Gary Brabin

Gary Brabin (born 9 December 1970) is an English former professional footballer, coach and manager who is the assistant manager at club Oldham Athletic and the sporting director at club The New Saints.

A midfielder with a 12-year career in the English Football League, he represented Stockport County, Doncaster Rovers, Bury, Blackpool, Lincoln City, Hull City and Torquay United.

He also played non-League football for Gateshead, Runcorn, Boston United, Chester City, Halifax Town, Southport and Burscough, and also played in the Welsh Premier League for Total Network Solutions / The New Saints.

Brabin began his senior career with Fourth Division side Stockport County, making three appearances under Danny Bergara during the 1989–90 season.

He played just one further match at Edgeley Park in the 1990–91 campaign, before leaving the "Hatters" and dropping into the Northern Premier League with Tony Lee's Gateshead following a successful loan period at the Gateshead International Stadium.

He then left the "Tynesiders" and joined Conference club Runcorn, who struggled in the 1991–92 and 1992–93 seasons, before he helped the "Linnets" to a fifth-place finish in 1993–94.

He also made two appearances at Wembley Stadium in the 1993 and 1994 FA Trophy finals as Runcorn lost out 4–1 to Wycombe Wanderers and then 2–1 to Woking.

He worked as a bouncer during his time at Runcorn.

Brabin departed Canal Street and made a return to the Football League after being signed by Doncaster Rovers manager Sammy Chung for a £45,000 fee in July 1994.

He also played three games for the England C team against Wales, Finland and Norway.

He went on to score eight goals from 33 appearances for "Donny" throughout the 1994–95 season.

He added three goals from 34 games in the 1995–96 campaign, before he left Belle Vue and was moved on to Stan Ternent's Bury for a £125,000 fee in March 1996.

He featured just five times for the "Shakers" during his time at Gigg Lane.

Brabin joined Blackpool for the 1996–97 season for a £200,000 fee, and scored two goals from 38 matches as manager Gary Megson led the "Tangerines" to a seventh-place finish in the Second Division.

He also enjoyed a brief spell on loan at Lincoln City, featuring in five games for John Reames's "Imps" in a brief stay at Sincil Bank.

However, he was arrested in September 1997 after an alleged assault on Brentford captain Jamie Bates.

An FA disciplinary committee later found him guilty of 'ungentlemanly and improper behaviour' and fined him £500 and banned him for two matches to run consecutively with a three-match ban he picked up for accumulating 21 disciplinary points.

He scored a further three goals from 29 appearances during the 1997–98 season, as player-manager Nigel Worthington led the "Seasiders" to a 12th-place finish.

He played ten games at the start of the 1998–99 season, before leaving Bloomfield Road to join Hull City at the bottom of the Third Division in January 1999.

Player-manager Warren Joyce organised a turnaround in the "Tigers" form, as the club salvaged their Football League status with a 21st-place finish at the end of the 1998–99 season, with Brabin contributing four goals from his 23 appearances.

Hull then posted a 14th-place finish in the 1999–2000 campaign, with Brabin scoring three goals in his 45 appearances despite struggling with a neck injury.

Brian Little then took charge as manager and led Hull to the play-offs at the end of the 2000–01 season, with Brabin again a key first team player having made 43 appearances and contributed two goals.

He was named as Chester City's Player of the Year in 2001–02, and also won three caps for the England C team.

However, they were beaten by Leyton Orient in the play-off semi-finals and Brabin departed Boothferry Park after accepting a severance payment for the remaining year of his contract in August 2001.

After leaving Hull, Brabin trained with St. Johnstone and had trials at Plymouth Argyle, Torquay United, Dundee and Dundee United.

He went on to return to the Conference for the 2001–02 season, though played just once for Steve Evans's Boston United after joining on non-contract terms, playing the first hour of a 4–1 win over Hayes at York Street.

He left the "Pilgrims" to make a return to the Third Division with Torquay United.

He played seven games for Roy McFarland's "Gulls", before he had his contract at Plainmoor cancelled after failing to settle on the coast; he had been sent off against former club Hull City in his second appearance and sent off again in a 2–0 defeat to local rivals Exeter City after elbowing Martin Barlow in the face.

He returned to the Conference to score three goals in 17 appearances for Chester City.

Despite joining the "Seals" relatively late on in the campaign, he was named as Chester City's Player of the Season as the helped the "Blues" to avoid relegation.

Brabin left the Deva Stadium and then signed with Total Network Solutions, and scored six goals in 30 Welsh Premier League matches in the 2002–03 campaign, as TNS finished as runners-up to Barry Town.

He later went into coaching, firstly with Burscough and The New Saints, before he was appointed manager at Southport in April 2008.

Two months later he went on to be named as Cambridge United manager, and despite being named as Conference Premier Manager of the Year for 2008–09, was sacked in July 2009.

He later scouted for and coached at Luton Town, before he was promoted to first team manager in March 2011.

He led the club to the Conference play-off final two months later, which ended in defeat, and he was sacked in March 2012.

He returned to Southport as manager in October 2014, before again leaving the club three months later to work as a coach at Everton.

He was appointed manager at Tranmere Rovers in May 2015, before being sacked in September 2016.

He joined Port Vale as a coach in October 2017, and was appointed assistant manager at Blackpool 11 months later.

In June 2019, he returned to Luton Town as the club's assistant manager for the 2019–20 season.

He went on to work in the backroom staff at The New Saints and Oldham Athletic.