the Stern Turn

I was Born on October 30, 1976 in Cane Farm, Trincity on the Caribbean island of Trinidad and Tobago
I first Attended Five Rivers Junior Secondary before moving on to El Dorado Senior
Comprehensive and then left on a football scholarship to Mercer Country Community College in the United States. Not too long after I entered the professional ranks, made my international debut and moved to England to join Nottingham Forest. David Platt was the first European manager to sign me. The rest is history.

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Now I am an international football manager, at the helm of the St Lucia National Senior Men's Team. On this page you can get more information on my career and updates on what's going on with me in the football world.

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Best Wishes

Stern

Clubs played for by Stern

Malta Carib Alcons ((T&T, 1996)
Carolina Dynamo (USA, 1997 )

New Orleans Riverboat Gamblers (USA,1997,16 goals in 26
matches)
Columbus Crew (USA, 1998-1999,44 goals in 55 matches)
(Records for English clubs on other page)
Nottingham Forest (England ,1999 to Jan 2002)
Birmingham City (England, 04-Feb-2002 to 14-Sept-2004)Derby County (England, Loaned from 13-Sept-2005 to 18-Dec-
2005)

Coventry City (England, 15-Sept-2004 to 28-Jan-2007)
Sunderland (England,2007)
Southampton (England,2007-2009)
Bristol City (on loan 2008-2009)
Crystal Palace (2009-2010);( Ipswich Town on loan in 2009)

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Stern’s Honours

1998 - MLS Top Scorer with 26 goals for Columbus Crew and
named on MLS League All Star Team.
1999 – Won Shell/Umbro Caribbean Cup Most Valuable Player
Award, scoring 12 goals
2002 – Won English Division 1 Play-Offs Winner's Medal with
Birmingham City.
2002 – Won Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation Player of
the Year
2003 – Won Topscorer Award for Birmingham City in the English
Premiership, scoring eight goals
2005 – Scored 12 goals in qualification and earns 2006 World Cup
qualification with Trinidad and Tobago
2007 Won English Championship Winners' Medal with
Sunderland.

 

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Stern John earned the nickname “Number 14 Legend” among his fans in Trinidad and Tobago largely due to his almost supernatural ability to score goals for the National Team just at the right moment, when the team was in need of an escape or when they needed a path towards victory. His five goals in the
closing four matches of the final round of qualification for Germany 2006 entered the record books as one of the best performances by a player in CONCACAF history prior to a World
Cup qualification.

With defeat staring the “Soca Warriors” in the face and the World Cup dream moments away from ending, John brought T&T back from the dead with two goals in the closing couple minutes in a 3-2 victory over Guatemala at the Hasely Crawford Stadium. That victory revived T&T’s hopes and the country at large got behind the team.

In its two matches that followed prior to the playoff with Bahrain, John again stepped up to the call with a fine double that propelled T&T to a 2-1 win over Mexico preceded by a lone winner over Panama as T&T sealed the CONCACAF fourth spot, going on to qualify for its first ever Senior World Cup and becoming the
smallest country ever to achieve such a feat.

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Those performances were so massive that John went on to request DVDs of the matches and his goals be sent off to him at his home in Birmingham, stating four days before Christmas in 2005 that it
was truly the best present he was looking forward to receiving.

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From his early days at Malta Carib Alcons and El Dorado Senior Comprehensive it was evident that John possessed all the ingredients of a natural goalscorer as he finished oppositions off
with his clinical conversions.

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This eventually led to him catching the eyes of the national team selectors at the youth level and he
made his debut for the Trinidad and Tobago National Senior Team on February 15,1995 in a friendly international against Finland at the Queen’s Park Oval.

John scored on his debut in a 2-1 win for the hosts. That would be the first of several scintillating strikes for his country as over the next fourteen years he would go on to become the country’s
highest goalscorer in international football, amassing 70 goals in 115 appearances. He ended eight goals away from Pele’s record as the highest scorer in international football. John bypassed the
likes of Brazilian Ronaldo, Gabriel Batistuta, Juergen Klinsmann and Sir Bobby Charlton.

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His last goal was a first half penalty in a 3-0 victory over India in a friendly international in August, 2011 at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain.

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