Alan Brazil

Alan Brazil

Personal information
Full name	Alan Bernard Brazil
Position(s)	Forward

Alan Bernard Brazil (born June 15, 1959 in Simshill, Glasgow) is a former Scottish football player. He was a forward before retirement due to injury and alcoholism. His now a popular radio dj on Talksport

Playing career

Ipswich Town

Alan started his career with Ipswich Town F.C. in 1977. He stayed with Town until 1983, appearing a total of 210 times, and scoring 80 goals.

Detroit Express

In 1978, he played for the Detroit Express in the North American Soccer League, appearing in 21 regular season games (9 goals and 7 assists) and 3 playoff games (1 goal and 1 assist)

Tottenham Hotspur

He then moved to Tottenham Hotspur F.C. in March 1983 for the season, making 31 appearances, and scoring 9 times.

Manchester United

In June 1984 he joined Manchester United F.C. for a fee of £625,000. He stayed with United for two seasons, making a total of 41 appearances in the league, the League Cup, the FA Cup and the UEFA Cup. He scored 12 goals whilst with them.

Coventry City

In 1986, he transferred to Coventry City F.C. for £300,000, for a season, making 15 league appearances and scoring twice, before being given a free transfer to Queens Park Rangers. He made a total of 4 appearances for them, failing to score, before finishing his career at Bury Town. In Alan's late career he also played for Chelmsford City Football Club.

Scotland

He also made 13 appearances for the Scottish national team, the most notable of which saw him playing in the World Cup finals in Spain. His career was cut short at the age of 27 due to a serious back injury that could have seen him ending up in a wheelchair if he continued playing football in the top-flight.

Media career

These days, Alan Brazil can be heard presenting talkSPORT's weekday 6-10am slot. He started off co-presenting with Station Director, Mike Parry, then Graham Beecroft but currently co-presents with Ronnie Irani. The show has since been such a hit that it has been named the 'Alan Brazil Breakfast Show'. He gets on well with everyone on the show, especially the resident financial expert Henk Potts with whom he shares a love of carousing.

He is also a big fan of horse racing and, in 2003, formed the Alan Brazil Racing Club based at Newmarket near to his home in Suffolk.Alan also bears a striking resemblance to former jumps jockey Terry Biddlecombe.

Alan’s local course is the Point-to-Point course at Higham, Suffolk. Alan Commutes from Suffolk to London everyday in his Lexus. Although his programme is a sporting one, his views tend to be to the right of centre when he does express them.

Alan was famously sacked in 2004, after the Breakfast Show was broadcast at the Cheltenham Festival, from Tuesday to Thursday. Alan enjoyed himself too much and missed the Friday show. Alan was reinstated after a huge uproar from talkSPORT listeners. His several week absence was explained as due to him being lost in beer tent. As a caveat to his reinstatement, Brazil must now pay a £5000 fine for every show he misses.

Alan has several catchphrases the most common being "Why" which is often said in quick repetition. On hearing a location Alan will usually say "I've never been" or "beautiful" depending on whether or not he has visited it.

Alan is currently being targeted as the co-commentator for Setanta Sports live FA Premier League coverage from August 2007, although nothing is yet confirmed. This would not affect his talkSPORT role.

He is remembered for his monumental clanger in 2004. Talking to Gary Bushell, who was at a Bob Monkhouse Tribute Dinner, he dropped the funniest clanger of radio history. During his call he said ' So, er, Gary. How is Bob's health these days?'. Confused with the question Gary Bushell replied ' Well Alan, he died. That's what the tribute dinner is for' and then Brazil, clearly embarrassed replies ' Well, I, er, heard two versions'. This apparently caused hundreds of people to call in with complaints and several hundreds of people calling in to say how funny it was, due to the fact that Alan Brazil didn't actually realise what he had said.

Victim of child abuse

In the early 1970s, Alan was subject to abuse at Celtic Boys Club, by Jim Torbett. When Torbett was charged and tried in 1996, Alan was a witness for the prosecution. Torbett was given a two-year sentence.

"There's an Awful Lot of Bubbly in Brazil"

In 2006 he released a book co-written with Mike Parry called "There's an Awful Lot of Bubbly in Brazil"

Arrest

On September 16, 2007, Brazil was arrested near Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk in suspiscion of drink-driving more than double the legal limit. [1]

Alcoholism

Alan has battled with alcoholism, and it has been cited as one of the reasons for the end of his footballing career. He has phoned in to Talksport while under the influence to James Whale and Mike Parry often with amusing results.

Honours

As a player

Ipswich Town

• UEFA Cup winner 1981

Tottenham Hotspur

• UEFA Cup winner 1984