Trevor Brooking

Trevor Brooking

Personal information
Full name	Trevor David Brooking
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	None

Sir Trevor David Brooking CBE (born 2 October, 1948 in Barking, London, then in Essex) is a football player turned manager, on-air analyst, and administrator. Brooking attended Ripple Infants School and left Ilford County High School with 11 O-levels and 2 A-levels),

He was one of the most intelligent and cerebral footballers of his generation and had a very clean disciplinary record. Directly following the Bobby Moore, Martin Peters, Geoff Hurst era, he was the player who best exemplified West Ham's traditional commitment to attractive, entertaining football (even if this style of play did not bring consistent successes). He was awarded the MBE in 1981, the CBE in 1999 and the KBE in 2004. Since retiring from playing, he has taken up a number of positions in broadcasting and administration.

West Ham United Career

He is chiefly associated with West Ham United, having played as an attacking midfield player and centre forward between 1967 and 1984, making 636 appearances and scoring 103 times, wearing the number 10 jersey. He won the FA Cup twice, in 1975 and 1980; in the latter, he scored the only goal in a 1-0 win over Arsenal with a header.

England career

He also played for England 47 times, scoring 5 goals. However, he only played in major tournaments twice. At Euro 1980 in Italy he played in England's opening game against Belgium (drawn 1-1), but was dropped for the second game versus Italy (lost 1-0). He was re-instated to the starting eleven against Spain and scored England's first goal in a 2-1 win. Due to injury World Cup 1982 was to see him limited to playing as a substitute against Spain. England needed to win to qualify for the semi-final but were held to a 0-0 draw by the host nation Spain.

Life After West Ham

In 1970, along with schoolfriend Colin McGowan, Brooking started a binding Company "Colbrook Plastics Limited". It supplies book-binding, print finishing and point of sale products and is situated in Stratford, East London. Brooking still runs Colbrook today.

In 1984, Brooking joined the BBC as a pundit, and has featured on radio and television commentary since, including the BBC's Match of the Day and coverage of World Cups and European Championships, in which he became famed for regular references to his old club West Ham United.

Brooking was also the co-commentator of Pro Evolution Soccer, his unique commentary style along with Peter Brackley became a signature of the game. However both Brooking and Brackley have been replaced for this year's instalment by Jon Champion and Mark Lawrenson.

He signed for Cork City F.C. in November 1985 [1] and made his debut on the 9th of December [2].

Brooking was Chair of the Eastern Region Council for Sport and Recreation from 1987 until 1997, and between 1999 and 2002 he was chairman of Sport England.

The Sir Trevor Brooking Stand at West Ham's Upton Park ground

From the 2009/10 Premier League Season, beginning on Saturday 8 August in a friendly game against SSC Napoli, West Ham United announced that 'The Centenery Stand' at Upton Park will be renamed as 'The Sir Trevor Brooking Stand' in his honour..

It is obviously a terrific honour (to have the stand named after me), which I am very grateful for because this is my club. It will be my club forever. The great thing was being able to spend my whole career with West Ham, having a stint as caretaker manager and as a director. I still try and get to most of the home games. On my travels, if I am in a cab or something then everyone talks to me about West Ham because they know I am associated with the club. It is something I am only too pleased about whenever it happens. We have a very passionate and loyal support

–Sir Trevor Brooking speaking to whufc.com

Managerial Periods

In April 2003, after West Ham manager Glenn Roeder collapsed due to a brain tumour, Brooking, having long been on the board of West Ham, briefly took over as caretaker manager. The club were fighting relegation from the Premiership, and went down despite a late rally under Brooking, albeit with a record number of points (42) for a relegated team. After the first three games of the 2003/2004 season, Roeder was sacked and Brooking was again installed as caretaker manager. He spent a successful month in charge of the team before being replaced by Alan Pardew. Brooking was a popular choice as manager at Upton Park by the fans but he had earlier decided management was too much pressure and will hence be forever known as the "best manager West Ham never had".

Football Association

In December 2003, Brooking joined the Football Association as Director of Football Development, and was a key part of the selection process for the successor of the Sven-Göran Eriksson, revealed in May 2006 to be Steve McClaren. There have been recent reports to suggest that he is no longer happy with the state of play of English football and has concerns over the future generations of the game with the huge influx of foreign players. He is highly thought of throughout the game and is seen as a key to future roles within the Football Association. In 2004 he was knighted for his services to sport.

When conducting the draw for the 1st round proper of the FA Cup 2006-07, he appeared to read out King's Lynn twice. It was later evident that he had misread the number. As an act of courtesy, he attended the 1st round game, the final score of which was Bishop's Stortford 3 - 5 King's Lynn. He also attended the 2nd round match between Kings's Lynn and Oldham Athletic.