Stephen Derek Heighway (born November 25, 1947) is an Irish former footballer who was part of the hugely successful Liverpool team of the 1970s. Following his eleven-year spell at the club, he has been regarded by some as one of the greatest Liverpool players of all time, and was ranked 23rd in the 100 Players Who Shook The Kop poll.
Heighway became academy director at Liverpool in a period when the club brought through such bright talents as Steven Gerrard, Steve McManaman, Robbie Fowler and Jamie Carragher. He retired in 2007 but later rejoined the Liverpool Academy in a consulting role, which he held until retiring again in 2022.
Life and playing career
Though he was born in Dublin, Ireland, some of Heighway's early education took place in Sheffield where he attended Ecclesall Junior School (until 1959), followed by High Storrs School and latterly Moseley Hall Grammar School for Boys in Cheadle, near Stockport.
Heighway's early promise as a winger was not spotted by professionals. Instead, he concentrated on his studies in economics and politics at the University of Warwick in Coventry (where he started in 1966) achieving a 2:1.
In 1970, Heighway was studying for his final exams and playing for Skelmersdale United when he was spotted by Liverpool's scouting system. With manager Bill Shankly keen to rebuild his ageing, underachieving team of the 1960s, Heighway was signed up swiftly in May of that year. It was due to Heighway's academic achievements that he got his nickname 'Big Bamber', while teammate and fellow university graduate Brian Hall was dubbed 'Little Bamber' – both after the television programme University Challenge host Bamber Gascoigne.
A strong and fast left winger with two good feet, Heighway settled into top flight football after making his debut on September 22, 1970, in a League Cup 2nd round replay at Anfield against Mansfield Town (3-2). Heighway opened his goalscoring account in the 51st minute of a 2–0 home league win over Burnley on October 1, 1970.
A month later, he scored against Merseyside rivals Everton in a hard-fought 3–2 win, after his team had found themselves 2–0 down not long into the second half. He stayed in the side for the rest of the season as Liverpool's new charges finished the league campaign strongly and also defeated Everton in the semi-finals of the FA Cup to reach the final at Wembley.
Their opponents were Arsenal, who were after a coveted "double" having won the League championship. Heighway played confidently in a match that was goalless after 90 minutes and therefore needed a period of extra-time. Just two minutes into the added half-hour, Heighway received the ball wide on his left flank from substitute Peter Thompson and started a run towards the Arsenal penalty area, with Gunners full back Pat Rice tracking his run but unwilling to put in a tackle. With a swift turn outside Heighway gained a yard on Rice and hit a low drive into the net past Arsenal goalkeeper Bob Wilson, who had committed the cardinal goalkeeping sin of coming out too far from his near post to anticipate a cross, thereby leaving a gap that Heighway exploited. Sadly for Heighway and Liverpool, their opponents scored two goals in response.
Heighway settled into the Liverpool team for the next decade, winning the first of four League titles in 1973, along with the UEFA Cup. He returned to Wembley for another FA Cup final a year later as Liverpool faced Newcastle United. Heighway scored again with 16 minutes of the game remaining to make the score 2–0, latching on to a flick from John Toshack after a long clearance from goalkeeper Ray Clemence to slot a right-footed shot into the far corner. The game ended 3–0.
By now, Heighway was a regular for the Republic of Ireland making his debut on 23 September 1970 against Poland. He remained so for the whole of the 1970s, winning a total of 34 caps but never managing to score. He did have a goal disallowed in a qualifier for the 1978 World Cup against Bulgaria in Sofia. On the domestic front, Heighway attained another League and UEFA Cup double with Liverpool in 1976 and then formed part of the side which came so close to the "treble" of League, FA Cup and European Cup.
Liverpool won the League by a single point and again defeated rivals Everton in the semi-final to reach the FA Cup final, this time to face bitter rivals Manchester United at Wembley. Liverpool lost 2–1 and the "treble" dream was dead.