Below is a profile of Steve Guinan, who will be back at Edgar Street this coming season.
Steve Guinan, who was born on Christmas Eve 1975, started his career as a trainee at Nottingham Forest and, despite showing great promise, only appeared in seven first team matches in a near seven year spell at the City Ground. He was loaned out to a succession of teams, with varying degrees of success, with his spell at Plymouth Argyle a highlight as he scored seven goals in eleven league matches. He eventually signed for Cambridge United three days after his 24th birthday. However three months later he was sacked, after throwing food at an official club dinner, and went back to Home Park where he spent two seasons. After falling out of favour in mid 2001, Guinan ended up training with Exeter but was unable to sign for them due to a transfer embargo.
In the latter half of the 2001-02 season he signed for Shrewsbury Town and the following season, he joined then Conference side Hereford United in July 2002 after a successful trial. He made his debut for the Bulls in a 2-1 home win against Farnborough Town on August 17th.
Guinan enjoyed two successful seasons at Edgar Street and was top goalscorer on both occasions, scoring three hat-tricks. Notably he was named Player of the Round after scoring three against Harrow Borough in the FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round. Hereford were title contenders all season and, despite missing several games through injury, Guinan scored 29 goals from 40 appearances (in all competitions). Unfortunately the team faltered in the play-offs, with Steve missing the first leg through injury.
In May 2004 he was snapped up by Cheltenham Town. In his second season with the club he notably scored the winning goal in the League Two play-off final. This season, just ended, he has made 23 appearances and scored 1 goal, in all competitions. On 17 January he was placed on the transfer list. On 25 January he returned to Hereford United on loan. Guinan (pictured with Stockport's Michael Rose) enjoyed a successful return to Edgar Street and scored seven league goals in 15 appearances, including a hat-trick in Hereford's 4-1 win away at Lincoln City. He was also voted Player of the Month for February. He was released by Cheltenham at the end of the season and signed for Hereford United earlier today.
Off the field Guinan has been at Gloucester University for the past couple of years studying sports science. He is also understood to have gained several FA coaching badges.
Profile adapted from Wikipedia and www.hu-fc.co.uk. Picture by Andy Compton of the Hereford Journal.