Steven Caldwell

Steven Caldwell (born 12 September 1980) is a Scottish former footballer, coach, and executive.

Playing as a defender, mostly as a centre back, Caldwell won 12 caps for the Scotland national team and has played over 300 league matches in his career, primarily in the top three tiers of English football.

Since retiring from playing, he has been working as a Major League Soccer analyst for TSN in Canada.

Caldwell is the president of League1 Ontario club Oakville Blue Devils FC and has served as the assistant coach of the Canada national team.

His younger brother Gary was also a defender and Scotland international and was formerly the manager of Wigan Athletic.

Born in Stirling, Scotland, Caldwell started out his football career at Hutchison Vale, along with his younger brother Gary.

He then joined Premiership club Newcastle United at age fourteen, along with Gary, where they began their football careers.

In 1998, Caldwell signed his first professional contract with the club.

At some point in the 1999–00 season, he was promoted to the first team, appearing twice as an unused substitute.

In the 2000–01 season, Caldwell was called up to the first team, with Manager Bobby Robson said: "Caldwell's got a good pedigree. I like to put people in when it's right and when it's necessary and I can afford to do it, and not when we are forced to do it. But we are going to have the confidence with the lad to do it. He's a steady character, has indomitable spirit and we like him very much."

Caldwell made his Newcastle United debut on 30 September 2000 against Manchester City, coming on as a second half substitute for Andy Griffin, and played the rest of the game, keeping a clean sheet, in a 1–0 win.

On 1 November 2000, he made his first start for the club against Bradford City in the League Cup and scored his first goal for Newcastle United, as they won 4–3.

Since making his debut for the club, Caldwell rotated in and out of the first team, due to facing competitions in the defence.

He then featured four more times for Newcastle United by the end of the year, making three starts.

He later made two more appearances by the end of the 2000–01 season.

At the end of the 2000–01 season, Caldwell went on to make nine appearances in all competitions.

It wasn't until on 3 March 2001 when Caldwell made his first appearances in two months, due to a thigh injury, starting the whole game, in a 1–1 draw against Everton.

At the start of the 2001–02 season, Caldwell was featured three times in Newcastle United's matches in the UEFA Intertoto Cup and once set up a goal, in a 4–0 win against Lokeren on 14 July 2001.

Due to lack of first team football opportunities, he was loaned out to Blackpool on a month's loan.

Caldwell made his debut for the club, starting the whole game, in a 2–1 win against Colchester United on 13 October 2001.

In a follow–up match, he scored his first career goal, against Stoke City in the Football League Trophy, winning 3–2.

Caldwell made a total of six appearances for Blackpool before returning to his parent club a month later.

Shortly after, Caldwell was loaned out to Bradford City on a month's loan in December 2001.

He made his debut for the club, starting the whole game, in a 3–1 win against Rotherham United on 8 December 2001.

Since making his debut for Bradford City, Caldwell quickly became a first team regular for the side for the next two months there and had his loan spell extended at the club along the way.

His loan spell at Bradford City ended in late–January, as he made nine appearances for the side.

At the start of the 2002–03 season, Caldwell continued to find his first team opportunities limited at Newcastle United, due to competitions in the central defence, with Manager Robson challenging him to fight for his first team place at the club.

It wasn't until on 2 November 2002 when he was called up to the first team and made his first appearance of the season, coming against Middlesbrough in the league and scored his first goal of the season, in a 2–0 win.

Caldwell then made his UEFA Champions League debut against Inter Milan on 27 November 2002, coming on as an 86th-minute substitute, as Newcastle United lost 4–1.

He then made six more starts for the club by the end of the year.

Because of injuries to Andy O'Brien and Titus Bramble, Caldwell appeared three times at the beginning of January, including helping Newcastle United keep two consecutive clean sheets.

However, he was dropped from the first team for the next two months, due to illness and competitions.

He later made four more appearances later in the 2002–03 season and contributed to the club's UEFA Champions League qualification to next season.

In total, Caldwell made seventeen appearances and scoring once in all competitions.

Local newspaper Evening Chronicle said his involvement in the first team "deserves credit for his unsung contribution"

With his contract expiring at the end of the 2002–03 season, Caldwell said about his future, saying: "I've been in a worse position at this club. I'm not expecting anything at the moment. If the club wants me to stay, I'll be delighted, but I'm 22 and I don't want to spend my time in the reserves. I want to be playing for my country and I won't be doing that if I'm in the reserves."

Newcastle United offered a him a new contract, but he rejected it, with clubs like Rangers, Sunderland and Sporting CP were interested in signing him.

With an imminent departure from Newcastle United, the club demanded a £750,000 compensation.

In between the absence, Caldwell made his first UEFA Champions League start against Bayer Leverkusen, as the club won 3–1 on 26 February 2003.

But in an unexpected turn of an event, it was announced on 19 June 2003 that Caldwell signed a one–year contract extension with the club, having previously rejected the one before, describing it as an "insult".