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Steve Banks
	Banks in 2024
Personal information
Full name	Steven Banks
Date of birth	9 February 1972 (age 52)
Place of birth	Hillingdon, London, England
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team	Blackpool (goalkeeping coach)
Senior career*
Years	Team
1990–1993	West Ham United
1993–1995	Gillingham
1995–1999	Blackpool
1999–2003	Bolton Wanderers
2001–2002	→ Rochdale (loan)
2002	→ Bradford City (loan)
2002–2003	→ Stoke City (loan)
2003	Stoke City
2003–2004	Wimbledon
2004–2005	Gillingham
2005–2009	Heart of Midlothian
2009–2013	Dundee United
2013–2015	St Johnstone
Total
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Steven Banks (born 9 February 1972) is an English football player and coach. Banks played as a goalkeeper for clubs in the English and Scottish leagues, including Gillingham, Blackpool, Wimbledon and Heart of Midlothian. He achieved the unusual feat of winning the Scottish Cup with three clubs, although he was an unused substitute in all three finals. Towards the end of his playing career, Banks started working as a goalkeeping coach. He is currently in that role at his former club Blackpool.

Club career

Born in Hillingdon, London, Banks began his career as a trainee with West Ham United. He made just one first-team appearance, in the Anglo-Italian Cup, for West Ham, before joining Gillingham on a free transfer in March 1993.

Banks was a regular for the remainder of the season, and in 1994–95 was named as the Kent Side's Player of the Season.^[2] His form led to a £60,000 move to Blackpool in August 1995. He spent four years with the Seasiders, making over 150 league appearances for the club. He was the club's Player of the Year in his second season (1996–97).^[3] Banks' son was born in Blackpool during his time at the club.^[4]

In March 1999, Banks moved to Bolton Wanderers for a fee of £50,000. Although a regular at the start of his time with Bolton, he soon lost his place and had loan spells with Rochdale (December 2001 to May 2002)^[5] and Bradford City (August to November 2002)^[6] before joining Stoke City on loan in December 2002 for whom he played ten times.

Banks joined Stoke on a free transfer in February 2003.^[7] He made four appearances and was released at the end of the season.

Banks joined Wimbledon in August 2003 and was a regular in their Championship side until returning to Gillingham on a free transfer in March 2004.^[8] During his second run with Gillingham, he appeared in the film Green Street.^[9]

In August 2005, Banks joined Heart of Midlothian on a free transfer as back-up for regular goalkeeper Craig Gordon.^[10] He made his Hearts debut as a substitute in the 2–2 draw against Falkirk on 2 October 2005, after Gordon had been sent off. Two weeks later, Banks played in a 1–1 draw with Celtic at Celtic Park in which he made a number of saves to maintain the Jambos' unbeaten start to the season.^[11] He made another rare start against Dundee United on 23 December 2006 and kept a clean sheet as Hearts won by a single goal at Tannadice. Banks repeated the feat on 10 February 2007, in a 1–0 win against Caley Thistle at Tynecastle.^[12] Earlier in the day, Banks, who had recently become first-choice ahead of unsettled Gordon,^[13]^[14] signed a contract with Hearts due to run until the end of the 2007–08 season.^[15] Gordon returned to the starting line-up on 17 February in Hearts' 1–1 draw with St Mirren.^[16] Banks was forced to take control of the Jambos during a 1–0 defeat to Kilmarnock on 27 October 2007, when Stephen Frail was sent from the touchline.

On 16 August 2008, Banks was omitted from the Hearts squad to face Rangers at Ibrox, with Jamie MacDonald selected to start and recent signing Marian Kello on the bench. Hearts lost the game 2–0 and afterwards owner Vladimir Romanov told the Hearts players that Banks "could no longer be trusted", comparing him to former captain Steven Pressley and fellow defender Andy Webster, who both left Tynecastle under controversial circumstances.^[17]^[18] A statement on the club's official website stated that Banks was no longer available to play for the first team and he was no longer first-team goalkeeping coach, but he would take a similar coaching role with the youth team.^[19]

Hearts announced on 1 June 2009 that Banks had severed all ties with the club, and he signed for Dundee United the next day.

On 8 July 2013 Banks signed for St Johnstone on a one-year deal.^[20] Manager and fellow goalkeeper Tommy Wright played with Banks at Bolton in 2001.^[21]

Banks was an unused substitute as St Johnstone won the 2014 Scottish Cup.^[22] In May 2014 he signed a one-year extension.^[23] Banks became only the second player to have won the Scottish Cup with three different sides, equaling the achievement of Steven Pressley.^[24] His achievement was unique in that on all three occasions he was an unused substitute.^[25]^[26] Banks left St Johnstone in August 2015 and retired from playing, aged 43,^[27] to become goalkeeping coach at his former club Blackpool.^[22]

On 4 July 2016 Banks was appointed as goalkeeping coach at Bradford City.^[28] He left the role in November 2018.^[29] In March 2019, Banks was working for Tranmere Rovers and the Scotland Women national team.^[26]

Banks returned to Blackpool as goalkeeping coach in July 2019 under new manager Simon Grayson.^[30] He was retained by Grayson's successor in 2020, Neil Critchley,^[31] and Michael Appleton, who replaced Critchley in 2022.

Career statistics

Source:^[32]

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
Club	Season	Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
West Ham United	1992–93	First Division	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0
Gillingham	1993–94	Third Division	29	0	3	0	0	0	1	0	33	0
	1994–95	Third Division	38	0	4	0	0	0	1	0	43	0
	Total		67	0	7	0	0	0	2	0	76	0
Blackpool	1995–96	Second Division	24	0	3	0	1	0	4	0	32	0
	1996–97	Second Division	46	0	2	0	4	0	3	0	55	0
	1997–98	Second Division	45	0	2	0	4	0	3	0	54	0
	1998–99	Second Division	35	0	1	0	4	0	1	0	41	0
	Total		150	0	8	0	13	0	11	0	182	0
Bolton Wanderers	1998–99	First Division	9	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	12	0
	1999–2000	First Division	2	0	2	0	4	0	0	0	8	0
	2000–01	First Division	9	0	3	0	2	0	0	0	14	0
	2001–02	Premier League	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	0
	Total		21	0	5	0	6	0	3	0	36	0
Rochdale (loan)	2001–02	Third Division	15	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	15	0
Bradford City (loan)	2002–03	First Division	9	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	9	0
Stoke City (loan)	2002–03	First Division	14	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	16	0
Wimbledon	2003–04	First Division	24	0	3	0	1	0	0	0	28	0
Gillingham	2003–04	First Division	13	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	13	0
	2004–05	Championship	26	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	27	0
	Total		39	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	40	0
Heart of Midlothian	2005–06	Scottish Premier League	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
	2006–07	Scottish Premier League	4	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	6	0
	2007–08	Scottish Premier League	28	0	1	0	3	0	0	0	32	0
	2008–09	Scottish Premier League	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	Total		36	0	2	0	4	0	0	0	42	0
Dundee United	2009–10	Scottish Premier League	1	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	4	0
	2010–11	Scottish Premier League	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	2011–12	Scottish Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	2012–13	Scottish Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Total		1	0	1	0	3	0	0	0	5	0
St Johnstone	2013–14	Scottish Premiership	4	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	6	0
Career Total			380	0	30	0	28	0	16	0	470	0