Steve Torpey (footballer, born 1981)


Stephen Robert Torpey is an English former footballer who played as a forward; he now works as a coach in Manchester City's youth teams.
He played one game in the English Football League for Port Vale in 2001, and also played in the Conference National for Halifax Town between 2006 and 2008. He also played once for Scarborough, and also turned out for lower non-league sides Prescot Cables, Altrincham, Atherton Laburnum Rovers, FC United of Manchester, Stalybridge Celtic, AFC Telford United, and Fleetwood Town. He then went into coaching with Liverpool and Manchester City.

Playing career

A versatile forward, Torpey started out as a Liverpool trainee, spending six years there and representing England at schoolboy level before moving to Second Division Port Vale in 2001. He made his debut for the "Valiants" on 1 September 2001, replacing George O'Callaghan 57 minutes into a 2–0 defeat to Reading at Vale Park. In October he was loaned out to Conference National side Scarborough, and played in one League Trophy game before returning to Burslem.
He moved to Prescot Cables of the North West Counties League in 2002, helping the club to win two promotions in as many years, leaving them in the Northern Premier League Premier Division. In 2004, he joined Altrincham in the Conference North, before moving back to Prescot in February 2005. In March 2005 he signed dual forms enabling him to also play for Atherton Laburnum Rovers. At the end of 2004–05, Cables lost out to Workington at the play-off semi-final stage.
In 2005, he joined the newly formed FC United of Manchester, a club formed by fans in protest to the Glazer ownership of Manchester United. He scored the club's first ever goal, in a friendly match against Flixton in August 2005. After a successful first season, in which the club won promotion out of North West Counties League Division Two, he moved into the Conference in August 2006 with Halifax Town. He played 27 games for Halifax throughout the 2006–07 campaign, scoring seven goals. He played 24 games in 2007–08, scoring two goals, before he left the Shay in February 2008, after being told he was not going to be given a new contract. He joined Conference North side Stalybridge Celtic on loan, and joined the club permanently in the summer. He scored 20 goals in 62 games for the club in all competitions. At the end of the 2008–09 season Torpey signed for Conference North rivals Telford United. After just months at Telford, they agreed to sell him to Fleetwood Town Fleetwood were promoted at the end of 2009–10, after beating Alfreton Town in the play-offs.
In summer 2010 he played for F.C. United of Manchester, now in the Northern Premier League Premier Division, again in pre-season friendlies but was not named in the 21 player squad for the 2010–11 season by the club, as he was still considering offers from various clubs in higher leagues. It was announced on 28 August that he had re-signed for the club. He left the club in October 2011 after repeated injury problems, having had his registration released by manager Karl Marginson.

Coaching career

Torpey worked as a foundation coach with Liverpool's youth teams, before taking up a similar position at Manchester City in 2014.

Statistics

Source:

Honours

;Prescot Cables
;F.C. United of Manchester