Alan Bernard Brazil (born 15 June 1959) is a Scottish broadcaster and former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

player, most notably for

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn professio ...

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

and internationally for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. He played as a forward before being forced to retire due to a recurring back injury. He moved into media presentation, initially on television, before moving over to radio where he has for many years now been a presenter on Talksport.

Playing career

Club career

Born in 1959 in the

Govan Govan ( ; Cumbric?: ''Gwovan'?''; Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of south-west City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the south b ...

district of

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

, Brazil started his career in England with

in 1977, where he stayed until 1983, appearing a total of 210 times and scoring 80 goals. In 1978, he was loaned to the Detroit Express in the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league ba ...

, appearing in 21 regular season games and 3 playoff games, scoring 10 goals in total. He made his Ipswich debut in a league match against

on 14 January 1978, and also contributed to their victorious

1977–78 FA Cup The 1977–78 FA Cup was the 97th season of the world's oldest knockout football competition, The Football Association Challenge Cup, or FA Cup. The final saw Ipswich Town beat Arsenal 1–0, with a goal from Roger Osborne. First round proper ...

run when he played against

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been ...

in the fifth round replay. However, he was left out of the squad for the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

itself. Brazil was a key player by the 1980–81 season, when they won 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 solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

and finished runners-up in the

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

. Ipswich finished runners-up once more the following season, when Brazil scored 22 goals, making him the second-highest scorer in the First Division after

Kevin Keegan Joseph Kevin Keegan (born 14 February 1951) is an English former footballer and manager. A forward, he played for several professional clubs from 1968 to 1984. Having begun his career at Scunthorpe United, he moved to Liverpool in 1971 a ...

, who scored 26 for

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 ...

. One of his finest games in an Ipswich shirt came on 16 February 1982, when he scored all of their goals in a 5–2 league win over Southampton. Brazil moved to

in March 1983 for £425,000, scoring six times in 10 appearances. In his only full season at

White Hart Lane White Hart Lane was a football stadium in Tottenham, North London and the home of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club from 1899 to 2017. Its capacity varied over the years; when changed to all-seater it had a capacity of 36,284 before demolition. ...

he scored three goals in 19 games, while his fellow Scot Steve Archibald scored 21 times. Tottenham won the

and Brazil scored four goals during their cup run, however he was not part of the squad for the

. In June 1984 Brazil joined Manchester United for a fee of £625,000. He stayed with United for two seasons, but a recurring back injury restricted him to a total of 41 appearances in the

, the

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 ...

, 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 compet ...

and the

. Competition for places at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wembl ...

was very fierce, with Irish International

Frank Stapleton Francis Anthony Stapleton (born 10 July 1956) is an Irish former professional football player and manager. He is best remembered for his time at Arsenal, Manchester United and as a pivotal player for the Republic of Ireland national team. H ...

, Mark Hughes and Peter Davenport all in contention. Brazil scored 16 goals during his 18 months with Manchester United, but by the time his second season got underway, he was no longer a regular member of the first team, with most his final appearances for the club coming as a substitute. In January 1986, he was transferred to

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

as part of the deal that sent

Terry Gibson Terence Bradley Gibson (born 23 December 1962) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward for several clubs, including Tottenham Hotspur, Coventry City, Manchester United and Wimbledon. Playing career Born in Waltham ...

to Old Trafford. He made 15 league appearances, scoring twice, and was given a free transfer at the end of the season, with his back problems becoming more evident. Joining

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 ...

, he made a total of four appearances, scoring once (the winner against Blackburn in the FA Cup), and went on to play for

Bury Town Bury Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club, based in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England. The club are currently members of the and play at Ram Meadow. History Early history The club was established by William Lake at a meetin ...

, Chelmsford City and Stambridge United. Brazil left British football in 1988 to join Wollongong City (now the South Coast Wolves), a

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

-based club in Australia's

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

. He returned to Europe to spend the 1988–89 season with FC Baden of the

Swiss Challenge League The Challenge League is the second-highest tier of the Swiss football league system and lower of two professional leagues in the country. Ten teams play in the Challenge League; the winners of the league are promoted to the Super League, while th ...

in the country's second division. Suffering from a back injury, Brazil's career wound down with stints at Felixstowe Town,

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

-based side

Achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus ( grc-gre, Ἀχιλλεύς) was a hero of the Trojan War, the greatest of all the Greek warriors, and the central character of Homer's '' Iliad''. He was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Pe ...

and

Wivenhoe Town Wivenhoe Town F.C. is an English football club based in Wivenhoe, Essex. The club are currently members of the and play at Broad Lane. History The club was established as Wivenhoe Rangers by Frank Slaughter and students from Colchester Gram ...

, where Brazil scored on his only appearance for the club in a 2–1 loss against

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, c ...

on 15 October 1991, before rejoining Chelmsford City to play for their reserves. Brazil later played under Garry Hill at Chelmsford Sunday League side Priory Sports, alongside Micky Droy and Paul Parker.

International career

Brazil made 13 appearances for

, the most notable of which saw him playing in the

1982 FIFA World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain between 13 June and 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy, who defeated West Germany 3–1 ...

finals in Spain. He was the youngest member of the Scotland squad at the finals. His debut came against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

in a friendly in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

on 28 May 1980, which Scotland lost 1–0. His last full international came on 1 June 1983 in a 2–0

Home Championship The British Home Championship * sco, Hame Internaitional Kemp * gd, Farpais lìg eadar-nàiseanta * cy, Pencampwriaeth y Pedair Gwlad, name=lang (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Champio ...

defeat to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. He scored once for the Scottish national side, in his penultimate appearance on 28 May 1983 in a 2–0 Home Championship win over

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. His international appearances were limited as Scotland had a number of other strikers at this time such as

Kenny Dalglish Sir Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish (born 4 March 1951) is a Scottish former football player and manager. During his career, he made 338 appearances for Celtic and 515 for Liverpool, playing as a forward, and earned a record 102 full caps for th ...

Charlie Nicholas Charles Nicholas (born 30 December 1961) is a Scottish former professional footballer. A striker, Nicholas is best known for his spells at Celtic and Arsenal. He won 20 international caps for Scotland, including playing at the 1986 FIFA World ...

Mo Johnston Maurice John Giblin Johnston (born 13 April 1963) is a Scottish football player and coach. Johnston, who played as a forward, started his senior football career with Partick Thistle in 1981. He moved to Watford in 1983, where he scored 23 leag ...

, Steve Archibald, Paul Sturrock,

Joe Jordan Joseph Jordan (born 15 December 1951) is a Scottish football player, coach and manager. He is currently a first-team coach at AFC Bournemouth. A former striker, he played for Leeds United, Manchester United, and Milan, among others at club ...

, Frank McAvennie, Davie Dodds,

Frank McGarvey Francis Peter McGarvey (17 March 1956 – 1 January 2023) was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a forward, mostly for Celtic and St Mirren. He also played seven times in international matches for Scotland. Career McGarvey w ...

and Andy Gray who were preferred to Brazil.

Media career

Brazil was a sports analyst for breakfast TV station

GMTV GMTV (an acronym for Good Morning Television), now legally known as ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited, was the name of the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 ...

in its early days. Soon afterwards, he was invited to join Andy Gray in The Boot Room on

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

. When Sky Sports gained rights to the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

and the

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by t ...

, Brazil worked as a studio analyst and, occasionally, as a co-commentator. He later worked as a co-commentator on matches covered by Anglia TV in the 200102 season. In the late 1990s, Brazil joined radio station

Talk Radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featu ...

to present evening sports programming, titled "It's Just Like Watching Brazil". When the station became Talk Sport in early 2000, he became co-presenter on the weekday 610am programme. The show has since been renamed the 'Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast'. He has had various co-presenters over the years, including Mike Parry, Graham Beecroft and Ronnie Irani. Since Irani left the show in 2013, there has been a variety of co-presenters including

Matt Holland Matthew Rhys Holland (born 11 April 1974) is a former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Holland began his career at West Ham United, having previously been with Arsenal's academy. During his time at West Ham spent time out on ...

, Ray Parlour,

David Ginola David Ginola-Ceze (born 25 January 1967) is a French former professional footballer who has also worked as an actor, model and football pundit. A former forward, Ginola played football for ten seasons in France before moving from Paris Saint-G ...

, Dominic Cork,

Neil Warnock Neil Warnock (born 1 December 1948) is an English former football manager and player. He is also a television and radio pundit. In a managerial career spanning five decades, Warnock has managed sixteen different clubs from the Premier League to ...

and Brian Moore. Brazil missed a show in March 2004 and was dismissed by the station, but he was reinstated three weeks later. While reacting to the death of actor

Robin Williams Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951August 11, 2014) was an American actor and comedian. Known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and come ...

in August 2014, Brazil said on his talkSPORT show that he did not have a lot of sympathy for people who commit suicide as it leaves their families in a "diabolical" situation. Many listeners criticised Brazil for not showing any regard for Williams having suffered from depression. The station apologised for offence caused and said it did not agree with his opinion. From April 2020 Brazil's role at Talksport was altered with him hosting Talksport Breakfast two days a week on Thursdays and Fridays with Laura Woods becoming host of the show from Monday to Wednesday with a statement from station stressing that Brazil's role at Talksport would be 'expanded'.

Personal life

In the early 1970s, Brazil was subject to abuse at

Celtic Boys Club St Patrick's Sports Academy is a youth football and sports club based in Motherwell, near Glasgow in Scotland. It operates football teams in age groups from under-9 to under-19. Formerly Celtic Boys Club, it helped more than 50 players towards pr ...

, by Jim Torbett. When Torbett was charged and tried in 1996, Brazil was a witness for the prosecution. Torbett was found guilty on

child abuse Child abuse (also called child endangerment or child maltreatment) is physical, sexual, and/or psychological maltreatment or neglect of a child or children, especially by a parent or a caregiver. Child abuse may include any act or failure to a ...

charges and sentenced to two years in prison. Having retired from English league football aged 27 due to injury, for several years in the 1990s Brazil ran the Black Adder pub in Ipswich. This business venture failed and Brazil was declared bankrupt. A fan of

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic pr ...

, in 2003 he formed the Alan Brazil Racing Club based at Newmarket near to his home in

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include ...

. In 2006 Brazil published a book co-written with Mike Parry called ''There's an Awful Lot of Bubbly in Brazil''. This was followed in 2007 by ''Both Barrels from Brazil: My War Against the Numpties'', again co-written with Parry. In September 2007, Brazil was arrested near

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton ...

in Suffolk on suspicion of drink-driving. He was convicted, banned from driving for 20 months, and given a £750 fine, as well as being ordered to pay £450 compensation to the court. In 2011, Brazil brought out a range of bar nuts named 'Alan Brazil's Nuts', a play on

Brazil nut The Brazil nut (''Bertholletia excelsa'') is a South American tree in the family Lecythidaceae, and it is also the name of the tree's commercially harvested edible seeds. It is one of the largest and longest-lived trees in the Amazon rainforest ...

s. The packages have barcodes readable by

smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whi ...

s for accessing Talksport-related media. The nuts are produced at an Intersnack factory in

Haverhill, Suffolk Haverhill ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in the county of Suffolk, England, next to the borders of Essex and Cambridgeshire. It lies about south east of Cambridge, south west of Bury St Edmunds, and north west of Braintree and Colche ...

, with profits going to the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation. Robson, who died from cancer in 2009, was Brazil's manager at Ipswich. The range of salted and dry roasted

peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics, important to both small an ...

s were due to be extended to

cashew The cashew tree (''Anacardium occidentale'') is a tropical evergreen tree native to South America in the genus ''Anacardium'' that produces the cashew seed and the cashew apple accessory fruit. The tree can grow as tall as , but the dwarf cul ...

s and chilli nuts in 2012.

Honours

Ipswich Town *

: 1977–78 *

: 1980–81 Tottenham Hotspur *UEFA Cup: 1983–84 Individual * Ipswich Town Player of the Year: 1981–82 * Ipswich Town Hall of Fame: Inducted 2013

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brazil, Alan 1959 births Living people People from Govan People from Newmarket, Suffolk Footballers from Glasgow People educated at Holyrood Secondary School Scottish footballers Association football forwards Ipswich Town F.C. players Detroit Express players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Witham Town F.C. players Bury Town F.C. players Wollongong Wolves FC players Chelmsford City F.C. players FC Baden players Stambridge United F.C. players Felixstowe & Walton United F.C. players Achilles F.C. players Wivenhoe Town F.C. players English Football League players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players National Soccer League (Australia) players UEFA Cup winning players Scotland under-21 international footballers Scotland international footballers 1982 FIFA World Cup players Scottish expatriate footballers Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Australia Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate soccer players in the United States Expatriate soccer players in Australia Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Scottish association football commentators Scottish radio personalities Essex Senior Football League players