Jim Brennan

Jim Brennan

Personal information
Full name	James Gerald Brennan
Date of birth	May 8, 1977 (1977-05-08)
Place of birth	East York, Ontario, Canada
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Playing position	Defender
Youth career
1994–1996	Sora Lazio, Woodbridge Strikers
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1994–1999	Bristol City	64	(3)
1999–2003	Nottingham Forest	146	(1)
2001	→ Huddersfield Town (loan)	2	(0)
2003–2006	Norwich City	43	(1)
2006	Southampton	16	(0)
2007–2010	Toronto FC	93	(4)
Total		364	(9)
National team
1993	Canada U-17	1	(0)
1999–2008	Canada	49	(7)
Teams managed
2011–	TFC Academy U17
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Jim Brennan (born May 8, 1977 in East York, Ontario) is a retired Canadian soccer player. During his playing career he gained experience playing extensively in Europe and North America, most notably with Bristol City, Nottingham Forest, Norwich City (with whom he won the 2004 Football League First Division title) and Toronto FC.

He also played 49 times for the Canadian national team, was member of the Canada side which won the 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup, and later represented his country at the Confederations Cup 2001, the 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup and the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

He is currently Head Coach of the Toronto FC Academy U17 team.

Club career

Bristol City

A left-sided defender who also has played the left side of the midfield, Brennan grew up in Newmarket, Ontario, and started playing with Bristol City youth team in 1994 and made his professional debut in 1996 with Bristol City against cross town rivals Bristol Rovers in the Football League First Division. In 5 years Brennan had five managers including Russell Osmond, Benny Lennartsson, Joe Jordan, John Ward and Tony Pulis. In 64 first-team appearances for City over five seasons, Brennan scored three goals. Brennan started his career in the Bristol City youth team and worked his way into the first team before being sold to Nottingham Forest.

Nottingham Forest

Brennan joined Nottingham Forest for £1.5 million in October 1999 and was bought by ex-England captain David Platt.^{[citation needed]} Brennan was the first Canadian-born player to be sold over the 1 million pound mark.^{[citation needed]} In 146 games played with Forest over four seasons under David Platt and Paul Hart, Brennan scored just once, in a 4-0 victory against Norwich City, the team he would later go on to sign for. While he was recovering from a double hernia he had a short loan spell at Huddersfield with his old manager Joe Jordan. He also came on as a substitute in two league games while on loan to Huddersfield in 2000-01 and received a red card against Birmingham City and headed back to Forest.^{[citation needed]}

Norwich City

Brennan joined Norwich City on a free Bosman transfer in 2003 and was managed by Nigel Worthington. During the 2003-04 season in Division One of the Football League, Brennan scored twice in just nine appearances, as he battled an abductor muscle injury. His goals came against Everton in the FA Cup and Coventry City in the league. Despite his personal struggles with fitness, the season saw Norwich win the First Division title and promotion back to the Premier League. Brennan became the first Canadian born outfield player to play in the Premier League.

Southampton

Brennan joined George Burley at Southampton on 27 January 2006 with his contract due to expire in summer having failed to make an impact on the Norwich first team after a series of injuries. However, after finishing his contract he left the club the following May and departed England to play for his hometown team Toronto FC.

Toronto FC

On September 8, 2006, Brennan signed with MLS team Toronto FC for the 2007 season, becoming the first player and captain in club history. Brennan remained captain under Mo Johnston, John Carver, Chris Cummins and Preki. He also became the first Canadian to score for Toronto FC, registering a goal off a free kick against the Columbus Crew on 26 May 2007. This goal subsequently became a Sierra Mist Goal of the Week. Brennan went on to play 27 games, all of them starts, for Toronto FC, the most of any player. He earned a reputation as Toronto's "Iron Man," as he managed to play many of his games despite a rib injury, and looked as though he would go on to play every match of the season. Unfortunately, a knee injury prevented Brennan from achieving this feat. Brennan retained the captaincy for the 2008 season, and nearly managed to score in his team's opening match. Brennan has since added goals in 2008 against Chivas USA in Carson, California and to open the 2009 season at Kansas City, off pass from newly acquired Canadian international teammate Dwayne De Rosario.

Brennan also made an appearance during the 2008 MLS All-Star game in his home stadium, BMO Field. The MLS All-Stars won the game 3-2 against West Ham United. On April, 6, 2010 Brennan retired as player to become the assistant general manager for Toronto FC.

International career

Brennan played at the 1993 FIFA U-17 World Championship in Japan, in a team alongside Paul Stalteri and Jason Bent. He then made his senior debut for Canada in an April 1999 friendly match against Northern Ireland and went on to earn a total of 49 caps, scoring 6 goals. He has represented Canada in 10 FIFA World Cup qualification matches. He has played for Canada at the Confederations Cup 2001 and played against Brazil, Cameroon and hosts Japan as well he competed at the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Brennan won a Gold medal in the 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup defeating Colombia and Bronze medal in the 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup defeating S.Korea.

Managerial Career

Following Brennan's retirement Toronto FC named him assistant general manager to Mo Johnston. However following the firing of Johnston in the late 2010 season Brennan's position remained unknown with the club until the new management team was put in place. It included Paul Mariner as Director of Player Development and Aron Winter as head coach. On March 1, 2011 the club announced that the new position of Brennan within the club would be as head coach of TFC Academy U-17 team, this would be Brennan's first coaching position.

International Goals

Scores and results list Canada's goal tally first.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	September 2, 1999	Varsity Stadium, Toronto, Canada	Jamaica	1–0	1–0	Friendly match
2	October 9, 2000	Winnipeg Soccer Complex, Winnipeg, Canada	Panama	1–0	1–0	2002 World Cup Qualification
3	February 12, 2003	June 11 Stadium, Tripoli, Libya	Libya	2–1	4–2	Friendly match
4	June 13, 2004	Richardson Memorial Stadium, Kingston, Canada	Belize	4–0	4–0	2006 World Cup Qualification
5	June 16, 2004	Richardson Memorial Stadium, Kingston, Canada	Belize	4–0	4–0	2006 World Cup Qualification
6	March 1, 2006	Ernst Happel Stadium, Vienna, Austria	Austria	1–0	2–0	Friendly

Honours

Bristol City FC

Young Player of the season 1998

Canada

• CONCACAF Gold Cup: 2000 CHAMPIONS, 2002 3rd place finish
• CONCACAF U-20 Championship: 1996
• FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Japan:1994

Norwich City

• Football League First Division: 2004

Toronto FC

• Canadian Championship: 2009, 2010

Individual

• Toronto FC Player of the Year: 2007 (co-winner)
• Toronto FC 2008 Defender of the year
• Toronto FC 2009 Humanitarian of the year

External links

• Official Website
• MLS player profile
• CanadaSoccer.com with a national team member profile page for Brennan
• Photos and stats at sporting-heroes.net
• Jim Brennan career stats at Soccerbase
• Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk
• 2007 U-Sector TFC Player of the Year - Jim Brennan
• Career stats - National Football Teams

Sporting positions
Preceded by N/A	Toronto FC Player of the Year 2007	Succeeded by Carl Robinson