Kevin Stanley Brock (born 9 September 1962) 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 in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and th ...

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

and

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

. He was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

for England at under-21 and B international level. After his playing career ended, he managed a series of non-league clubs in Oxfordshire, most recently Hellenic League Premier Division club Ardley United.

Playing career

Brock signed professional forms for

in 1979 and spent eight years at the club, scoring 26 goals from 246 League games. He was with Oxford as they rose through the divisions, enjoyed two years in the First Division with the club, and played in the team who defeated

in the 1986 League Cup Final. Brock holds a special place in Everton's supporters' folklore: in a

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

tie against Everton at the Manor Ground in January 1984, Brock's back pass was intercepted by

Adrian Heath Adrian Paul Heath (born 11 January 1961) is an English football manager and former player. He currently serves as head coach of Major League Soccer club Minnesota United FC. As a player, he is best known for his six seasons at Everton, where h ...

, who scored a late equaliser; Everton won the replay, and this is viewed as the moment when their fortunes began to improve. He was part of the England under-21 team that won the European championships in 1984. In August 1987, fellow First Division club Queens Park Rangers bought him for £260,000. He played 40 League matches scoring two goals in his one-and-a-half-year period at the club. Shortly after leaving

Loftus Road Loftus Road is a football stadium in White City, London, England, which is home to Queens Park Rangers. In 1981, it became the first stadium in British professional football to have an artificial pitch of Omniturf installed. This remained in ...

to manage

, Jim Smith then paid £300,000 for the

on 8 December 1988 to take him to

Tyneside Tyneside is a built-up area across the banks of the River Tyne in northern England. Residents of the area are commonly referred to as Geordies. The whole area is surrounded by the North East Green Belt. The population of Tyneside as published i ...

. In a six-year period, he played 145 matches and scored 15 goals. He was unable to stop them from sliding out of the First Division in 1988–89, but remained a regular player in the Newcastle midfield until the arrival of Robert Lee in the autumn of 1992, meaning that he played little part in Newcastle's promotion-winning side that season and didn't play a single first team game the following season, when Newcastle appeared in the

FA 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 ...

. Brock's most memorable contribution during the promotion campaign came as a deputy goalkeeper. Stepping in for the injured Tommy Wright, he did an admirable job in a 3–2 victory at Birmingham City in November. Far down the pecking order at Newcastle he played in 14 matches scoring two goals while on loan to

in the 1993–94 season. Following his Newcastle release he finished his Football League playing career with

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional association football, football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they wer ...

then playing in the third tier of English football. After leaving the club he had further short-term spells with Conference sides

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevena ...

and

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town L.F.C. Bridgwater United Women's Football Club are an English women's association football club based in Bridgwater, Somerset who wer ...

Managerial career

Brock was sacked as

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

Oxford City Oxford City Football Club is a semi-professional English association football club based in Marston, Oxford. They currently compete in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football, and play their home matches at Marsh Lane. ...

after seven months in charge, as the club were relegated from the

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 tea ...

Premier Division at the end of the 1997–1998 season. He then briefly joined

Banbury United Banbury United Football Club is a football club based in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Spencer Stadium. History The club was established in 1931 as Spencer Sports Club, a works team of the Sp ...

as a player, and then Bicester Town, before returning to Banbury before the 1999–2000 season as player-manager. In his first season, he led the team to the Hellenic League Premier Division championship, followed by promotion to the

Southern Football League Premier Division The Southern League is a men's football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from the South and Midlands of England. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven and eight of the English foot ...

four years later. After three seasons at that level, Brock resigned because of budget cuts. He temporarily took an assistant manager role at

Woodford United Woodford United Football Club is a football club based in Woodford Halse, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Byfield Road. History The club was established in 1946. After playing in the Rugby & District ...

, before agreeing to take over as manager of Hellenic League Premier Division club Ardley United from the end of the 2008–09 season, before resigning in early September 2015. His league record at Ardley over his spell in charge of the club was played 286, won 169, drew 45 and lost 72. The team never finished lower than 8th in the table with a best of 2nd in the 2013–14 season, in addition to which they won the Hellenic Premier League Cup twice, the Floodlit Cup once and most memorably the Oxfordshire Senior Cup in the 2013–14 season.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brock, Kevin Living people 1962 births People from Bicester English footballers England B international footballers England under-21 international footballers Association football midfielders Oxford United F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Newcastle United F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Oxford City F.C. players Banbury United F.C. players Bicester Town F.C. players English football managers Oxford City F.C. managers Banbury United F.C. managers Ardley United F.C. managers