Biography
Midfielder Stewart signed for Hull City for a fee reputed to be £4m, amid the inevitable fire sale that followed relegation from the Premier League. He made his debut in late August 2017 at QPR and was injured within ten minutes. He spent the rest of the season drifting in and out of the starting XI, generally failing to impress as his obvious capabilities were hobbled by his tendency to cough up possession cheaply. He started his second season on the City bench, behind youngster Dan Batty in the midfield engine room, and continued in a support role before emerging as a reliable first team starter during City’s December uptick in form. This restored his reputation as a reliable midfield general, combining tough tackling with imaginative distribution, form that he took into the 2019/20 season with a number of man of the match performances. He scored his first City goal at Luton in September 2019 and while City slid out of the Championship following the COVID-19 lockdown, Stewart remained largely blameless and left in July 2020 on expiry of his contract.
Born in Enfield, Kevin Linford Stewart began his career at Tottenham Hotspur but by the age of 20 had failed to make any impression on the first team and switched to Liverpool, though he had made his senior debut prior to leaving Spurs when he made four appearances in April 2013 while on loan at Crewe, the first of which came on April Fools Day against Preston North End. At Anfield he was quickly loaned out again to obtain competitive experience, making four appearances and scoring once at Cheltenham Town during January 2015 then adding another seven appearances and scoring twice at Burton Albion during April 2015. Stewart started the 2015/16 season on loan at Swindon Town, making 7 appearances, but soon returned to Anfield and made his Reds’ debut in a January 2016 FA Cup tie at Exeter City. He made his Premier League debut in Valentines Day 2016 against Aston Villa and ended the season with 11 senior appearances for Liverpool. He made a further nine appearances for Jurgen Klopp’s first team during the 2016/17 season, taking his Liverpool total to 20 appearances ahead of his move to Hull City.
After leaving Hull City in July 2020 Kevin spent six months out of the game attending to his property interests. He joined League 1 side Blackpool in January 2021 on an 18 month contract and made 16 appearances as the Tangerines stormed up the League One table and won the 2020/21 play-off final in May 2021, following Hull City into the Championship. However Kevin was an irregular first team presence for the Tangerines during the 2021/22 season and despite earning an extra year’s contract for the 2022/23 season he did not make the first team again and left Blackpool in May 2023 having made just 28 senior appearances in two and a half seasons.
In January 2022 Stewart was called into the Jamaican international squad by new manager Paul Hall and made his international debut on the last day of January against Panama. His second and final cap was won in February 2022 against Costa Rica.
Details
Nationality: Jamaica
Date/Place of Birth: 7 September 1993, Enfield
Hull City First Game: 19 August 2017, Queens Park Rangers A (Championship), 23 years, 346 days old
Hull City Final Game: 22 July 2020, Cardiff City A (Championship), 26 years, 319 days old
Clubs
Tottenham Hotspur (2010-2014), Crewe Alexandra (2013, loan), Liverpool (2014-2017), Cheltenham Town (2015, loan), Burton Albion (2015, loan), Swindon Town (2015-2016, loan), Hull City (2017-2020), Blackpool (2021-2023)
Hull City Record
Career: 78 apps, 3 goals
Kevin Stewart| Season | LGE App | LGE Gls | FAC App | FAC Gls | FLC App | FLC Gls | EUR App | EUR Gls | OTH App | OTH Gls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017/18 | 10 (7) | 0 | 3 (0) | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2018/19 | 16 (11) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | 2 (0) | 0 | - | - | - | - |
| 2019/20 | 21 (6) | 3 | - | - | 0 (1) | 0 | - | - | - | - |