PLAYER PROFILE

Stephen Pearson

Position: Midfield

Height: 6'1

Weight: 11st 5lbs

Date of Birth: 1982-10-02 Lanark, Scotland

Stephen Pearson

A lifelong Celtic fan, Stephen Pearson joined his boyhood heroes in a £350,000 deal from Motherwell in January 2004.

He is widely regarded as one of the most talented young midfielders in Scotland and made his full international debut coming on as a substitute in the Euro 2004 play-off with the Netherlands, which the Scots won 1-0.

He began his career with Motherwell - a product of their successful youth system. He made over 70 appearances for the Steelmen before moving to Parkhead. An injury to John Hartson enabled Pearson to hold down a regular place in the team for the rest of the 2003/04 season. He was voted the Scottish Young Player of the Year, helping the Hoops win the Scottish League and Cup double.

He continued the fine form he showed at the end of the 2003/04 season into 2004/05. He played 9 games, proving his worth to the first team squad.

2005/06 saw Pearson's football education continue apace as he played 20 games for the first team in the Hoops title-winning season. He scored 2 goals, including Celtic's opener in their memorable 3-2 victory against Hearts as they came back from 2-0 down.

The 2006/07 season started well for Pearson, but he was constantly linked with a move away from Parkhead and in January 2007 this talk became reality as he joined his former Motherwell boss Billy Davies at Derby County.

Despite being reliable rather then spectacular during this first half-season, his name will always be etched into the Derby history books because he scored the winning goal in a 1-0 Play-off final win over West Brom in May 2007.

His experience will be vital for the Rams in what is sure to be a testing season in 07/08.