Viv Anderson

Nottingham Forest

Anderson had broken into the Nottingham Forest team during 1974 and became a regular after the arrival of Brian Clough as manager of the East Midlands club, then in the Second Division, in January 1975. He was part of the side that won promotion to the First Division in 1977, winning the title, along with the League Cup, a year later. Anderson was one of the first black players to represent top English clubs at the time, and regularly suffered racial abuse from fans of rival teams. He was regularly pelted with bananas and targeted with racist chants. Anderson was part of the Forest team that retained the League Cup (though he missed the final through injury) and then clinched the European Cup in 1979 with victory over Malmö. He picked up his second European Cup winners' medal when they retained the trophy with victory over Hamburger SV in Madrid. Forest did reach a third successive League Cup final that year, but lost to Wolverhampton Wanderers. Additionally, the 1980 European Cup win was to prove to be their last trophy for nine years.

Arsenal

In the summer of 1984, he aimed to revive his career with a move to Arsenal for £250,000. His time at Arsenal saw the club develop from underachieving in the First Division, to enjoying a victory over Liverpool in the 1987 League Cup final, and he finally enjoyed some club success for the first time in seven years since the European Cup. He also scored a vital goal against rivals Tottenham Hotspur…

Anderson made his debut for England in November 1978, for a friendly against Czechoslovakia. He became the third non-white footballer to represent the men's senior England team after Paul Reaney (who had first appeared for England in 1968) and Frank Soo (who appeared for England during wartime). Coach Ron Greenwood was insistent that no political issue was at stake, despite the ever-rising number of young black stars in the game, born and raised in England. His second cap was in a friendly against Sweden in June 1979. His third appearance was his first competitive international as England defeated Bulgaria 2–0 at Wembley in a qualifier for the 1980 European Championships. England had duly got through to the European Championship finals in Italy and Anderson was named in Greenwood's squad, playing in the final group game against Spain as a replacement for Phil Neal. England won 2–1 but did not progress further. Anderson later made his World Cup qualifying debut in a qualifier for the 1982 competition in a 4–0 win over Norway. Injury to Kevin Keegan had meant Greenwood needed to call upon an experienced club captain to lead the team out in Spain, so Ipswich Town's skipper Mick Mills, normally a left-back, was put in the right-back slot (with regular incumbent Kenny Sansom remaining on the left) and both Neal and Anderson missed out. Neal played against Kuwait in the final group game to rest Sansom when qualification had already been assured, but Sansom returned for the second…

Barnsley

In June 1993, Anderson left Hillsborough to be appointed player-manager of Barnsley, following the departure of Mel Machin. In his first season at Oakwell, Barnsley narrowly avoided relegation to Division Two.

Middlesbrough

At the end of the 1993–94 season, Anderson quit Barnsley after just a year to become assistant manager of Middlesbrough under former Old Trafford teammate Bryan Robson. Despite retiring from playing football in 1994, Anderson was still officially registered as a player and following an injury crisis at Middlesbrough he played two games for the club in the 1994–95 season, when they were promoted to the Premier League as First Division champions. After gaining promotion, he finally hung up his playing boots. Anderson helped Robson assemble a side that reached both domestic cup finals (both of which they lost) in the 1996–97 season, although they were relegated due to a three-point deduction for postponing a December fixture at late notice as a result of so many players being unable to play due to illness or injury. However, Boro won promotion at the first attempt and were League Cup runners-up once again. Robson and Anderson left Middlesbrough in June 2001, after surviving a further relegation scare. Anderson has not been employed in football since leaving the assistant manager's job at Middlesbrough.

Anderson was born in Clifton, Nottingham. His parents, Audley and Myrtle, were both from Jamaica. Audley came to England in 1954, while Myrtle arrived in 1955. Despite the racial tensions at the time, Anderson has said his childhood was relatively untroubled by discrimination and his parents must take a lot of credit for protecting him from the worst excesses of the environment they lived in. He spent a year as a schoolboy with Manchester United before being released. He returned to Nottingham where at school he sat and passed three CSEs. He then worked for three weeks as a silkscreen printer that he described as "a glorified tea boy really. I'd get the tea, and get the sandwiches at lunch time. I was just a dogsbody."