The Transfer Record: Steve Moran
A pacey striker who seemed destined for a glittering career, Moran had played top flight football for Southampton since January 1980, playing alongside such forwards as Charlie George, Mick Channon and Kevin Keegan.
He scored 99 goals for the Saints in 228 appearances. He was voted PFA Young Player of the Year in 1982, won two England Under-21s caps and was top scorer for the Southampton side which finished runners-up in the league to Liverpool in 1984.
Steve was signed for Leicester City by their new team manager Bryan Hamilton who had taken over first team duties from Gordon Milne who became the Club’s General Manager. Boosted by a £250,000 windfall following Gary Lineker’s move from Everton to Barcelona in the summer of 1986 only a year after he had left Leicester City, Hamilton signed Steve Walsh before bringing Moran to Filbert Street in September 1986 as a strike partner for Alan Smith.
He made a good start, scoring on his debut at Sheffield Wednesday. He also scored a hat-trick in the return fixture at Filbert Street. However, as was the case with Allan Clarke and Roger Davies, who were also strikers who had arrived at Filbert Street for a record fee, Steve found himself in a side doomed to be relegated from the top flight at the end of the season and like them his stay at Filbert Street was a relatively short one.
In November 1987, with Leicester City in 17th place in the Second Division and a month before manager Hamilton was dismissed, Steve was transferred to Reading who paid a club record fee of £200,000 to secure his services. While at Filbert Street Steve scored 17 goals in 53 league and cup appearances.
Reading were also struggling in Second Division and were relegated at the end of the season. Steve stayed at Elm Park for four seasons before moving to Exeter City in 1991 until 1993 when he moved to Hull City for his final season in League football.