Bryan Small (born 15 November 1971) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a defender. He started out as a trainee at his hometown club

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

and played for a total of 11 clubs in a series of free transfers and loan deals. Small played for

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

, Luton Town,

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

and

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

. At international level he was capped 12 times for the England under-21 team.

Playing career

Small was born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

and began his career as a trainee at

making his debut away at Everton in 1991–92. He played in 13 matches that season and made 15 appearances in 1992–93. In 1993–94 Small played 12 times for Villa including two against Deportivo de La Coruña in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

. In the 1994–95 season he played five matches for Villa and had a loan spell at second city rivals

where he played three times. He left Villa in March 1996 for

where he made 16 appearances helping the club win the First Division in 1996–97. Small was unable to force his way into the team in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

and spent time out on loan at Luton Town,

and

. At Bury he scored his only goal of his career against

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

. In the summer 1998 Small moved to

where he made 43 appearances in 1998–99 as Stoke failed to claim a play-off place. In 1999–2000 he nine appearances before being released in the summer of 2000. Following his release from Stoke Small had unsuccessful trials at

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...

and

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

. Another free transfer followed to

but he failed to make the first team. After a loan spell at Forest Green Rovers he moved to

Kettering Town Kettering Town Football Club is a football club based in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of and play at Latimer Park in Burton Latimer. Kettering were the first club to wear sponsorship on their shirts in ...

before he finished his career at

Hednesford Town Hednesford Town Football Club is a football club based in Hednesford, Staffordshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Keys Park. History The club was established in 1880 as a merger of the Red & Whites and Hill Top.

Later career

Small began his coaching career with Stourport Swifts and in July 2008 turned out for old club Bolton in the Masters Tournament.

Personal life

Small's nephew,

Thierry Small Thierry Small (born 1 August 2004) is an English footballer who plays as a left-back for club Charlton Athletic. Small became the youngest player in Everton's history in January 2021, aged 16 years and 176 days, but turned professional with ...

, became Everton's youngest first-team debutant when he made a brief appearance in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

as a 16-year-old in early 2021, and turned professional later that year with

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

Career statistics

Honours

Bolton Wanderers *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

: 1996–97

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Small, Bryan 1971 births Living people Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands English men's footballers England men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football defenders Aston Villa F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players Bury F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Forest Green Rovers F.C. players Kettering Town F.C. players Hednesford Town F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players National League (English football) players Black British sportsmen Association football coaches