Stephen George Bull MBE (born 28 March 1965) is an English former professional footballer who is best remembered for his 13-year spell at Wolverhampton Wanderers.
He began his professional career, aged 19, after being recommended to West Bromwich Albion in 1984 by his Tipton Town manager Sid Day, who also worked as a scout for the Baggies.
He made his senior debut on 23 October 1985, replacing Garth Crooks in a 2–1 Full Members Cup win against Crystal Palace.
[7] In November 1986, he was sold to local rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers, along with Andy Thompson, for £65,000 where he remained until the end of his professional career in 1999, being one of Wolves' most loyal players.
[12] In 1989–90, he finally played Second Division football for Wolves, his first goal at this level coming on 26 August 1989 in a 1–1 home draw with Bradford City.
On 20 March, in the Black Country derby at Molineux (the first to be played there for six years), as Wolves beat struggling Albion 2–1 to boost their promotion hopes, Bull scored his 20th league goal of the campaign.
A hat-trick against Leicester City followed a month later, and he finished that campaign with 24 league goals and 26 in all competitions, although Wolves missed out on the playoffs and the chance of a third successive promotion.
A hat-trick at home to Oxford United in a thrilling 3–3 draw came the following month, and Bull finished the season with 25 goals in the league and 26 in all competitions, although once again Wolves missed out on the playoffs and the chance of promotion.
At the end of the 1994-95 season, when Wolves finished fourth in Division One but lost in the playoff semi-finals, Bull came close to making a £1.5 million transfer to Premier League club Coventry City, then managed by Ron Atkinson, but ultimately turned it down.
[24] On 13 July 1999, at the age of 34, Bull finally admitted defeat in his battle to fully regain fitness and announced his retirement after 13 years with Wolves.
[25] However, he soon returned to playing as player-coach of Hereford United for a season in the Conference, working with Graham Turner, the manager who had signed him for Wolves.
Known by his fans as 'Bully' for his club loyalty, rapport with supporters and passion for the game and also known as the "Tipton Skin" for his trademark closely cropped haircut, he received an MBE for services to Association Football in December 1999, shortly after retiring as a first class player.
On 29 July 2006, Bull made one final appearance for Wolves in his 20th anniversary testimonial game against Aston Villa at Molineux, playing the first seven minutes of the match.
[27] He is the cousin of West Bromwich born former footballer Gary Bull, who played for clubs including Barnet, Nottingham Forest and Birmingham City.
[28] In November 2022, Bull launched his own clothing line entitled 'SB9' using the famous gold and black; it comprises t-shirts, hoodies, caps, beanies, polos, gilets, track suit trousers and shorts.