Bryan Gunn

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Personal information
Bryan Gunn
Full name	Bryan James Gunn
Date of birth	22 December 1963
Place of birth	Thurso, Scotland
Nickname	Gunny
Position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	retired
Youth clubs
	Invergordon F.C.
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1979-1980 1980-1986 1986-1998 1998-1999	Invergordon F.C. Aberdeen F.C. Norwich City F.C. Hibernian F.C.	0 (0) 21 (0) 478 (0) 12 (0)
National team**
1990-1994	Scotland	6 (0)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 2005. ** National team caps and goals correct as of 2005.

Bryan James Gunn (born 22 December 1963 in Thurso) is a former professional Scottish international football (soccer) player who played as a goalkeeper.

1 Football career
2 Post-football
3 Bryan Gunn's Leukaemia Appeal
4 Trivia
5 External references
6 Other Source

[edit] Football career

Following youth experiences at Invergordon F.C., Gunn began his career with Scottish team Aberdeen in 1980. The presence of Scottish international keeper Jim Leighton meant that Gunn only played 21 games before he signed for Norwich City in October 1986. Gunn did, however, receive Scottish League Cup and European Cup Winners Cup winner's medals while with Aberdeen. At both finals, he was an unused substitute. Gunn forged a good relationship with Aberdeen (and future Man Utd) manager Alex Ferguson, and in 1997 Ferguson brought Man Utd to Carrow Road for Gunn's testimonial. While an apprentice at Aberdeen FC, Gunn had been a babysitter for Ferguson's children.

Gunn then spent the majority of his playing career at Norwich, becoming one of the most famous goalkeepers in the club's history. Gunn initially looked set to join Norwich in the summer of 1986 after they had sold Chris Woods to Rangers FC for £600,000, however an injury to Leighton meant that Ferguson kept Gunn at Pittodrie until October.

He went on to make 477 first team appearances for Norwich. He was twice voted Norwich City player of the year in 1988 and 1993 and during the latter season, Norwich finished third in the Premiership, their highest-ever finish.

Gunn was forced out of the team by the emergence of Andy Marshall and had a short spell at Hibernian before retiring.

Gunn made six appearances for Scotland, four of which were in World Cup qualifiers in 1993, when his career was at its peak.

[edit] Post-football

Bryan Gunn retired from professional football in 1999.

In "retirement", Gunn is now on the staff at Carrow Road, working on hospitality for Norwich City, partly in "The Gunn Club", a catering outlet named in his honour.

In 2006, Gunn's autobiography - 'In where it hurts' - was published.

[edit] Bryan Gunn's Leukaemia Appeal

At the height of Gunn's playing career, in the early 1990s, his young daughter, Francesca, was diagnosed with leukaemia.

Norwich City fans were at first astonished by the sight of the goalkeeper running out with a completely shaven head; when news spread that Gunn had done so in support of his daughter, who was losing her hair through chemotherapy, Gunn received ever-more rapturous receptions. His ensuing fundraising for leukaemia causes has been very successful. Francesca died in 1992, aged 2. Gunn played a match for Norwich City against Queens Park Rangers at Carrow Road on 17 October 1992 just days after his daughter had died. He gave an outstanding performance that went a long way to building his legendary status among City supporters.

[edit] Trivia

Before each half of a match, Gunn would run toward his goal and pretend to attempt to head-butt the crossbar. Fans caught on to this and would make a crescendo of noise, culminating in an "Ooh" when he "missed".
As a youngster, Gunn often played at left-back.
As well as his work on the staff at Norwich City in 2002 Gunn was made Sheriff of Norwich for the year by the City Council.
Bryan currently works for Norwich City as the Community Ambassador representing the club locally and nationally.

[edit] External references

[edit] Other Source

Canary Citizens by Mark Davage, John Eastwood, Kevin Platt, published by Jarrold Publishing, (2001), ISBN 0-7117-2020-7

	Scotland squad - 1990 FIFA World Cup
1 Leighton \| 2 McLeish \| 3 Aitken \| 4 Gough \| 5 McStay \| 6 Malpas \| 7 Johnston \| 8 Bett \| 9 McCoist \| 10 MacLeod \| 11 Gillespie \| 12 Goram \| 13 Durie \| 14 McInally \| 15 Levein \| 16 McCall \| 17 McKimmie \| 18 Collins \| 19 McPherson \| 20 McAllister \| 21 Fleck \| 22 Gunn \| Coach: Roxburgh