Brian Charles Dear (born 18 September 1943) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugb ...

who played as a striker in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

for

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandswor ...

and

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, eas ...

Career

Dear, nicknamed ''Stag'', started his career with

, joining the club at the age of 15, and represented England Schools. He made his Hammers debut against

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club' ...

on 29 August 1962, and went on to make 69 league appearances for the club, scoring 33 goals. He was a member of the

1964–65 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1964–65 season of the European Cup Winners' Cup club football tournament was won by West Ham United in a final at Wembley Stadium against 1860 Munich. West Ham's Bobby Moore captained a side that also included Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters ju ...

-winning side. He holds the record for the quickest ever five goals in an English game, 20 minutes either side of half time, in a home tie against West Brom on 16 April 1965. Out on loan to

, Dear managed to score five goals in seven games. He moved to

for £20,000 in 1969 but, after a short spell at

, moved back to West Ham in October 1970. His second spell at Upton Park was short-lived and Dear featured in only four games during the 1970–71 season. Dear played his last game for the club on 19 December 1970, wearing the number 9 shirt against

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

at Stamford Bridge. The following month, he and three West Ham teammates –

Bobby Moore Robert Frederick Chelsea Moore (12 April 1941 – 24 February 1993) was an English professional footballer. He most notably played for West Ham United, captaining the club for more than ten years, and was the captain of the England natio ...

Jimmy Greaves James Peter Greaves (20 February 1940 – 19 September 2021) was an English professional footballer who played as a forward. Greaves is regarded as one of England’s best ever players. He is England's fifth-highest international goalscorer ...

and

Clyde Best Clyde Cyril Best, MBE (born 24 February 1951) is a Bermudian former football player. He was one of the first black players in First Division football in England, scoring 47 goals as a striker for West Ham United between 1968 and 1976. Early ...

, along with the club's trainer – were all fined a week's wages and banned for two games by West Ham manager

Ron Greenwood Ronald Greenwood CBE (11 November 1921 – 9 February 2006) was an English football player and manager, best known for being manager of the English national football team from 1977 until 1982, as well as being manager of West Ham United for 1 ...

after going out drinking in a nightclub until the early hours of the morning prior to an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football compet ...

third-round tie against

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre rivers, and is ...

. "The game was played on an awful pitch and we lost 4–0. Blackpool had a lad called

Tony Green Anthony John "Tony" Green (born 29 January 1939) is an English sports commentator and television presenter. Darts career A former amateur player, who played county darts for Lancashire, he was the BBC's lead commentator when they showed t ...

, who probably had the game of his life." The directors wanted to sack all five individuals. "I never played very much after that, and at the end of the season I was given a free transfer. I went into

non-League Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to d ...

with Woodford Town. Jimmy only had another year's contract and he too ended in non-League. Bobby played on, but they never made it easy for him and he moved to Fulham."

Peter Shilton Peter Leslie Shilton (born 18 September 1949) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. His 30-year career included spells at 11 clubs and he has the distinction of playing over 1,000 league games, including in ...

named Dear as his toughest opponent.

After football

After retiring as a footballer and working as a publican for some years, he joined

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

as catering manager. Dear was awarded the

Freedom of the City of London The Freedom of the City of London started around 1237 as the status of a 'free man' or 'citizen', protected by the charter of the City of London and not under the jurisdiction of a feudal lord. In the Middle Ages, this developed into a freedom o ...

in 2001 in recognition of his charity work. Dear provides a weekly column on West Ham United for the Yellow Advertiser online newspaper.

Honours

West Ham *

: 1963–64 *

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

: 1964–65

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dear, Brian 1943 births Living people Footballers from Plaistow, Newham English footballers Association football forwards West Ham United F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Fulham F.C. players Millwall F.C. players Woodford Town F.C. (1937) players English Football League players Southend United F.C. non-playing staff Publicans