Peterborough United Born in
Peterborough, Steele started his career at local side
Peterborough United, where he played alongside
Ryan Semple and
Sean St Ledger. In December 2001, Steele spent a week on trial with
Manchester United, for whom he played in two matches with the club's under-17s side. He returned for three more under-17s appearances and two for the reserves on a month-long loan spell in March 2002. After returning to Peterborough in April 2002, he made his senior debut in a 2–2 draw away to
Reading on 13 April. After another appearance in a 2–1 home win over
Bury a week later, Manchester United paid Peterborough £500,000 on 11 May to sign Steele on a four-year contract, with the fee potentially rising to £2.25 million after a certain number of first-team appearances.
Manchester United Steele began the 2002–03 season as the starting goalkeeper for the Manchester United reserve team, before being usurped by the likes of
Ricardo and
Roy Carroll, and becoming a regular in the under-19s. Over the course of the season, Steele made 27 appearances for the under-19s, including eight in the
FA Youth Cup, in which Manchester United beat
Middlesbrough 3–1 on aggregate in the final. He also made a total of three appearances for the reserves, including a 2–1 defeat to
Oldham Athletic in the
Manchester Senior Cup on 13 February 2003. In 2003–04, Steele competed for the starting place in the under-19s side with
Tom Heaton, but made just four appearances between August and October before being ruled out for the rest of the season. He made his return in the build-up to the 2004–05 season, playing for the reserves in a friendly against Irish side
Cobh Ramblers, before making his first appearance for the Manchester United first team in a 3–1 win over
Burnley in
Stan Ternent's testimonial on 17 August 2004; after coming on as a substitute for
Tim Howard in the 29th minute, Steele was himself replaced by Heaton in the 76th. He then made two league appearances for the reserves before joining
Coventry City on a three-month loan on 10 September 2004. After conceding 30 goals in 18 appearances in those initial three months, the clubs agreed to extend Steele's loan until the end of the season. He finished the season with 62 goals conceded in 36 matches. Steele returned to Manchester United for the 2005–06 season, where, with Ricardo and Carroll having left the club, and
Ben Foster and Tom Heaton out on loan, he became the club's third-choice goalkeeper behind
Edwin van der Sar and Tim Howard. After coming on for Van der Sar in the 75th minute of a 3–0 pre-season friendly win over
Beijing Hyundai, Steele was an unused substitute in four more first-team matches that season, including two matches in the early rounds of Manchester United's
League Cup-winning campaign and the
FA Cup third round draw with
Burton Albion. He also made 19 appearances for the reserves as they won the
Premier Reserve League title, the North/South Play-off Shield and the Manchester Senior Cup. In July 2006, Steele was part of the Manchester United party for their pre-season tour of South Africa, where he shared goalkeeping duties with Ben Foster. He only played in one of the three games, starting the final match against
Kaizer Chiefs and making a noteworthy save from
Shaun Bartlett's header before being replaced by Foster in the 77th minute. He played in one more friendly match for the first team, a 2–1 defeat away to
Preston North End, before joining Coventry City on loan for a second time on 4 August 2006. However, the loan was cut short after just six days when Steele and defender
Paul McShane were transferred to
West Bromwich Albion as part of the deal that took
Tomasz Kuszczak to Manchester United.
West Bromwich Albion On 23 December 2006, Steele once again joined Coventry on an initial seven-day emergency loan that was subsequently extended to the end of the season. Steele made his Albion debut in a 2–1 win away at
Leicester City on 8 December 2007. In February 2008, he joined
Barnsley on a one-month emergency loan. They required a goalkeeper for their fifth round FA Cup tie with
Liverpool, as
Heinz Müller was injured, while on-loan
Tony Warner was cup-tied. Steele delivered a Man of the Match performance on his debut in a surprise victory over the
Premier League side at Anfield, allowing Barnsley to progress to the quarter finals. He also won the FA Cup Player of the Round award for his performance in the game. He then helped Barnsley reach the semi-finals of the FA Cup by keeping a clean sheet against
Chelsea in a game which they won 1–0. On 17 March 2008, Steele returned from his loan, with talks deadlocked over who should pay his wages during a proposed extended loan period. He rejoined Barnsley three days later, after the two clubs agreed a further loan period until the end of the season, with a view to a permanent transfer. Steele represented Barnsley in the FA Cup semi-final at
Wembley Stadium, where they lost 1–0 against
Cardiff City.
Barnsley A permanent transfer to Barnsley was completed on 21 May 2008, with Steele signing a one-year contract after his performances in the FA Cup. On 9 July 2008, Steele was fined £1,000 by the FA for breaching shirt sponsorship rules; during the
2007–08 season he regularly wore an undergarment bearing a logo that was visible above the collar of his official goalkeeping kit. The FA warned him several times of this misconduct but Steele continued to wear the undergarment and was subsequently fined.
Panathinaikos On 17 July 2014, Steele left Barnsley for
Super League Greece club
Panathinaikos after activating a clause allowing him to leave for nothing should the club be relegated from the Championship. He made 29 league appearances during the 2014–15 season as Panathinaikos finished second behind
Olympiacos, plus another eight appearances in other competitions. On 29 June 2015, he extended his stay in Greece for another three years by signing a new contract until 2018. On 16 September 2016, English goalkeeper Luke Steele was included in
UEFA Europa League's "Team of the Week", despite his team's home loss against
AFC Ajax. After a string of below-par goalkeeping efforts in the month of November 2016, resulting in unfavourable team results and personal morale drop, Panathinaikos decided to remove him from first-choice keeper until further notice and bring youngster
Odysseas Vlachodimos into the starting eleven.
Bristol City On 31 August 2017, Steele signed a one-year contract with
Bristol City, with an option of a further year. He was released by Bristol City at the end of the
2017–18 season after making just 8 appearances, the highlight of which was in City's 2–1 win over defending champions Manchester United in the EFL Cup. Following this, Steele had a trial with
Sheffield United during pre-season against
Bradford City, but was not taken on by the club.
Nottingham Forest On 1 August 2018, Steele signed a two-year deal with
Nottingham Forest. He made his debut for Forest on 14 August in the first round of the
2018–19 EFL Cup against
Bury as a substitute, after
Jordan Smith had been sent off. The game finished 1–1 after 90 minutes with Forest going through to the second round 10–9 on penalties, one of which Steele scored for Forest. On 8 August 2019, Steele was loaned to Championship side
Millwall until January 2020. On 31 January 2020, Steele was loaned back to
Millwall for the remainder of the season.
Notts County On 20 April 2021, Steele signed for
Notts County on a short-term deal following an injury to first-choice goalkeeper
Sam Slocombe.
Deeping Rangers Prior to Steele joining the club, he played for local clubs
Peterborough Northern Star reserves and Spalding Sunday League side Jubilee as a striker, as well as signing for
Northern Premier League Division One South East side
Stamford on 14 December 2020 in his natural position. In February 2021, following his time at Stamford, Steele was initially set to return to hometown club Peterborough as backup; however, the
Football League blocked the move due to Steele already playing for three clubs during the
2020–21 season. Steele would go on to sign for
Deeping Rangers as a forward. On 4 January 2022, he scored the winning goal a 1–0 win over
Sleaford Town.
Peterborough Sports Steele arrived at Peterborough Sports in February 2023. He immediately made an impact, along with joint-manager
Michael Gash, winning Manager of the Month, remaining undefeated in March. ==International career==