 Lomas being interviewed in 2018 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Stephen Martin Lomas[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1974-01-18)18 January 1974 (age 51) | ||
| Place of birth | Hanover, West Germany | ||
| Position | Midfielder | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1991–1997 | Manchester City | 111 | (8) |
| 1997–2005 | West Ham United | 187 | (10) |
| 2005–2007 | Queens Park Rangers | 55 | (2) |
| 2007–2008 | Gillingham | 8 | (0) |
| 2009–2010 | St Neots Town | ||
| Total | 361 | (20) | |
| International career | |||
| 1994–2003 | Northern Ireland | 45 | (3) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2009–2010 | St Neots Town | ||
| 2011–2013 | St Johnstone | ||
| 2013 | Millwall | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Stephen Martin Lomas (born 18 January 1974) is a Northern Irish footballmanager and former professionalfootballer.
As a player, Lomas was amidfielder from 1991 to 2010. He had spells in thePremier League for bothManchester City andWest Ham United before moving into theFootball League withQueens Park Rangers andGillingham. In 2009, he became player-manager of Non-league sideSt Neots Town. Lomas was capped 45 times byNorthern Ireland, scoring 3 goals.
Lomas was appointed manager ofScottish Premier League clubSt Johnstone in 2011. He guided them toUEFA Europa League qualification places in 2011–12 and 2012–13. He moved to Championship clubMillwall in June 2013.
Lomas, amidfielder, first made his name withManchester City after joining them in 1991. He soon broke into the first team but will often be remembered at the club for his misfortune of scoring an own goal on the last day of the1995–96 season, which meant that City could only manage a 2–2 draw at home toLiverpool and were relegated from the Premier League on goal difference.[2]
He then moved toWest Ham United in 1997 for a fee of £2.5 million.[3] He made his West Ham debut on 9 April 1997 in a 0–0 draw withMiddlesbrough; his first goal coming on 3 December 1997 in a 4–1 defeat ofCrystal Palace.[3] He made 227 competitive appearances, scoring 13 goals,[3] becameclub captain and was a member of the West Ham team which won theIntertoto Cup in1999.[4]
On 31 August 2005, he was released on a free transfer and joinedQueens Park Rangers.[5] Whilst at QPR he was named captain on occasions and his experience helped Rangers move away from the relegation zone.
He left QPR in May 2007, and joinedGillingham on 31 July 2007.[6] On 9 January 2008, Gillingham managerMark Stimson revealed that Lomas had been placed on the transfer list.[7] On 31 January it was announced that Lomas had been released from his contract.[8]
Lomas was born in Hanover, West Germany, his father was a soldier stationed there. As a child he briefly lived in Hong Kong, before moving toColeraine, Northern Ireland at the age of two.[9] He earned 46caps for theNorthern Ireland national team, scoring three goals.
After leaving Gillingham, Lomas took up a coaching role atNorwich City before managingSt Neots Town.[10] from 23 March 2009, until July 2010, leading the club to their most successful season for 40 years.[11] He left the club briefly in January 2010, following the departure of chairman John Delaney, but returned after Delaney had been reinstated as Chairman. Lomas resigned from St Neots in July 2010 to pursue his ambition to manage at a league club. At the end of February 2011 he accepted the position of reserve team manager atWest Ham United.[12]
In November 2011, Lomas signed a2+1⁄2-year deal to manageScottish Premier League sideSt Johnstone following the departure ofDerek McInnes to EnglishChampionship teamBristol City. Shortly after signing the deal to become first team manager he was joined by formerNorthern Ireland goalkeeper andLisburn Distillery managerTommy Wright who had agreed to join the club as an assistant to Lomas.[13] In his first season as manager of St Johnstone, Lomas took the club to a top 6 finish for the first time since 1999.[14]
On 4 October 2012, Lomas was named SPL Manager of the month, the first time a St Johnstone manager had won the award.[15] On beating the Manager of the Month "curse" in October to record fifth- and sixth-straight wins against St Mirren and Kilmarnock, Lomas achieved the best run of results at St Johnstone since 1971,[16] reaching second place in the SPL table behind Celtic.[17]
In October 2012, Lomas' name began to be linked with vacant manager's positions at English clubs; first at Bournemouth,[18] then Burnley,[19] Fleetwood,[20] Doncaster Rovers[21] and Coventry City.
Lomas achieved a second-successive top six SPL finish with a game to spare, and in the last game of the season, on 19 May 2013, in his first full season in charge, a 2–0 victory over Motherwell gave St Johnstone third place in the SPL andEuropa League qualification.[22]
On 5 June 2013,Millwall made an official approach to speak with Lomas about the vacant managerial position.[23] His appointment as manager was announced on 6 June.[24] Lomas was sacked on 26 December 2013 after the ten men of Millwall lost toWatford.[25] Lomas' tenure at Millwall had been up and down. He had won six of 24 games as manager of Millwall but these included wins against higher-placed teams such as Blackpool, Leeds and Wigan and he was nominated for the September SkyBet Championship Manager of the Month award[26] after winning three games in a row. Lomas had also drawn six including QPR, Burnley, Reading and Nottingham Forest.[27][28] Inheriting a team which finished one point above the relegation places on the last day of the 2012–13 season, however, Lomas was unable to achieve a dramatic turnaround in performance and left with the club one place above that in 20th position and four points above the relegation places.[29]
He is a nephew of the formerManchester United and Northern Ireland goalkeeperHarry Gregg.[30]
West Ham United
St Neots Town
| Team | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | Win % | |||
| St Johnstone | 3 November 2011 | 6 June 2013 | 73 | 27 | 20 | 26 | 037.0 |
| Millwall | 6 June 2013 | 26 December 2013 | 24 | 6 | 6 | 12 | 025.0 |
| Total | 97 | 33 | 26 | 38 | 034.0 | ||
