Steven Archibald (born 27 September 1956) is a Scottish former professional footballer and manager. He played prominently as a forward for Aberdeen, winning the Scottish league in 1980, Tottenham Hotspur, winning two FA Cups and a UEFA Cup, and Barcelona, winning the Spanish league in 1985. He also played for several other clubs in Scotland, England, Spain and Ireland.

Archibald played 27 times for Scotland, earning selection for their 1982 and 1986 World Cup squads, and was inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame in 2009. He later managed East Fife and Airdrieonians.

Club career

Archibald was born in Glasgow and raised nearby in Rutherglen. He was playing for local teams such as Croftfoot United and Fernhill Athletic while completing his training as a car mechanic when he was spotted by Scottish First Division club Clyde in 1974. He first came to prominence playing in midfield for Clyde, but after manager Billy McNeill paid £20,000 to bring him to top-division side Aberdeen in January 1978 he was converted to striker, forging a prolific partnership with Joe Harper.

After winning the Scottish Premier Division title in 1980, he moved to London club Tottenham Hotspur for £800,000, where he finished the top scorer in the First Division and won the FA Cup in his first season there. He won a second FA Cup in 1982 and then the UEFA Cup in 1984, where he scored his penalty in the final as Spurs overcame Anderlecht in a shootout. He also scored for Spurs in their defeat by Liverpool in the 1982 Football League Cup Final. Archibald scored 77 goals in 189 appearances for Spurs between 1980 and 1984, forming successful striking partnerships with Garth Crooks and Mark Falco.

In 1984, he joined Barcelona for £1,150,000, where in his first season he helped them win the La Liga title for the first time in 11 years. He then helped Barça reach the European Cup final in 1986, only to lose on penalty kicks to Steaua Bucharest. He was a popular figure at the Camp Nou until restrictions on fielding foreign players led to him being excluded from the squad in favour of Gary Lineker and Mark Hughes. He was loaned out to Blackburn Rovers for a spell before returning to Scotland in 1988 to sign for Hibernian.

Archibald scored 16 goals in his first season at Hibernian, including the winning goal in November 1988 in a 2–1 win away against Hearts, Hibs' first away win against their city rivals in over 10 years. He left Hibs in 1990 after falling out with manager Alex Miller, and had a brief return to Spain with Espanyol (then in the Second Division). He then joined St Mirren and was instrumental in bringing former Barcelona teammate Víctor Muñoz to the club.

Archibald's later career saw him make a handful of appearances at a number of clubs in Scotland, England and Ireland, including a nostalgic return to Clyde.

International career

Archibald was a member of the Scotland national team at the 1982 and 1986 World Cups.

On 15 November 2009, he was inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame.

Managerial career and the Airdrie experiment

Archibald's time at East Fife saw the club gain promotion to the First Division, and was also notable for the acquisition of Trinidad and Tobago internationalists Arnold Dwarika and Craig Demmin. He was sacked in 1996 and retired to his home in Spain for the next few years, working on a number of business interests, including as a football agent.

In 2000 Archibald re-emerged in Scottish football when he mounted a bid to buy financially troubled First Division club Airdrieonians. Archibald was allowed to take over the running of the club after being awarded preferred bidder status by the administrators. He installed himself as manager and, using his contacts in Europe, introduced a contingent of Spaniards and other foreign players to the squad, winning the 2000–01 Scottish Challenge Cup.

Although Airdrie supporters were impressed by Archibald and the skills of the imports, he ultimately failed to conclude the purchase of the club, leading to the departure of himself and the foreign players in March 2001, and causing them to narrowly miss out on relegation to the Second Division. They had also been expelled from the Scottish Cup for failing to fulfil a fixture. Airdrieonians went out of business on 1 May 2002, and a new club called Airdrie United was formed and took Clydebank's place in the Scottish Football League.

Music career

Archibald appeared twice in the same episode of Top of the Pops in 1982, firstly singing "We Have a Dream" with the Scotland World Cup squad starring BA Robertson and then alongside his Tottenham Hotspur teammates and Chas & Dave singing "Tottenham, Tottenham".

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
ClubSeasonLeagueNational cupLeague cupEuropeOtherTotal
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
East Stirlingshire (trial)1973–74Scottish Division Two100000----10
Clyde1974–75Scottish Division One400000----40
1975–76Scottish First Division1622020----202
1976–77Scottish Second Division3131060----383
1977–781422020----182
Total65750100----807
Aberdeen1977–78Scottish Premier Division105000000--105
1978–793213547340--4820
1979–8034125711320--5222
Total7630101118660--11047
Tottenham Hotspur1980–81First Division4120-3-200--41+25
1981–82276-1-2-0--27+9
1982–833111-0-2-2--31+15
1983–843221-1-1-5--32+28
Total13158185187227--18977
Barcelona1984–85La Liga3215834120--4619
1985–8613431114210228
1986–8710500000020125
1987–8800000000--00
Total55241145262308032
Blackburn Rovers (loan)1987–88Second Division206--------20+6+
Hibernian1988–89Scottish Premier Division3113413200--3816
1989–90132000020--152
Total4415413220--5318
Espanyol1989–90Segunda División155--------15+5+
St Mirren1990–91Scottish Premier Division162100000--172
Clyde1991–92Scottish Second Division42000000--42
Reading1991–92Third Division10000000--10
Ayr United1991–92Scottish First Division10--------1+0+
Fulham1992–93Second Division20000000--20
East Fife1994–95Scottish Second Division131--------13+1+
1995–96316--------31+6+
1996–97Scottish First Division50--------5+0+
Total497--------49+7+
Home Farm Everton1996–9710--------1+0+
Career total48315649+21+54+17+36910623+203+

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Scotland198052
198171
198281
198310
198420
198530
198610
Total274

Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Archibald goal.

List of international goals scored by Steve Archibald
No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
126 March 1980Hampden Park, GlasgowPortugal3–04–1UEFA Euro 1980 qualifying
231 May 1980Nepstadion, BudapestHungary1–21–3Friendly
319 May 1981Hampden Park, GlasgowNorthern Ireland2–02–01980–81 British Home Championship
415 June 1982Estadio La Rosaleda, MálagaNew Zealand5–25–21982 FIFA World Cup

Managerial statistics

TeamFromToRecord
GWDLWin %
East Fife199419969035253038.89%
Airdrieonians20002001-----
Total90+35+25+30+38.89%

Honours

Player

Aberdeen

Tottenham Hotspur

Barcelona

Scotland

Manager

Airdrieonians

Individual

External links

  • — Spurs club profile at Sporting Heroes
  • — International profile at Sporting Heroes
  • — Club profile at BDFutbol
  • at the Scottish Football Association
  • at Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Transfer Database