Iain Richard Brunskill (born 5 November 1976) is an English former

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 midfielder.

Playing career

A midfielder, Brunskill was an England international at schoolboy and youth level, before joining Liverpool as a full-time player. Between 1995 and 1996, Brunskill was a trainee and young professional player at Liverpool, making over 50 appearances for Liverpool's reserve team. In 1996, he joined

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 ...

, where he remained for a season. In 1997, he joined Leek Town in the

Vauxhall Conference The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in England consisting of three divisions, the National League, National League North, and National League South. It was called the ...

, making 80 appearances, followed by stints 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.

and Runcorn Halton, for whom he made one appearance in the FA Cup. Overall, he made over 200 appearances in professional and semi-professional football, before retiring at age 26 to pursue a full-time career in coaching.

Coaching career

In 1998, Brunskill began his coaching career Liverpool as Assistant Academy Technical Director, a role he held for ten years. After leaving Anfield, Brunskill became reserve-team manager and first-team coach at Blackburn Rovers, working with Paul Ince initially, then Sam Allardyce. After four seasons at

Ewood Park Ewood Park () is a football stadium in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, and the home of Blackburn Rovers F.C., founding members of the Football League and Premier League, who have played there since 1890. It is an all seater multi-sports facili ...

, in 2013 he took on his first head-coach role, at Maltese club Floriana. He was given a ten-game contract, which lasted from January to May."Who is Iain Brunskill? Everything you need to know about Blackpool's new assistant head coach"
– Lancs Live, 9 February 2022 In 2013, he became a youth coach educator with the

Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world an ...

. Brunskill next joined

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 ...

' player development department, before beginning a two-year role as the Under-23s coach of the Jordan national team. He undertook a consultancy role at Chinese Super League club Shanghai SIPG, then joined Norwegian club

Molde Molde () is a town and municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Romsdal. It is located on the Romsdal Peninsula, surrounding the Fannefjord and Moldefjord. The administrative centre of the m ...

as Head of academy. In 2018, the Chinese Football Association hired Brunskill as the head of its technical department. After three years in China, he joined Norwich City as senior development coach in January 2022. On 9 February 2022, Brunskill was appointed assistant head coach to

Neil Critchley Neil Critchley (born 18 October 1978) is an English former footballer who played in the Football League First Division for Crewe Alexandra. He was most recently the head coach of EFL Championship side Queens Park Rangers. He has previously ...

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

, replacing

Stuart McCall Andrew Stuart Murray McCall (born 10 June 1964) is a professional football coach and former player. He is assistant manager at Sheffield United. McCall played in a total of 763 league games and in 40 full international matches for Scotla ...

, who left for Sheffield United three months earlier."Blackpool boss wants Bloomfield Road colleagues to share their opinions"
– '' Blackpool Gazette'', 12 February 2022 He worked with Blackpool's first-team coach Mike Garrity at Liverpool. On 11 December 2022, following the appointment of Critchley as head coach of Queens Park Rangers, Brunskill followed him as joint assistant head coach. He returned to

, again under Critchley, in June 2023, only to leave the role in June 2024 to join Romanian Liga I club

Rapid București Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a '' cascade' ...

as assistant coach under Neil Lennon.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brunskill, Iain Living people 1976 births Footballers from Ormskirk Footballers from Lancashire English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Liverpool F.C. players Bury F.C. players Leek F.C. players Runcorn F.C. Halton players Association football coaches Liverpool F.C. non-playing staff Molde FK non-playing staff Bolton Wanderers F.C. non-playing staff Blackburn Rovers F.C. non-playing staff Norwich City F.C. non-playing staff Blackpool F.C. non-playing staff Queens Park Rangers F.C. non-playing staff FC Rapid București non-playing staff English football managers Maltese Premier League managers Floriana F.C. managers English expatriate sportspeople in China English expatriate sportspeople in Jordan English expatriate sportspeople in Norway English expatriate sportspeople in Romania English expatriate sportspeople in Malta Expatriate football managers in Malta