Bryan Gunn

Aberdeen

Gunn commenced his professional career with Aberdeen in 1980, (signing a week prior to Eric Black who came from the same part of the country) and forged a good relationship with Aberdeen manager Alex Ferguson — evidenced by the fact that in 1997 Ferguson brought Manchester United to Carrow Road for Gunn's testimonial match. While an apprentice at Aberdeen, Gunn was a frequent babysitter for Ferguson's children. He later said, "I probably babysat more than I played". Gunn portrays the relationship as warm, but businesslike:

I'd stay over and we'd read the Sunday papers together. He was good to me. I was struggling for cash once and went in and told him I was going on holiday and was there any chance of an advance. He got on the phone and said: "Big Bryan Gunn's coming down to sign a new contract." It wasn't what I meant. I got my holiday money but he got another year out of me, too. As a youngster, Gunn did not always play in goal and he was viewed as a handy outfield player in his early years at Aberdeen. Ferguson recalls, "He could strike a ball as well as anyone, so well in fact that I once played him at centre-forward in a reserve match ... He scored a brilliant goal ... It was a marvellous moment." However, as a professional, and at his adult height of 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m), Gunn settled into playing in goal. Gunn ascribes much of his goalkeeping success to the support of Belgian Marc De Clerck, a specialist goalkeeping coach at Aberdeen. At a time when…

Gunn represented Scotland at the youth international level. He was part of the squad that won the 1982 UEFA European Under-18 Football Championship, but was unavailable to play in the final because Aberdeen had reached the 1982 Scottish Cup Final. He was replaced by Robin Rae for the final, in which the Scots beat Czechoslovakia 3–1. In 1983, Gunn travelled with the Scotland Under-19s to Mexico for the 1983 FIFA World Youth Championship. Gunn played in all four of Scotland's matches and it was a formative experience, as he faced a variety of challenges in the tournament. The adidas ball in use "really zipped through the air", which encouraged long-range shots at the high altitude. In the first match, against South Korea, an element of the 26,000 crowd "clearly didn't like us at all ... I got absolutely pelted with coins ... and rotten fruit". The final insult was when he was hit on the back of the neck by a rancid-smelling plastic bag containing rotten fish. Gunn found it "intimidation ... a nightmare" but adopted the strategy of patrolling the edge of his area to stay out of range and had "one of the best games of my life": he kept a clean sheet as Scotland won 2–0. Scotland's coach and future manager of the full international team Andy Roxburgh told Gunn "it was the best performance he'd ever seen from a Scottish goalkeeper, at any level." The final group match, which Scotland needed to win in order to progress, was against the home side, Mexico. The official attendance at…

Gunn obtained his coaching certification while still with Aberdeen, in 1983, at Largs. After his retirement from playing professional football in 1999, Gunn initially worked on the hospitality staff at Carrow Road, particularly in "The Gunn Club", a catering outlet named in his honour. Over the years, Gunn progressed from hospitality into other corporate positions at Norwich; he acted as sponsorship manager from 1999 to 2006. Manager Peter Grant moved Gunn to the "backroom" sports management side of the business in 2007. Gunn worked in a liaison role in negotiations of possible transfers and loan signings, tasks where he could make use of contacts gained during his playing career. When Glenn Roeder was appointed manager in November 2007, goalkeeping coach James Hollman parted company with the club, and Gunn replaced him for the rest of the season — his first formal coaching role. Later in the season, Gunn was promoted to head of player recruitment, while retaining his goalkeeping coach role.

Manager of Norwich City

Following the sacking of Roeder as Norwich manager in January 2009, Gunn was asked to take temporary charge of the first team. In an interview with BBC Radio Norfolk, he revealed that he "told the players that they've let people down." In his first match as caretaker manager, he received "a euphoric reception" from the fans, and Norwich beat Barnsley 4–0. The players were equally supportive: according to Scotland on Sunday, "in the dressing room…

Gunn was born on 22 December 1963 in Thurso, Scotland, "twenty miles from John o'Groats". His parents were James Gunn, a long-distance lorry driver, and Jessie Sinclair, a canteen worker at the Dounreay nuclear power plant; the pair had married despite being on opposite sides of a family feud stretching back to the 16th century. James was an amateur sportsman, playing football on the right wing for local team Invergordon and winning medals at Highland games events. The Gunn family home in Thurso was a farm, and the young Bryan would often pester the farmhands to play football with him. They would use a turnip if no ball was available. By the age of four he was keen on goalkeeping; he was fearless of injury and enjoyed diving on the ball. When Gunn was four-and-a-half, the family moved to Invergordon, 20 miles from Inverness. He attended Park Primary School in the town and joined the school football team. Future professional Bobby Geddes was favoured over him as first-choice goalkeeper for the team; Gunn played as an outfield player until Geddes moved on to secondary school. Gunn attended secondary school at Invergordon Academy from 1975 to 1980, and gained O Grades in a variety of subjects, including English, maths, history and chemistry. He failed his French exam after taking it while "on the road" with Scotland under-15s. At the age of 13, he was invited to play for the under-15 Invergordon F.C. team by one of his school teachers, who managed the team. The team was beaten…