Stephen Michael Lord Brooker (born 21 May 1981) is an English former football striker. He began his career with Watford in 1999, before moving on to Port Vale in 2001, following a short loan spell. With Vale he won the Football League Trophy in 2001. He transferred to Bristol City in 2004, where he would spend the next five years. In 2008, he spent time on loan at both Cheltenham Town and Doncaster Rovers, before he joined Doncaster permanently in 2009. He spent two years with the club before he was released due to injury concerns. He signed with Buxton in October 2012. Career Brooker came through the youth system at Watford before joining Port Vale, initially on loan, in January 2001. He was signed by manager Brian Horton on the recommendation of coach Martin Foyle (who would succeed Horton as manager in February 2004). He signed permanently the following month for £15,000. He helped the "Valiants" to lift the 2001 Football League Trophy, after he scored past Brentford in the final. Forced to undergo a hernia operation at the start of the 2002–03 season, he recovered to score five goals in thirty games. After he recovered from a hamstring injury that caused him to miss a month at the start of the 2003–04 season, he went on to finish the campaign with eight goals in 34 games. He started the 2004–05 season in tremendous form, scoring for four successive league games in August, including a brace past Hull City. With his contract up in the summer, the next month he was sold to Bristol City for a fee of £225,000. This came days after fans were told he was not for sale and would not be moving by Vale chairman Bill Bratt – a statement that convinced City chairman Stephen Lansdown that "we must now look elsewhere." He went on to have a highly successful season with City, scoring sixteen goals for the club, despite suffering from a broken toe. This gave him a total of 21 goals for both Vale and City in 2004–05, and won him another year on his contract with City. This extended deal quashed rumours of a move to Norwich City. He was both the club's player of the season and top scorer in the 2005–06 season with sixteen league goals, one of these goals came against former club Port Vale after the player