Stephen William Elliott (born 6 January 1984) is an Irish retired professional footballer who played as a striker. He played for Manchester City, Sunderland, Wolves, Preston North End, Heart of Midlothian, Coventry City Carlisle United, Shelbourne, Drogheda United and Morpeth Town, and had a loan spell at Norwich City. He played in nine international matches for the Republic of Ireland between 2004 and 2006, scoring once. Club career Elliott began his career as a youth player with Belvedere. and Stella Maris. Manchester City Elliott began his professional career as a youth player at Manchester City after impressing in a trial match with Stella Maris in which he scored five goals in the space of half an hour. His league debut came on 21 February 2004 when Kevin Keegan used him as a late substitute in a 3–1 win at Bolton Wanderers. He failed to establish himself in the first team, making only one further appearances as a substitute, with his development at City hampered by a serious back injury that ruled him out for a season. Sunderland Sunderland manager Mick McCarthy signed him from Manchester City on 1 June 2004 for an initial fee of £125,000, set by a tribunal, with well over £250,000 of additional payments linked to his subsequent performance at the Black Cats of around £100,000 if Sunderland were promoted to the Premier League; £50,000 if he played in a competitive game for the Republic of Ireland; five instalments of £20,000 for each set of ten appearances he made for Sunderland up to a maximum of 50 games; and 25% of any sell-on transfer fees. McCarthy later admitted that he had bought him outrageously cheaply, although that was before all of the above add-ons were ultimately realised. He made his debut on 7 August against Coventry in their 2–0 defeat, with his first goal for the club coming on 10 August against Crewe Alexandra, scoring the winner in their 3–1 win. He quickly established himself as first-team regular, making 47 appearances scoring 16 goals in his debut season as the team finished as champions in 2005, helping him win the clubs young player of the season award. And in July 2005 he signed a contract extension extending his stay until 2008. However, his first Premiership season was largely disrupted by injury, only managing 15 appearances although prior to his injuries he scored two long-range goals against Manchester