Stephen Pears

Stephen Pears (born 22 January 1962) is an English former footballer. Born in Brandon, County Durham, he played as a goalkeeper for Manchester United, Middlesbrough, Liverpool and Hartlepool United in a career spanning 20 years. His son, Ainsley Pears, is also a professional footballer, who currently plays for Blackburn Rovers.

Career Stephen Pears started his career at Manchester United as an understudy to Gary Bailey. However, Pears struggled to displace him and break into the first team. During the 1983–84 season, in order to gain match practice, he was sent to Middlesbrough on loan where he became a fan favourite. Middlesbrough attempted to sign him permanently but the club failed to raise the £80,000 fee. However, Middlesbrough made a second attempt to sign Pears and he transferred to the club permanently in 1985.

The following season saw the club get relegated. Despite this, his performances gained him critical acclaim from the fans. In 1987–88, Pears helped the club win promotion. In this season, Pears also set a club record of seven consecutive clean sheets. Some of his most notable performances this year came against Everton in the FA Cup and against Leicester City in a performance which he dedicated to his late father. Pears went to make over 400 appearances for Middlesbrough from 1983 to 1995. During this time in 1992 he was called up to the England squad but had to pull out of the squad after breaking his cheekbone after a collision with Dion Dublin.

On 4 July 2014, Pears was announced as assistant manager and goalkeeping coach at Hartlepool United. On 5 October, Pears was named caretaker-manager alongside Sam Collins following the departure of Colin Cooper and was kept on as goalkeeping coach following the appointment of Paul Murray as manager on 23 October.

On 19 July 2015, Pears was announced as goalkeeping coach at National League side Gateshead.