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Stephen Baxter (born 1 October 1965, in Belfast) is a football manager and ex-player from Northern Ireland. He is the current manager of Crusaders, whom he previously played for as a player.

[edit] Playing career

'Stanley' (as he would later be nicknamed by Crusaders fans after the Scottish comedian) started out as a player with Glentoran before signing for Ards in 1985. His goalscoring exploits caught the notice of giants Linfield and he signed for them in 1987, winning two Irish League championships, three Gold Cups and a League Cup.

Unable to hold down a regular starting place, however, he signed for Crusaders in 1994. Baxter became one of the key players of Crusaders' golden team of the 90's, again winning two Irish League championships, a Gold Cup and League Cup. In 1996/97 he was named as the Ulster Footballer of the Year.^[1] He then moved to Glenavon for a successful period before returning to Seaview for a second two-year spell in 2000.

Whilst Crusaders had experienced a downturn in fortunes and were fighting for survival, Baxter was memorable for his hat-trick in a relegation play-off against Lisburn Distillery, thus ensuring the Crues' survival. Baxter left Seaview a firm fan-favourite and legend status for a spell at Bangor, before retiring from football completely and opening a sports shop in Newtownards.

[edit] Managerial career

Following the sacking of Alan Dornan, Baxter was installed as manager at Seaview, yet was unable to keep the Hatchetmen in the top division. After winning virtually every intermediate trophy in sight the following season, under Baxter's leadership the Crues returned to the Irish League and led the table briefly, before finishing in a very creditable 6th position. Since then, he le the side to 3rd place in 2008-09, and also the teams first Irish Cup victory in 41 years.

[edit] References

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