Alan Brazil

Ipswich and Scotland striker, and the morning voice of British sports radio for over twenty years

Football

The story

Some careers get better after the boots come off. Alan Brazil's is one of them.

Brazil came through as a kid in Glasgow and signed for Ipswich Town in 1977. He scored 80 goals in 210 appearances for the Bobby Robson side that won the UEFA Cup in 1981, defeating AZ Alkmaar in the final, and went to the 1982 World Cup in Spain with Scotland as the youngest member of the squad. A move to Tottenham Hotspur followed in 1983, where he was part of the side that won the UEFA Cup the following year. Spells at Manchester United and Coventry followed before he retired, relatively young, in 1986. The story of the playing days is good. The story of what came next is better.

Brazil found his voice on radio. From 2000 onwards he was the anchor of the talkSPORT breakfast show for more than two decades, a role that made him one of the most listened-to voices in British sport. The show became a morning ritual for taxi drivers, tradesmen, City commuters and footballers alike. It was loud, opinionated, genuinely funny, and occasionally chaotic. Brazil could interview a prime minister at 08:05 and have a row with a regular caller at 08:15.

The after-dinner circuit followed naturally. Brazil tells the Brian Clough stories, the Bobby Robson stories, the dressing room stories, and the radio stories, and he tells them in the cadence of someone who has been telling them beautifully for forty years.

Career highlights

  • 80 goals in 210 appearances for Ipswich Town, UEFA Cup winner 1981
  • 13 Scotland caps including the 1982 FIFA World Cup squad in Spain
  • UEFA Cup winner with Tottenham Hotspur in 1984
  • talkSPORT Breakfast Show host from 2000 for over two decades
  • Joined Tottenham Hotspur in a significant transfer deal in 1983
  • One of the most popular after-dinner speakers on the football circuit

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