Britain Olympic 1 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 23:50, 24 August 2024 (UTC)

Jason Sean Steele (born 18 August 1990) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion.

Steele progressed through Middlesbrough's youth system, signing his first professional contract with the Premier League club in 2009.[3] He made his professional footballing debut while on loan at League Two side Northampton Town during the 2009–10 season.[4] Steele made his Middlesbrough debut in the 2010–11 season, and eventually became their first-choice goalkeeper within their Championship campaign, after being relegated from the top flight the season before last. Steele represented England at all youth levels; his positive performances led him to being called up to the Great Britain Olympic team for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games held in London, making a singular appearance against Brazil at the Riverside Stadium.[5][6] Steele maintained his role at Middlesbrough for three seasons, though the arrivals of Dimitrios Konstantopoulos and Tomás Mejías in the 2013–14 season saw Steele's position at the club become threatened; he left at the end of that season.[7]

In the 2014–15 season, Steele joined fellow Championship club Blackburn Rovers on loan.[8] He then signed for them on a permanent basis at the beginning of the 2015 winter transfer window.[9] He quickly established himself as their first-choice goalkeeper though in the 2016–17 season, Blackburn were relegated to League One, which culminated in Steele's departure to Sunderland, who were newly relegated to the Championship for the 2017–18 league campaign.[10] Steele's tenure at Sunderland was a sour note: he lost his intended role of first-choice goalkeeper to Robbin Ruiter and then Lee Camp and the club were relegated to League One at the end of the season, which meant that both Sunderland and Steele (as a player) had suffered two consecutive relegations.[11] The events of the season led to a Netflix documentary entitled Sunderland 'Til I Die being produced, which was released in December 2018.[12]

He left Sunderland after one season, joining Brighton & Hove Albion of the Premier League serving as back-up, where he eventually made his Premier League debut in November 2021.[13][14]

  1. ^ "FIFA U-20 World Cup Egypt 2009™: List of Players: England" (PDF). FIFA. 6 October 2009. p. 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 October 2009.
  2. ^ a b Rollin, Glenda; Rollin, Jack, eds. (2012). Sky Sports Football Yearbook 2012–2013 (43rd ed.). London: Headline Publishing Group. p. 444. ISBN 978-0-7553-6356-8.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference ProContract1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference sb0910 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference teamgb was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference olympics was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference sb1314 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference brloan was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference brperm was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference sunderland was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ "Sunderland 1–2 Burton Albion". BBC Sport. 21 April 2018.
  12. ^ Allen, Ben (23 August 2018). "Netflix is making a new series about Sunderland Football Club". Radio Times. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference Brighton was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ "Aston Villa 2-0 Brighton & Hove Albion: Steven Gerrard's side win through late Ollie Watkins and Tyrone Mings goals - BBC Sport". BBC Sport. 20 November 2021. Retrieved 21 January 2022.