46 Facts About Stuart Pearce

1.

Stuart Pearce was born on 24 April 1962 and is an English professional football manager and former player, who was most recently a first-team coach for Premier League club West Ham United.

2.

Stuart Pearce was nicknamed "Psycho" for his unforgiving style of play.

3.

Stuart Pearce is best known for his twelve-year spell at Forest, where he regularly captained the team and became the club's most capped international, making 76 of his 78 appearances for England while with the club and captaining the national side on nine occasions.

4.

Stuart Pearce returned to Nottingham Forest as manager in July 2014, and initially began the season well, but after a run of poor form, he was sacked in February 2015.

5.

Stuart Pearce has since coached at Portsmouth and at West Ham United.

6.

Stuart Pearce has two brothers, Dennis and Ray, and a sister, Pamela.

7.

Stuart Pearce first attended Fryent Primary School in Kingsbury, North West London, before attending Claremont High School in Kenton.

8.

Stuart Pearce failed a trial at Queens Park Rangers and then rejected an offer from Hull City, instead settling into a career in the non-league game with his local side, Wealdstone, while training and working as an electrician.

9.

Stuart Pearce established himself as an uncompromising left-back who played in a hard but fair manner.

10.

Two years later in 1985, Stuart Pearce was brought to Nottingham Forest by manager Brian Clough.

11.

Stuart Pearce spent twelve years at Forest, most of it as club captain.

12.

Stuart Pearce helped them finish third in the league that year, and contributed to their victories in the League Cup and Full Members Cup.

13.

In 1993, Forest were relegated from the Premier League and Brian Clough resigned after 18 years as manager, but Stuart Pearce opted to stay at the City Ground and captained Forest to an instant return to the top flight as Division One runners-up.

14.

Stuart Pearce helped Forest finish third in the Premier League in 1995 and reach the UEFA Cup quarter-finals in 1996.

15.

Stuart Pearce admitted in an interview with Match of the Day that, in his first attempt at picking a starting XI, he did not realise until it was pointed out to him by his wife that he had omitted goalkeeper Mark Crossley.

16.

Stuart Pearce scored once during his spell at Newcastle, in a UEFA Champions League tie against Dynamo Kyiv.

17.

Stuart Pearce went on to play for West Ham United, a year after falling out of favour with Gullit.

18.

Stuart Pearce made 50 appearances in all competitions, scoring three goals and in 2001 he was named Hammer of the Year.

19.

Stuart Pearce captained the club to the First Division championship and scored direct from a free-kick on his debut, against Watford.

20.

Stuart Pearce took a penalty kick for City four minutes into injury time, but missed it along with the chance to reach his target.

21.

On 28 January 2016, at the age of 53 and more than thirteen years after retiring, Stuart Pearce signed as a player for non-league side Longford, a club from Longford, Gloucestershire.

22.

Roy Keane, who played with Stuart Pearce from 1990 to 1993, is quoted as saying that Stuart Pearce was "a man amongst boys" at Forest.

23.

Stuart Pearce was well known for his prowess from set pieces, being a designated penalty-taker for club and country.

24.

Stuart Pearce played at the 1990 FIFA World Cup, setting up a goal for David Platt in the quarter-final win against Cameroon and operating as a more attacking left-back than normal as England deployed a sweeper system.

25.

All of the matches played between November 1993 and June 1996 had been friendlies, including the clash with Switzerland on 15 November 1995 in which Stuart Pearce scored the last of his five goals for England.

26.

When Terry Venables became England coach later in 1994, Stuart Pearce lost his place to Graeme Le Saux, but then regained it after Le Saux suffered a broken leg in December 1995.

27.

Stuart Pearce stayed in the side into Euro 96, scoring a penalty in a quarter-final shoot-out against Spain, which England won.

28.

Stuart Pearce scored in the semi-final shoot-out against Germany, but Germany again won after Gareth Southgate missed his spot-kick.

29.

Stuart Pearce was not selected for the 1998 World Cup by new coach Glenn Hoddle, but the appointment of Kevin Keegan as Hoddle's replacement and Stuart Pearce's form for West Ham prompted a recall for the 37-year-old for two qualifying games for Euro 2000.

30.

Stuart Pearce's broken leg later put paid to further international chances and he ended his international career in 1999 with 78 caps, which for a time put him in the all-time top ten for England appearances.

31.

Stuart Pearce was touted as a potential successor for England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson.

32.

Stuart Pearce was sacked at the end of the season in May 2007.

33.

In February 2007, before his sacking by Manchester City, Stuart Pearce had been appointed manager of the England national under-21 team, initially part-time in conjunction with his role at Man City.

34.

Stuart Pearce was manager of the U21 team which reached the 2013 UEFA Under-21 Championship in Israel, where they were eliminated after losing all their group matches.

35.

Stuart Pearce managed the Great Britain Olympic football team for their matches at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

36.

Stuart Pearce was appointed as the manager of Nottingham Forest, effective from 1 July 2014.

37.

Under Stuart Pearce, Forest broke their transfer record by signing striker Britt Assombalonga from Peterborough United.

38.

Stuart Pearce did manage to win the reverse fixture against Derby and bring the Brian Clough Trophy back to the City Ground, but this was not enough to keep him in his job.

39.

Stuart Pearce was sacked on 1 February 2015 with Forest in 12th position in the Championship.

40.

Stuart Pearce was married to Liz Cox for twenty years, with whom he has two children.

41.

Stuart Pearce's daughter Chelsea is an equestrian and has regularly competed in eventing since 2010.

42.

Stuart Pearce is a devotee of punk rock and is visible as one of the members of a frenetic audience featured on the inside sleeve of the album God's Lonely Men by one of his favourite bands, the Lurkers.

43.

In 1998, Stuart Pearce was involved in a serious car crash when the car he was driving was crushed by a lorry overturning and landing on the roof of the car.

44.

Stuart Pearce escaped with only minor hand injuries and a stiff back.

45.

In January 1999 and in appreciation of his talents and his support for various charities, Stuart Pearce was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire by Elizabeth II.

46.

Stuart Pearce is a fan of rugby league and is occasionally seen at Warrington Wolves games.