| An exciting winger and a product of the club's youth policy, Steve
Kinsey had been a prolific marksman at junior level and made his first
team debut aged just 18 in a 3-1 win at Wolves on April 18th 1981, his
only outing of the season.
When an ankle injury ended Dennis
Tueart's season in mid-December of 1981 Steve was finally given his
chance to stake a claim for a regular berth. He was selected by manager
John Bond for the Boxing Day trip to Anfield, a superb 3-1 win seeing
City record their first victory there in 28 years. A 2-1 home win over
Wolves followed and City sat at the top of the league, but a run of only
5 wins until the end of the season saw them slump to a 10th place
finish, with Kinsey making a total of 16 starts and yet to open his
goalscoring account.
With the Blues in second spot in the league
at the end of October of the 1982/83 season Steve was unable to force
his way into the side, and was sent out on loan to both Chester and
Chesterfield either side of an appearance against Sunderland. On his
return he was chosen for the game against West Bromwich Albion on
December 28th, and duly obliged by notching his first goal for the club
in a 2-1 win. He then kept his place for the whole of January but the
team could manage only one league win and suffered a 4-0 FA Cup
humiliation at Brighton, after which manager Bond resigned, and he lost
his place when new boss John Benson took over. Kinsey was restored to
the side at the beginning of April for the rest of the season, but City
were in dire trouble in the league and needing only a point to stay up
on the last day of the season they were beaten 1-0 at home by Luton and
were relegated. Steve had appeared in 13 league games and scored one
goal.
With Billy McNeill taking over as manager for the following
season Kinsey again found a starting spot difficult to come by, and
despite scoring as a substitute in a 3-1 win at Shrewsbury in November
it was once again December before he got a run in the team. Goals in
successive victories over Oldham (2-0) and Huddersfield (3-1) over
Christmas were followed by another in a 3-1 win against Crystal Palace
in January, and despite a 2-1 third round FA Cup setback at Blackpool
the team were still well placed in the league. A disappointing run of
form over the next two months, however, saw them finally finish in
fourth place, just out of the automatic promotion spots, and Kinsey
finished the season with a decent tally of 7 goals from 23 league games.
The
1984/85 season saw Kinsey become a first-team regular, though by the
turn of the year the team sat tenth in the league and had been knocked
out of the FA Cup by Coventry City (2-1) and the League Cup by Chelsea
(4-1). Even so, by the time Steve had notched his sixth league goal of
the season in a 1-0 win at Blackburn in early March it sent the Blues to
the top of the table, but a subsequent loss of form in the run-in meant
they had to win the last game of the season at home to Charlton to go
up. A 5-1 thumping saw the Blues promoted in third place at the expense
of Portsmouth, Steve having made 35 league starts and scoring 7 goals.
The
following campaign would turn into one of consolidation back in the top
flight, although after a bright start an injury to Kinsey in late
September kept him out until the following February, coinciding with a
plunge down the league table. Despite defeats to Watford and Arsenal in
the early rounds of the FA and League Cups City had reached the final of
the inaugural Full Members Cup in March, but although Steve got the
opening goal they went down 5-4 to Chelsea in front of a 68, 000 crowd
at Wembley. With a 15th place finish in the league the season ended
satisfactorily, but Kinsey had played his final game for the Blues in a
1-0 home defeat to Arsenal on April 5th 1986, leaving the club to go to
the USA to play indoor soccer for the Minnesota Strikers.
During
his time at Maine Road Steve made 115 league and cup appearances (17 as
substitute) and scored 18 goals, being voted the club's Young Player of
the Year three times, and it would be fair to say he was a player that
never quite fulfilled his potential. He did make a brief return to the
UK in 1991/92 when he had short spells with Rochdale, St. Mirren and
Coleraine but eventually went back to the States to set up summer soccer
camps in Florida. (David Redshaw)
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