It’s been a busy time as far as presenting caps to former players is concerned and we would like to thank former Rovers’ Stadium General Manager Ian Holtby for letting us make presentations to three prolific Rovers strikers at the recent strikers event that he co hosted at the BAWA Club.
The strikers to receive their caps that night were Steve White, Jamie Cureton and Rickie Lambert and it was a pleasure to meet up with them all again as well as Barry Hayles, Paul Randall and Ian Holloway who had previously received their caps.
In two spells with Rovers Steve scored 44 goals in 150 league appearances for Rovers. Initially he signed for the club from Mangotsfield |United, in July 1978. He was transferred to Luton Town in December 1979 and moved to Charlton Athletic in July 1982.
He spent time on loan at Lincoln City and back at Luton before rejoining Rovers in August 1983. Three years later Steve joined Swindon Town and went on to appear in 244 league games for them. He later played for Hereford United and Cardiff City, as well as a number of non league clubs.
Steve made his Rovers league debut on 27th March 1978 in a 3-1 defeat against Southampton at The Dell and became the 448th player to represent the club in the league. Southampton.
Jamie Cureton, born and raised in Bristol, was the 603rd player to make a league appearance for Rovers when he made his debut in a 1-0 win against Plymouth Argyle, at Home Park, on 21st September 1996.
He had spent his formative football years with Norwich City and joined us, on loan initially, before making the move a permanent one which cost Rovers fee in the region of £250,000.
He went on to score 72 goals in 176 league games whilst at The Memorial Stadium, a total that included a four goal haul against Reading, when Rovers were 6-0 winners at the Madejski Stadium, In January 1999.
After leaving Rovers he played for a number of clubs, far too many to mention here, and has appeared in over 1,000 first class games.
Still involved the game, as manager of Cambridge City, the now 49 year old is still registered as a player, so don’t be surprised if he makes an appearance for someone following his 5oth birthday!
Rickie Lambert’s Rovers league debut came against one of his former clubs, Stockport County, when he went on as a substitute for Lewis Haldane who had played for the Welsh U-21 side the previous evening.
‘Lambo’ was the 756th player to make his Rovers debut, but his first game, om 3rd September 2006 didn’t end well as his former club ran out 2-1 winners.
However, 58 goals in 128 league games followed before a big money move to Southampton in August 2009. He scored on his England debut, the first of 11 international appearances for his country.
Spells at Liverpool, West Bromwich Albion and Cardiff City followed, until his retirement in October 2017. A spell out of the game followed, but he’s back now, coaching in Wigan Athletic’s Academy and ambitions of one day becoming a manager.