Brian Marwood (born 5 February 1960) is an English former

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, rugby ...

who made more than 400 appearances in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

and was capped once for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. He is City Football Group’s Managing Director of Global Football.

Club career

Hull City

Born 5 February 1960 in

Seaham Seaham is a seaside town in County Durham, England. Located on the Durham Coast, Seaham is situated south of Sunderland and east of Durham. The town grew from the late 19th century onwards as a result of investments in its harbour and co ...

, County Durham, Marwood started his career at

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's ...

, joining in 1976 as an apprentice and making his way up through the youth and reserve ranks. A pacy and tricky winger, he made his debut aged 19 in a Third Division match against

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they play in a blue and y ...

on 12 January 1980. He spent five seasons with the Tigers, during which time they were relegated to the Fourth Division and then promoted back to the third. After 1983–84, in which Hull City reached the

Associate Members' Cup The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL L ...

Final and narrowly missed out on promotion to the Second Division, Marwood attracted the interest of

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

. In all he played 191 times for Hull and scored 53 goals.

Sheffield Wednesday

In June 1984 Marwood was signed by

for £115,000. The newly promoted Owls had a strong return to the top-flight under the guiding hand of manager

Howard Wilkinson Howard Wilkinson (born 13 November 1943) is an English former footballer and manager. Despite having a low-profile playing career, Wilkinson embarked on a successful managerial career. He won the First Division championship in 1992 with Leeds ...

. In four seasons Marwood was a first team fixture. In 1985–86 the Owls finished 5th in the First Division and reached the

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 competit ...

semi-finals. Marwood was joint top goalscorer in the League with centre forward Lee Chapman. Despite Wednesday's form tailing off after that, Marwood still shone in the side and after 128 appearances and 27 goals, he moved on.

Arsenal

Marwood was signed by

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

for £600,000 in March 1988, as manager

George Graham George Graham (born 30 November 1944), nicknamed "Stroller", is a Scottish former football player and manager. In his successful playing career, he made 455 appearances in England's Football League as a midfielder or forward for Aston Villa, ...

was searching for a more dependable alternative to the erratic and injury prone Martin Hayes. He made his Arsenal debut against

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and ...

on 30 March 1988. His first goal for the Gunners was a penalty in a 1–1 draw against

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed the ...

Highbury Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor house was situ ...

2 May 1988. Marwood's impact at Arsenal was nearly immediate; his crosses supplied striker Alan Smith with goals throughout the 1988–89 season, in which Arsenal won the First Division title for the first time since 1971. Smith himself credits Marwood as being the most prolific supplier of assists while he was at Arsenal. He scored in each of Arsenals first four games in the winning season. He was also a reliable penalty taker and very accurate from corners and other dead ball situations. During this time, Marwood firmly established himself as the club's first choice left winger. Injury forced Marwood to miss the last five matches of the season, which included Arsenal's title-winning match against

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

Anfield Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 189 ...

. Nevertheless, he still took away a league winners medal with 31 appearances that season. However, with the ban on English clubs in Europe still in place, Marwood was unable to play in the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

. Injury restricted Marwood's chances in the 1989–90 season, and he only managed nineteen matches that season. After Arsenal signed Swedish international winger Anders Limpar in the summer of 1990, Marwood was no longer an automatic first choice, in all he played 60 matches for Arsenal, scoring 17 goals.

Sheffield United

He was sold to

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games a ...

for £350,000 in September 1990. In three seasons at United, Marwood only managed 22 appearances, and was loaned to

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

before making a permanent move to

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...

midway through

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since th ...

; Marwood played eleven times as Swindon won promotion to the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

, but was released by the club that summer.

Barnet

He finished his career at Barnet where he spent one season, playing 23 games as Barnet were relegated from Division Two.

International career

Marwood's performances for Arsenal earned him an

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

, in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries by area, fifth-largest country in Asia ...

in Riyadh on 16 November 1988. As a 28-year-old he came on as a late substitution, replacing Michael Thomas, under manager

Bobby Robson Sir Robert William Robson (18 February 1933 – 31 July 2009) was an English footballer and football manager. His career included periods playing for and later managing the England national team and being a UEFA Cup-winning manager at Ipswi ...

Professional Footballers' Association

Marwood was chairman of the

Professional Footballers' Association The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) is the trade union for professional association footballers in England and Wales. Founded in 1907, it is the world's oldest professional sport trade union, and has over 5,000 members. The aims of ...

between 1990 and 1993.

Career after retirement

Since retirement, Marwood has written his autobiography, ''The Life of Brian'' (), and became a commentator on Radio 5 Live,

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It h ...

and STAR Sports. He worked as UK sports marketing manager for

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine given ...

from 1997–2009.

Manchester City

He joined

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The two ...

with the title of football administrator in 2009, being an ex-colleague of former executive chairman,

Garry Cook Garry Peter Cook (born 10 January 1958) is a former British track and field athlete, who competed mainly in the 800 metres with a best time of 1:44.55 minutes. Athletics career He competed for Great Britain in the 1984 Summer Olympics held in ...

, at Nike.

Family

His son

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

was a former player at Newcastle United, St Mirren, Forest Green Rovers and Gateshead United. He currently coaches at Middlesbrough FC academy

Footnotes

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References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Marwood, Brian 1960 births Arsenal F.C. players Barnet F.C. players England international footballers English footballers Association football wingers Hull City A.F.C. players Living people Middlesbrough F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Sportspeople from Seaham Footballers from County Durham Manchester City F.C. directors and chairmen