Chris Kamara

Christopher Kamara (born 25 December 1957) is an English former professional footballer and manager who worked as a presenter and football analyst at Sky Sports from 1992 to 2022.

As a player, he was known as a tough-tackling midfielder.

Kamara was born in Middlesbrough, North Riding of Yorkshire, to a Sierra Leonean father, Alimamy Kindo "Albert" Kamara, on Christmas Day in 1957.

He joined the Royal Navy at the age of 16, before being signed by Portsmouth in November 1974.

He spent three years at the club before being sold on to Swindon Town for £14,000.

Kamara's football career started when he was spotted playing for the Navy by Portsmouth manager Ian St. John, who signed him on apprentice wages in November 1974 after agreeing to pay the Navy a £200 buy-out fee.

Youth team coach Ray Crawford told the Portsmouth News that Kamara was "weak in the air, his marking is wayward and he hasn't got much positional sense", but privately told Kamara that he had the potential to become a first team player.

He made his first team debut in August 1975 in a 2–0 defeat by Luton Town, winning his chance after Mick Mellows was struck down with a knee injury.

The next match he scored his first senior goal in a 4–1 loss to Bolton Wanderers after being set up by Bobby McGuinness.

He went on to play regular football at Fratton Park in the 1975–76 season as "Pompey" were relegated out of the Second Division in last place.

The club avoided relegation out of the Third Division by a single point in 1976–77, after which new manager Jimmy Dickinson sold Kamara to Third Division rivals Swindon Town for £14,000.

Upon joining Swindon he was sent death threats by Portsmouth supporters, and was given police escorts to the County Ground.

He scored on his debut against Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough, but was frequently left out of the starting eleven by manager Danny Williams during the 1977–78 campaign.

New boss Bobby Smith took the "Robins" to within three points of promotion in 1978–79, and then the semi-finals of the League Cup in 1979–80.

John Trollope replaced Smith as manager following a dismal start to the 1980–81 campaign, and he sold Kamara back to Portsmouth for £50,000.

He was re-signed to Portsmouth by Frank Burrows, who had previously coached Kamara at Swindon.

He returned to Portsmouth in 1981 for a £50,000 fee but was transferred to Brentford in October 1981.

However, in October 1981 he was again transferred after Brentford manager Fred Callaghan agreed to a swap deal with David Crown going the other way.

Kamara was paired with Terry Hurlock in a highly committed central midfield partnership at Griffin Park.

He settled in well during the 1981–82 campaign and scored a career best of eleven goals in the 1982–83 season as Brentford posted two top ten finishes.

The club then struggled to just one place above the Third Division relegation zone in 1983–84 before rising to 13th place in 1984–85.

He spent four years with the "Bees" before leaving the club after picking up a runners-up medal in the Football League Trophy in 1985.

He re-signed with Swindon Town in August 1985 and helped the club to two successive promotions into the Second Division.

He won a Football League Trophy runners-up medal in 1985, playing at Wembley in a 3–1 defeat to Wigan Athletic.

He took the decision to leave the club in summer 1985 after he rejected manager Frank McLintock's offer of a new one-year contract on the same terms.

He moved on to Stoke City in 1988, and a successful spell with the club won him a move to Leeds United in 1990.

He helped the club to the Second Division title in 1989–90 but was injured for eight months before being sold to Luton Town for £150,000 in 1991.

He had loan spells with Premier League clubs Sheffield United and Middlesbrough, before joining Sheffield United on a permanent basis in 1993.

The following year he joined Bradford City as a player-coach.

Through his father he was eligible to play for Sierra Leone, and was called up to play in the 1994 African Cup of Nations, though he declined the offer.

His father was a heavy gambler, leaving his mother Irene to occasionally plead for money from neighbours in order to provide food for Kamara and his brother George and sister Maria.

Being one of the few black families in Park End, the family suffered racist abuse.

He remains a close friend of Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson, with whom he grew up on the Park End council estate.

He and Gibson regularly attended matches together.

He joined the Royal Navy at age 16, at the insistence of his father, himself a former naval mariner.

In doing so he missed the youth cup final for Middlesbrough Boys, though he went on to play for the Royal Navy's football team.

He was trained at HMS Raleigh at Torpoint and later transferred to HMS Vernon.

He was appointed Bradford City manager in November 1995 and took the club from a relegation scrap to promotion out of the Second Division via the play-offs in 1996.

He left the club in January 1998 and quickly took the reins at Stoke City, before he left the "Potters" in April 1998.

From there he became a broadcaster with Sky Sports and has since appeared as a presenter on numerous other television programmes.