Kevin Bremner

Kevin Bremner
Personal information
Full nameKevin Johnston Bremner
Date of birth7 October 1957
Place of birthBanff, Scotland
Height5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Playing positionStriker
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
1976–1979Deveronvale
1979–1980Keith
1980–1983Colchester United95(31)
1982→ Birmingham City (loan)4(1)
1982–1983→ Wrexham (loan)4(1)
1983→ Plymouth Argyle (loan)5(1)
1983–1985Millwall96(32)
1985–1987Reading64(21)
1987–1990Brighton & Hove Albion128(35)
1990–1991Peterborough United17(3)
1991–1992Dundee24(6)
1992→ Shrewsbury Town7(2)
1992–1994Brora Rangers
1994–1995Deveronvale
1995Gillingham0(0)
Teams managed
1992–1994Brora Rangers (player-manager)
1994–1995Deveronvale (player-manager)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Kevin Johnston Bremner (born 7 October 1957) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a striker. He made nearly 450 appearances in the English and Scottish Football Leagues, representing ten different clubs.[1]

Football career

Born in Banff, now in Aberdeenshire, a product of the Scottish Highland Football League, Bremner began his senior career as an 18-year-old with home-town club Deveronvale of the Highland League. In the 1978–79 season he was part of the team which defeated Huntly to win the Bell's Cup. He finished the season as leading scorer with 27 goals and won the club's player of the year award.[2] Celtic manager Billy McNeill had invited him for a two-week trial, but no contract offer ensued and Bremner left Deveronvale for fellow Highland League club Keith.[3]

In October 1980 he moved to England to join Colchester United of the Third Division for a fee of £40,000;[4] that season Colchester were relegated to the Fourth Division.[5] Bremner played more than 100 matches for the club in all competitions, and during the 1982–83 season he spent short periods on loan at Birmingham City, Wrexham and Plymouth Argyle, scoring a goal for each.[4] In February 1983 he joined Millwall for £25,000. His first goal for the club gave him the distinction of having played and scored in the Football League for five different clubs in the same season.[6][7]

Bremner played more than 100 games in all competitions for Millwall, helping them to promotion to the Second Division as Third Division runners-up. At the beginning of the 1984–85 season he joined Reading; as the clubs were unable to agree on a transfer fee, the Football League tribunal valued his services at £35,000.[6] In his second season at the club, he contributed to Reading winning the Third Division title,[8] before joining Brighton & Hove Albion, where for the third time in four seasons he played his part in his club gaining promotion from the Third Division.[9] He finished the season as the club's leading scorer, with 12 goals in all competitions.[10]

He spent a season at Peterborough United before returning to Scotland where he signed for Dundee, contributing to their Scottish First Division title in 1991–92.[11] A short spell on loan at Shrewsbury Town preceded his first foray into management, as player-manager of Highland League club Brora Rangers.[3] He then rejoined Deveronvale as player-manager for one season, in which he was leading goalscorer with 17 goals and managed them to victory in the Aberdeenshire Shield.[2]

Bremner returned to England to take up a coaching role at Gillingham, where he became youth team manager, but was made redundant in April 2003 along with other staff as a cost-cutting measure.[12] He made one playing appearance for the club in 1995 in a Football League Trophy match.[13]

His older brother Des was also a prominent professional footballer, with Hibernian and Aston Villa, while his son, Leigh, is a semi-professional player, currently playing for VCD Athletic

Honours

with Deveronvale as player
with Millwall
with Reading
with Brighton & Hove Albion
with Peterborough United
with Dundee
with Deveronvale as manager

References

  1. ↑ "Kevin Bremner". Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Database. Neil Brown. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Club honours". Deveronvale F.C. Retrieved 3 March 2008.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Millennium Legends". Deveronvale F.C. Retrieved 3 March 2008.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Kevin Bremner". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 3 March 2008.
  5. ↑ "Colchester United". Football Club History Database. Richard Rundle. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Kevin Bremner". The Millwall History Files. Retrieved 3 March 2008.
  7. ↑ Matthews, Tony (1995). Birmingham City: A Complete Record. Derby: Breedon Books. pp. 74–75. ISBN 978-1-85983-010-9.
  8. ↑ "Reading". Football Club History Database. Richard Rundle. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
  9. ↑ "Brighton & Hove Albion". Football Club History Database. Richard Rundle. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
  10. ↑ Carder, Tim & Harris, Roger (1997). Albion A–Z: A Who's Who of Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. Hove: Goldstone Books. p. 338. ISBN 0-9521337-1-7.
  11. ↑ "Honours". Dundee F.C. Retrieved 11 October 2010.
  12. ↑ "Football in brief: Birmingham fight FA charges after ill-tempered derby" (REPRINT). The Independent (NewsBank). 5 April 2003. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
  13. ↑ Brown, Tony (2003). The Definitive Gillingham F.C.: A Complete Record. Soccerdata. p. 105. ISBN 1-899468-20-X.