Iain Richard Brunskill (born 5 November 1976) is an English football coach and 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 lea ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

Playing career

, Brunskill was an England international at schoolboy and youth level, before joining

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

as a full-time player. Between 1995 and 1996, Brunskill was a trainee and young professional player at Liverpool, making over 50 appearances for Liverpool's reserve team. In 1996, he joined Bury, where he remained for a season. In 1997, he joined Leek Town in the

Vauxhall Conference The National League of English Football Clubs is a professional football league in England that consists of 72 teams, divided equally between the National League (division), National League North and National League South. The National League ...

, making 80 appearances, followed by stints at

Hednesford Town Hednesford Town Football Club is a football club based in Hednesford, Staffordshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Keys Park. They won the FA Trophy in 2004. History The club was established in 1880 as a merger of t ...

and Runcorn Halton, for whom he made one appearance in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

. Overall, he made over 200 appearances in professional and semi-professional football, before retiring at age 26 to pursue a full-time career in coaching.

Coaching career

In 1998, Brunskill began his coaching career with Liverpool as Assistant Academy Technical Director, a role he held for ten years. After leaving

Anfield Anfield is a Association football, football stadium in the area of Anfield (suburb), Anfield, Liverpool, England, which has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since its formation in 1892. The stadium has a seating capacity of 61,276, making it the ...

, Brunskill became reserve-team manager and first-team coach at

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

, working with

Paul Ince Paul Emerson Carlyle Ince (; born 21 October 1967) is an English professional football manager and former player who was most recently manager of Reading. A midfielder, Ince played professionally from 1986 to 2007, starting his career with West ...

initially, then

Sam Allardyce Samuel Allardyce (born 19 October 1954) is an English football manager and former professional player. Allardyce made 578 league and cup appearances in a 21-year career spent mostly in the Football League, as well as brief spells in the North ...

. After four seasons at

Ewood Park Ewood Park () is a Association football, football stadium in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, and the home of Blackburn Rovers F.C., founding members of the English Football League, Football League and Premier League, who have played there since ...

, in 2013 he took on his first head-coach role, at Maltese club

Floriana Floriana ( or ''Il-Floriana''), also known by its title Borgo Vilhena, is a Floriana Lines, fortified town in the Port Region, Malta, Port Region area of Malta, just outside the capital city Valletta. It has a population of 2,205 as of March 2014 ...

. He was given a ten-game contract, which lasted from January to May."Who is Iain Brunskill? Everything you need to know about Blackpool's new assistant head coach"
– Lancs Live, 9 February 2022 In 2013, he became a youth coach educator with the

Football Association A football association, also known as a football federation, soccer federation, or soccer association, is a governing body for association football. Many of them are members of the sport's regional bodies such as UEFA and CONMEBOL and the world gov ...

. Brunskill next joined

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

' player development department, before beginning a two-year role as the Under-23s coach of the Jordan national team. He undertook a consultancy role at

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Super League (), commonly known as the Chinese Super League or the CSL (), also known as the China Resources Beverage Chinese Football Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Ch ...

club

Shanghai SIPG Shanghai Port Football Club (), previously Shanghai SIPG (), is a Chinese professional football club based in Shanghai, that competes in . Shanghai Port plays its home matches at the Pudong Football Stadium, located within Pudong. Their owners a ...

, then joined Norwegian club

Molde Molde () is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town and the seat of Molde Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Romsdal. It is located on the Romsdal Pen ...

as Head of academy. In 2018, the

Chinese Football Association The Chinese Football Association (), abbreviated as CFA (), is the governing body for association football, beach soccer and futsal in the People's Republic of China (Mainland China). The CFA organizes the men's and women's national teams an ...

hired Brunskill as the head of its technical department. After three years in China, he joined

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

as senior development coach in January 2022. On 9 February 2022, Brunskill was appointed assistant head coach to

Neil Critchley Neil Critchley (born 18 October 1978) is an English football coach who was most recently the head coach of Scottish Premiership club Heart of Midlothian F.C., Heart of Midlothian. A former association football, footballer, he previously played ...

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

, replacing

Stuart McCall Andrew Stuart Murray McCall (born 10 June 1964) is a professional football coach and former player. He is currently assistant manager of Preston North End. McCall played in a total of 763 league games and in 40 full international matche ...

, who left for

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

three months earlier."Blackpool boss wants Bloomfield Road colleagues to share their opinions"
– ''

Blackpool Gazette The ''Blackpool Gazette'' (locally marketed as simply ''The Gazette'') is an English daily newspaper based in Blackpool, Lancashire. Published every day except Sunday, it covers the towns and communities of the Fylde coast. It was founded as '' ...

'', 12 February 2022 He worked with Blackpool's first-team coach Mike Garrity at Liverpool. On 11 December 2022, following the appointment of Critchley as head coach of

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

, Brunskill followed him as joint assistant head coach. He returned to

, again under Critchley, in June 2023, only to leave the role in June 2024 to join Romanian

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

club

Rapid București Rapid(s) or RAPID may refer to: Hydrological features * Rapids, sections of a river with turbulent water flow * Rapid Creek (Iowa River tributary), Iowa, United States * Rapid Creek (South Dakota), United States, namesake of Rapid City Sport ...

as assistant coach under

Neil Lennon Neil Francis Lennon (born 25 June 1971) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He currently manages Scottish Championship club Dunfermline Athletic. During his playing career he represe ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brunskill, Iain Living people 1976 births Footballers from Ormskirk Footballers from Lancashire English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Liverpool F.C. players Bury F.C. players Leek F.C. players Runcorn F.C. Halton players English football coaches Liverpool F.C. non-playing staff Molde FK non-playing staff Bolton Wanderers F.C. non-playing staff Blackburn Rovers F.C. non-playing staff Norwich City F.C. non-playing staff Blackpool F.C. non-playing staff Queens Park Rangers F.C. non-playing staff FC Rapid București non-playing staff English football managers Maltese Premier League managers Floriana F.C. managers English expatriate sportspeople in China English expatriate sportspeople in Jordan English expatriate sportspeople in Norway English expatriate sportspeople in Romania English expatriate sportspeople in Malta Expatriate football managers in Malta