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Stuart Pearce

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Stuart Pearce
Stuart Pearce
Personal information
Full name Stuart Pearce[1]
Date of birth (1962-04-24) 24 April 1962 (age 62)
Place of birth Hammersmith, England
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Position(s) Defender
Team information
Current team
 England U21 (manager)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1978–1983 Wealdstone 176 (10)
1983–1985 Coventry City 52 (4)
1985–1997 Nottingham Forest 401 (63)
1997–1999 Newcastle United 37 (1)
1999–2001 West Ham United 42 (2)
2001–2002 Manchester City 38 (3)
Total 746 (83)
International career
1986 England U21 1 (0)
1987–1999 England 78 (5)
Managerial career
1996–1997 Nottingham Forest (caretaker)
2005–2007 Manchester City
2007– England U21
2012– Great Britain Olympic
2012– England
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Stuart Pearce OBE (born 24 April 1962) is an English football manager and former player. He is currently the manager of the England national under-21 team, the Great Britain Olympic football team and caretaker manager of the full England team. As a player Pearce captained both the England national football team and Nottingham Forest, turning out 78 times for England between 1987 and 1999.

He retired as a player in 2002, by which time he was playing for Manchester City. He remained with the club as a coach until being promoted to the manager's job in 2005. He was manager of the club for two years before being dismissed. He is now full-time manager of the England U-21 team, a position he previously held part-time while still Manchester City manager.

Playing career

Early career

Born in Shepherds Bush, London, Pearce first attended Fryent Primary School in Kingsbury, North West London before attending Claremont High School in Kenton. He failed a trial at Queens Park Rangers and then rejected an offer from

, instead settling into a career in the non-league game with his local side, Wealdstone, while training and working as an electrician and plumber. For almost five years, he was the first choice full back for the team, then amongst the biggest names of non-league football in the Alliance Premier League.

Coventry City

In 1983 Wealdstone received an unexpected offer of £30,000 (then a huge sum for a semi-professional player) for Pearce from then top-flight club Coventry City. Sky Blues manager Bobby Gould had been to watch Wealdstone, and was impressed by Pearce's determination and combative attitude. Pearce agreed to the step up in clubs reluctantly – making his professional debut for Coventry immediately. He established himself as an uncompromising left back who played hard but fair.

Nottingham Forest

Two years later he was brought to Nottingham Forest by manager Brian Clough as the makeweight in a £300,000 deal which also saw Coventry's centre back Ian Butterworth move to Forest. Indeed, so unsure was Pearce of his footballing future that, after the transfer, he actually advertised his services as an electrician in Forest's match-day programme.

Pearce spent 12 years at Forest, most of it as club captain. During his playing career he won two League Cups and the Simod Cup, while also scoring from a free kick in the 1991 FA Cup final, when Forest were beaten by Tottenham Hotspur. In his time at the City Ground, Pearce was one of the Forest players who had to cope with the horrors of the Hillsborough disaster during the opening minutes of their FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool. Pearce played in the rescheduled game at Old Trafford, which Liverpool won 3–1. He helped them finish third in the league that year (as they had done a year earlier), and also contributed to their victories in the Football League Cup and Full Members Cup. He helped them retain the Football League Cup a year later and in 1991 he had his first crack at the FA Cup, and despite giving Forest an early lead against Tottenham Hotspur in a game most remembered for the knee injury suffered by Pearce's opponent Paul Gascoigne, Pearce ended up on the losing side as Spurs came back to win 2–1. He was on the losing side at Wembley again the following year when Forest lost 1–0 to Manchester United in the Football League Cup final. [3]

Despite their relegation from the top flight in 1993, Pearce decided to stay, helping Forest to gain promotion the following season, including scoring a header to secure promotion, under new manager Frank Clark following the retirement of Brian Clough after 18 years at the helm. He helped Forest finish third in the Premier League in the season following promotion and reach the UEFA Cup quarter-finals a year later.

He was appointed caretaker player-manager of Forest in December 1996, after Clark resigned with Forest bottom of the Premier League. His first game was at home to Arsenal. He admitted in an interview with Match of the Day, that in his first attempt at picking a starting eleven, he did not realise until it was pointed out to him by his wife that he had omitted goalkeeper Mark Crossley. However Forest won the game 2–1, coming from behind after an Ian Wright goal with 2 goals from Alf-Inge Haaland.[2] Despite winning manager of the month in January 1997, the club were relegated from the Premier League. He had relinquished managerial duties in March 1997 on the appointment of Dave Bassett.

He opted to leave the club at the end of the 1996–97 season after twelve years at the City Ground.

Later career

Pearce joined Newcastle United along with fellow veterans John Barnes and Ian Rush in the 1997-98 season under Kenny Dalglish and played in the 1998 FA Cup Final, though again he emerged on the defeated side. He scored once during his spell at Newcastle, in a Champions League tie against Dynamo Kiev.[3] Eventually Pearce was isolated, along with other players including Rob Lee and John Barnes upon Kenny Dalglish's sacking after Ruud Gullit took over. A number of players were treated coldly by Gullit, and Pearce along with Barnes and Lee were made to train with the reserves despite cumulatively having over 150 England caps between them. Both Pearce and Barnes assert in their autobiographies Gullit felt threatened by the senior players in the squad, and they felt they were being sidelined to prevent them challenging him for the manager's position should it arise. Pearce claims also that he once kicked Gullit up in the air during a training session, and a number of other players sniggered at this due to Gullit's poor relationship with them.[4]

He went on to play for West Ham United, a year after falling out of favour with Newcastle manager Ruud Gullit. In 2001 he joined Manchester City for what would be the final season in his career. He captained the club to the First Division championship. In the final game of his career, against Portsmouth, he had the aim to reach 100 career goals.[5] He took a penalty kick for City four minutes into injury time, but missed it along with the chance to reach his target.[6]

Throughout his career, he was given the nickname of "Psycho" for his unforgiving style of play. This was initially a tag afforded to him only by Forest fans, though later it was adopted by England supporters too. Former England Team mate Matthew Le Tissier has since described him as his scariest opponent in his book Taking Le Tiss. Former Nottingham Forest team mate Roy Keane said he was a "Man amongst boys" at Forest. In recognition of his talents and his support for various charities, he was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in January 1999.[7]

England career

Debut

He made his debut for England against Brazil in a 1-1 friendly draw at Wembley on 19 May 1987 at the age of 25, at the end of his second season with Nottingham Forest and his fourth as a Football League player.

He would soon become the first choice left back for his country, in so doing wresting the number three jersey from Kenny Sansom prior to Sansom's thirtieth birthday. Injury robbed him of a place as Sansom's back-up in England's squad for the 1988 European Championships, but after the tournament, coach Bobby Robson decided to make Pearce his first choice left back. He ultimately became Forest's most capped player and ended up with 78 international appearances to his name.

He finally found the net for England in his 21st senior appearance for the nation on 25 April 1990, scoring in a 4-2 friendly win over Czechoslovakia at Wembley.

1990 World Cup

At the 1990 World Cup, Pearce had a goal ruled out from a free kick during a group game against the Netherlands, but played well throughout the tournament, setting up a goal for David Platt in the quarter-finals and operating as a more attacking left back than normal as England deployed a sweeper system. England progressed to the semi-finals, and Pearce was one of two players (the other being Chris Waddle) to miss a penalty in the shoot-out against West Germany after the match had ended in a 1–1 draw. Pearce left the field in tears.

The following summer, on 8 June 1991, he scored his second England goal in a 2-0 win over New Zealand during the England side's tour of Oceania. This game was his 40th appearance for England.[8]

Euro 92

Pearce played in an unsuccessful Euro 92 campaign for England, when they failed to win any of their group games. He had a free kick strike the underside of the crossbar and bounce away from goal in a drawn game against France.

1994 World Cup

England's failure to qualify for the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States included a mistake by Pearce, when his underhit back pass allowed forward Davide Gualtieri to score for San Marino (who at the time had never won an international game) inside the first eight seconds of their qualifier. England still won the game 7–1, but qualification was highly unlikely anyway as England needed Poland to defeat the Netherlands, but the Dutch won the game 3–1 and England were knocked out.

Euro 96

When Terry Venables became England coach later in 1994, Pearce lost his place to Graeme Le Saux but then regained it after Le Saux suffered a broken leg. Pearce stayed in the side into the Euro 96 competition, laying his ghosts to rest with a successful penalty in a quarter-final shoot-out against Spain, which England won. His forceful, emotional celebration in front of an ecstatic Wembley crowd became one of English football's most celebrated images. He repeated the feat in the semi-final shoot-out against Germany but once again the Germans emerged victorious.

After the tournament, Pearce joined fellow England penalty missers Chris Waddle and Gareth Southgate (who missed in Euro 96) in a light-hearted commercial for Pizza Hut in which they poked fun at their own misfortunes.

International retirement

Pearce had intended to retire from international football after Euro 96,[citation needed] but new national coach Glenn Hoddle persuaded him to change his mind and he continued his international career for a few more seasons. He was not selected for the 1998 World Cup, but the appointment of Kevin Keegan to the England job and Pearce's form for West Ham prompted a recall for the 37-year-old for two qualifying games for Euro 2000. Pearce's broken leg later put paid to further international chances and he ended his international career in 1999 with 78 caps, which for a time put him in the all-time top ten appearance makers for England.

His last appearance for England was in a goalless draw in Poland on 8 September 1999 in the Euro 2000 qualifiers. His last goal had come on 8 September 1993 (when he was playing outside the top flight at club level following Nottingham Forest's relegation) in a 3-0 World Cup qualifier win over Poland.[9]

At 37 years and 137 days, he was the third-oldest outfield player ever to appear for England (only Stanley Matthews and Leslie Compton, plus five goalkeepers, have been older).

During his one match tenure, Peter Taylor appointed Pearce as assistant manager. England played, and lost, to Italy in Turin.

Coaching career

Wikiquote has quotations related to Stuart Pearce.

Manchester City

After ending his playing career with Manchester City, he remained at the club as a coach under manager Kevin Keegan. In March 2005, less than three years after retiring, he was appointed caretaker of City after Keegan left the club.[10] After a successful run of form, which put the club close to UEFA Cup qualification, Pearce was given the job on a permanent basis.[11] However, they missed the opportunity to reach Europe on the final game of the season by drawing 1–1 with Middlesbrough. Robbie Fowler missed a penalty in the last minute which, if it had gone in, would have given City a UEFA Cup place.

Despite a successful start to the 2005–06 season, Man City finished 15th in the Premiership due to losing nine of the last ten games. They were also eliminated from the League Cup by League One side Doncaster Rovers. Pearce developed the reputation as being unusually fair and honest by refusing to criticise referees for mistakes they may have made.[12] He was also touted as a potential successor for England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson.[13]

Pearce failed to bring about an improvement in the 2006–07 season which saw Man City come close to relegation.[14] The club were again eliminated from the League Cup by a League One team, this time by Chesterfield. The side also scored just 10 goals at home in the league, and none after New Years Day in 2007, a record low in top-flight English football.[15] Pearce was sacked at the end of the season in May 2007.[16]

England Under 21s

In February 2007, before his sacking by Man City, Pearce had been appointed manager of the England Under-21 team,[17] initially part-time in conjunction with his role at Man City. Under his guidance, England reached the semi-finals of the 2007 UEFA Under-21 Championships but were eliminated on penalties by the hosts, the Netherlands. This success, coupled with the ending of his job at Man City, saw him appointed as the full-time manager of the England Under-21 team in July 2007.[18]

His role in the England set-up was extended in January 2008 when new manager Fabio Capello appointed Pearce as a coach for the senior England team in addition to his Under-21 duties.[19]

In June 2009, he guided the England Under 21's to the final of the 2009 UEFA Under-21 Championships where they lost 4–0 to Germany.[20]

Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic football team

On 20 October 2011, Pearce was named as the coach for the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic football team.[21]

Personal life

Pearce is a devotee of punk rock and is visible as one of the members of a frenetic audience featured on the cover of a live album by one of his favourite bands, The Lurkers. Additionally, he has met The Stranglers nearly 30 times, and has had a record label named after him by the band, Psycho Records. He also enjoys reading, going to the theatre and owns racehorses with his wife, Liz.[citation needed]

In 1998, Pearce was involved in a serious car crash, when the car he was driving was crushed by a lorry overturning and landing on the roof of the car. Pearce escaped with only minor hand injuries and a stiff back.[22]

His autobiography, Psycho, was released in 2001 and became a Sunday Times best seller.[citation needed]

His brother Dennis is a British National Party activist and was third on the BNP list for London for the European Parliament election, 2009. However, in a brief statement through the FA – which has a strong anti-racism stance – Pearce said: "My brother's views are his own and do not in any way reflect mine.".[23]

Career statistics

Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Wealdstone 1978–1983 176 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 242 16
Total 176 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 242 16
Coventry City 1983–84 23 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 23 0
1984–85 28 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 30 4
Total 51 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 53 4
Nottingham Forest 1985–86 30 1 0 0 4 0 0 0 34 1
1986–1987 39 6 0 0 5 2 0 0 44 8
1987–88 34 5 5 1 3 0 1 0 41 6
1988–89 36 6 5 0 8 1 5 3 54 11
1989–90 34 5 1 0 10 1 2 2 47 9
1990–91 33 11 10 4 4 1 2 0 49 16
1991–92 30 5 4 2 9 1 5 1 48 9
1992–93 23 2 3 0 5 0 0 0 28 2
1993–94 42 6 2 0 1 0 1 0 50 6
1994–95 36 8 1 0 3 2 0 0 40 10
1995–96 31 3 4 2 1 1 8 0 44 6
1996–97 33 5 2 0 2 0 0 0 37 5
Total 401 63 34 8 57 11 24 6 522 92
Newcastle Utd 1997–98 25 0 7 0 0 0 4 1 34 1
1998–99 12 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 15 0
Total 37 0 7 0 2 0 6 1 52 1
West Ham Utd 1999–00 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 0
2000–01 34 2 4 1 4 0 0 0 42 3
Total 42 2 4 1 4 0 0 0 50 3
Manchester City 2001–02 38 3 2 0 3 0 0 0 43 3
Total 38 3 2 0 3 0 0 0 43 3
Career Total 1985–2002 746 83 52 10 69 11 30 7 962 119

Honours

As a player

Nottingham Forest

England

Newcastle United

  • FA Cup runner-up: 1999

West Ham United

Manchester City

Individual

As a manager

England U-21s

Managerial statistics

Team From To Record
G W D L Win %
Nottingham Forest (caretaker) 20 December 1996 8 May 1997 23 7 9 7 030.43
Manchester City 11 March 2005 14 May 2007 97 34 20 43 035.05
England U21s[24] 1 February 2007 Present 41 23 13 5 056.10
GB Olympic football team 20 October 2011 Present 0 0 0 0 !—
Total 161 64 42 55 039.75

References

  1. ^ Hugman, Barry J. (2005). The PFA Premier & Football League Players' Records 1946–2005. Queen Anne Press. p. 485. ISBN 1852916656.
  2. ^ http://www.soccerbot.com/fa/results/ukprem97.htm
  3. ^ Turnbull, Simon (10 December 1997). "Newcastle finish campaign in the right vein". London: BBC. Retrieved 3 November 2009.
  4. ^ http://www.amazon.co.uk/Psycho-Autobiography-Stuart-Pearce/dp/0747264821/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1316061950&sr=8-1
  5. ^ "Retiring Pearce hunts ton". BBC Sport. 19 April 2002. Retrieved 24 February 2008.
  6. ^ "Pearce left red-faced". BBC Sport. 21 April 2002. Retrieved 24 February 2008.
  7. ^ "Pearce to hang up boots". BBC Sport. 21 April 2002. Retrieved 24 February 2008.
  8. ^ [1]
  9. ^ [2]
  10. ^ "Keegan ends his reign at Man City". BBC Sport. 11 March 2005. Retrieved 24 February 2008.
  11. ^ "Man City unveil Pearce as manager". BBC Sport. 12 May 2005. Retrieved 24 February 2008.
  12. ^ Manchester Evening News – Pearce backs ref over penalty claim Accessed 21 December 2006 [dead link]
  13. ^ "Butcher backs Pearce for England". BBC Sport. 23 March 2006. Retrieved 23 February 2008.
  14. ^ "Hughes defends under-fire Pearce". BBC Sport. 12 March 2007. Retrieved 23 February 2008.
  15. ^ Man City sacking: Football365.com website, Accessed 14 May 2007
  16. ^ Manchester City FC official website accessed 14 May 2007 [dead link]
  17. ^ "Pearce named as England U21 boss". BBC Sport. 1 February 2007-02-01. Retrieved 14 May 2007. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  18. ^ "Pearce named England U21 manager". BBC Sport. 19 July 2007. Retrieved 23 February 2008.
  19. ^ "Capello gives Pearce coaching job". BBC Sport. 30 January 2008. Retrieved 23 February 2008.
  20. ^ McIntyre, David (29 June 2009). "Germany U21 4–0 England U21". BBC Sport. Retrieved 29 June 2009.
  21. ^ "Stuart Pearce and Hope Powell to lead GB Olympic teams". BBC Sport. 20 October 2011. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
  22. ^ "Psycho nets new motor after crash". BBC News. 7 August 1998.
  23. ^ http://www.people.co.uk/news/tm_headline=psycho-s-fury-at-racist-brother&method=full&objectid=20709099&siteid=93463-name_page.html
  24. ^ Results for Pearce's record in the U21 job from here, here and here.
Sporting positions
Preceded by England football captain
1992–1993 		Succeeded by

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