Steve Guppy

Club career

Guppy was spotted playing for his local team, Colden Common and offered a chance with Southampton in March 1989. He made a handful of appearances in the Saints reserves at the end of the 1988–89 season (but failed to break into the first-team) before moving to Jim Kelman's Wycombe Wanderers in September 1989. He turned professional with Wycombe in 1992, at the age of 23. Before turning professional he worked on building sites. At Wycombe, he first teamed up with newly appointed Martin O'Neill. He helped take them into the Football League as Conference champions in 1992–93 as well as completing the non-League double by winning the FA Trophy. He was a virtual ever-present in Wycombe's debut 1993–94 season in the Football League, at the end of which they secured promotion to Second Division via the play-offs. In August 1994, he was signed by Kevin Keegan's Newcastle United for a fee of £150,000. He made one first-team appearance as a substitute in the League Cup in Newcastle's 2–0 defeat of Manchester United. He subsequently moved on to Port Vale in November 1994 for £225,000. He later recalled seeing a local newspaper headline "'Vale sign Premiership star' and I thought 'Great! Who else have they signed?' but of course the headline was about me. I thought – but I've only played a handful of games in the Premiership I'm hardly a star!" Vale was a step down, but another top manager – in the form of John Rudge, helped him focus on being a first-team performer…

After a season as a player-coach at Rochester, Guppy was recruited for the position of assistant coach to Gary Smith at Major League Soccer team Colorado Rapids. Having had one more year of his coaching contract with the Rochester Rhinos, Rochester released Guppy from his duties, allowing him to move on to a higher level of coaching. He was assistant coach at the Colorado Rapids for three years, from 2009 to 2012. During his time at the club, the Rapids lifted the MLS Cup in 2010. He left the club when the Rapids parted company with Gary Smith in November 2011. In March 2012, Guppy reunited with his old boss Martin O'Neill at Sunderland to work as a part-time coach, giving extra specialised sessions on technical work to "Black Cats" young players. A few months later he settled into the role on a full-time basis. In April 2013, Guppy followed O'Neill out of Sunderland as incoming manager Paolo Di Canio appointed his own coaching staff. In 2014, he joined O'Neill's coaching staff to specifically coach the wingers and strikers of the Republic of Ireland national side. He helped former teammate Neil Aspin to coach Port Vale during 2018–19 pre-season. O'Neill was sacked by Ireland in November 2018 following relegation out of the UEFA Nations League B Group 3, and Guppy also lost his position. He went on to be reunited with Gary Smith at Nashville SC, where he worked as an assistant coach. Smith and Guppy were fired in May 2024.

Wycombe Wanderers

Football League Third Division play-offs: 1994 Football Conference: 1992–93 FA Trophy: 1990–91, 1992–93 Port Vale

Anglo-Italian Cup runner-up: 1995–96 Leicester City

Football League Cup: 1999–2000; runner-up: 1998–99 Celtic

Scottish Premier League: 2001–02 Scottish Cup runner-up: 2001–02 Stevenage Borough

FA Trophy: 2006–07 Individual

PFA Team of the Year: 1993–94 Third Division