Brian Edward Sparrow (24 June 1962 – 6 December 2019) was an English 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, rugby ...

who played as a full back.

Career

Born in

Bethnal Green Bethnal Green is an area in the East End of London northeast of Charing Cross. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the Green, much of which survives today as Bethnal Green Gardens, beside Cambridge Heath Road. By t ...

, Sparrow began his career at

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 ...

, from where he spent loan spells at Wimbledon,

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, ea ...

and Gillingham. After spending three seasons with

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

, Sparrow dropped down to

non-league football Non-League football describes association football, 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 s ...

with

Enfield Enfield may refer to: Places Australia * Enfield, New South Wales * Enfield, South Australia ** Electoral district of Enfield, a state electoral district in South Australia, corresponding to the suburb ** Enfield High School (South Australia) ...

and then

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The club was founded as Crawley Football Club in 1896, changed its name to Crawley Town Football Club in 1958. The team com ...

, where he was

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

from 1991 to 1992, After retiring as a player, Sparrow worked as reserve-team manager of Wimbledon, made a brief return to Crawley as

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular manager is dismissed or leaves for a different club. However, a caret ...

, and coached at

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings w ...

and Crystal Palace. On 26 February 2012, Sparrow was appointed as the

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

China League Two The Chinese Football Association Division Two League (Simplified Chinese: 中国足球协会乙级联赛), or China League Two, is the third tier league of the People's Republic of China. The league is under the auspices of the Chinese Football A ...

side

Shenzhen Main Sports Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern provin ...

, the same day the club was founded. He left China after club boss

Sammy Yu Sammy is a nickname, frequently for people named Samuel, and also an English spelling of the Arabic name Sami. People Music *Sammy Adams (born 1987), American rapper and songwriter * Sammy Cahn (1913-1993), American songwriter * Sammy Davis Jr. ...

resigned in July 2012. He died on 6 December 2019, at the age of 57.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sparrow, Brian 1962 births 2019 deaths Footballers from Bethnal Green English footballers Association football fullbacks Arsenal F.C. players Wimbledon F.C. players Millwall F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Enfield F.C. players English Football League players English football managers Crawley Town F.C. managers Wimbledon F.C. non-playing staff Brentford F.C. non-playing staff Crystal Palace F.C. non-playing staff