Brian Statham (footballer)
Encyclopedia
Brian Statham is an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 former professional association football player, best known for his spells with Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur F.C.
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club , commonly referred to as Spurs, is an English Premier League football club based in Tottenham, north London. The club's home stadium is White Hart Lane....

 and Brentford
Brentford F.C.
Brentford Football Club are a professional English football club based in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow. They are currently playing in Football League One....

. He also represented the England under-21 team
England national under-21 football team
England's national Under-21 football team, also known as England Under-21s or England U21, is considered to be the feeder team for the England national football team....

.

Career

Statham was born in Harare
Harare
Harare before 1982 known as Salisbury) is the largest city and capital of Zimbabwe. It has an estimated population of 1,600,000, with 2,800,000 in its metropolitan area . Administratively, Harare is an independent city equivalent to a province. It is Zimbabwe's largest city and its...

, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...

) and later lived in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...

 before his parents returned to Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

. The namesake of a former England international cricketer
Brian Statham
John Brian "George" Statham, CBE was one of the leading English fast bowlers in 20th-century English cricket. Initially a bowler of a brisk fast-medium pace, Statham was able to remodel his action to generate enough speed to become genuinely fast...

, he was himself a talented cricketer as a teenager, and represented the Essex county schools team. He chose to concentrate on football, however, after being offered an apprenticeship
Apprenticeship
Apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a skill. Apprentices or protégés build their careers from apprenticeships...

 with Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur F.C.
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club , commonly referred to as Spurs, is an English Premier League football club based in Tottenham, north London. The club's home stadium is White Hart Lane....

. He turned full-time professional with the club in 1987 and soon made his debut for the club's first team. A defender
Defender (association football)
Within the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to prevent the opposition from attacking....

 who was good in the air despite being only 5' 9" tall, he made 24 appearances for "Spurs" and performed well enough to be selected for the England under-21 team
England national under-21 football team
England's national Under-21 football team, also known as England Under-21s or England U21, is considered to be the feeder team for the England national football team....

 on three occasions. His time at White Hart Lane
White Hart Lane
White Hart Lane is an all-seater football stadium in Tottenham, London, England. Built in 1899, it is the home of Tottenham Hotspur and, after numerous renovations, the stadium has a capacity of 36,230....

 was affected by injuries, however, and, after short spells on loan to Reading
Reading F.C.
Reading Football Club is an English association football club based in the town of Reading, Berkshire who currently play in the Championship...

 and A.F.C. Bournemouth
A.F.C. Bournemouth
A.F.C. Bournemouth is an English football club currently playing in Football League One. The club plays at Dean Court in Kings Park, Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset and have been in existence since 1899....

, he moved to Brentford
Brentford F.C.
Brentford Football Club are a professional English football club based in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow. They are currently playing in Football League One....

 in 1992 for a transfer
Transfer (football)
In professional association football, a transfer is the action taken whenever a player under contract moves between professional clubs. It refers to the transferring of a player's registration from one professional association football club to another. In general, the players can only be...

 fee of £70,000.

Statham remained with Brentford for over five years and made 166 appearances in The Football League
The Football League
The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football...

. He also scored the only League goal of his career during his time at Griffin Park
Griffin Park
Griffin Park is a football ground situated in the London Borough of Hounslow, west London. It has been the home ground of League One side Brentford since it was built in 1904. It is known for being the only English league football ground to have a pub on each corner, and is situated in a...

. At the end of the 1996–97 season
1996-97 in English football
The 1996–1997 season was the 117th season of competitive football in England.Arrival into the league and exit out of the league returns in the fourth tier for the first time after its 3 season absence with only 1 relegation spot.- Premier League :...

 he was sold to Gillingham
Gillingham F.C.
Gillingham Football Club is an English professional football club based in the town of Gillingham, Kent. The only Kent-based club in the Football League, they play their home matches at the Priestfield Stadium...

 for a fee of £10,000. He made 26 appearances for the Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

-based club, but dropped out of favour and, after spells on loan to non-league
Non-league football
Non-League football is football in England played at a level below that of the Premier League and The Football League. The term non-League was commonly used well before 1992 when the top football clubs in England all belonged to The Football League; all clubs who were not a part of The Football...

 clubs Stevenage Borough
Stevenage Borough F.C.
Stevenage Football Club is an English football club based in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. The club currently participate in League One, the third tier of English football, having won promotion from League Two in the 2010–11 season...

 and Woking
Woking F.C.
Woking Football Club is a football club from in Woking, Surrey, England, formed in 1889. They are playing in the Conference South in the 2011–12 season. For the 2011/2012 season, Woking are sharing their ground with Conference National club Hayes & Yeading United.-Promotion to the...

, moved on to Chesham United
Chesham United F.C.
Chesham United is an English football club based in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, currently playing in the Southern League. They are nicknamed "The Generals" because they were once the football team of the General Baptist Church in Chesham. Chesham Generals merged with Chesham Town to form United...

 in 1999, where he combined playing with coaching duties. He went on to play for Chelmsford City
Chelmsford City F.C.
Chelmsford City F.C. is an English semi-professional football club based in the town of Chelmsford, Essex. The club are currently members of the Conference South and play at the Melbourne Stadium.-Chelmsford:...

, Welling United
Welling United F.C.
Welling United Football Club are an English football club, based in Welling in the London Borough of Bexley. They currently play in the Conference South. The 2010–11 season was not a good one for them as the club had financial problems, nearly going bankrupt but lots of supporters chipped in and...

, East Thurrock United
East Thurrock United F.C.
East Thurrock United F.C is an English football club based in Corringham, Essex. The club currently plays in the Isthmian League Premier Division and is based at Rookery Hill.-History:...

 and Erith & Belvedere
Erith & Belvedere F.C.
Erith & Belvedere F.C., established 1922, is a football club representing Erith, in the London Borough of Bexley. They are currently members of the Kent League Premier Division after being relegated from the Southern League Division One East in 2005.They were also founder members of the Corinthian...

. He also began a new career working in the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...

. In 2005 he took over as manager of Heybridge Swifts
Heybridge Swifts F.C.
Heybridge Swifts are a non-league football club based in Heybridge, near Maldon, Essex. They were established in 1880 and were founding members of the Essex Senior League in 1971...

. After three years with the club he resigned as manager in 2008. In April 2009 he was appointed manager of Isthmian League Premier Division team Billericay Town
Billericay Town F.C.
Billericay Town Football Club are an English football club based in Billericay, Essex, who currently play in the Isthmian League Premier Division....

.

External links

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