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Jim Brennan
	Brennan in 2019
Personal information
Full name	James Gerald Brennan
Date of birth	8 May 1977 (age 47)
Place of birth	East York, Toronto, Canada
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s)	Defender
Youth career
1994–1996	Sora Lazio–Woodbridge Strikers
Senior career*
Years	Team
1996–1999	Bristol City
1999–2003	Nottingham Forest
2001	→ Huddersfield Town (loan)
2003–2006	Norwich City
2006	Southampton
2007–2010	Toronto FC
Total
International career
1993	Canada U17
1999–2008	Canada
Managerial career
2011–2012	TFC Academy U17
2012–2014	Toronto FC (assistant)
2015–2017	Aurora FC
2018–2021	York United
Medal record
Representing Canada
Men's soccer
CONCACAF Gold Cup
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

James Gerald "Jim" Brennan (born 8 May 1977) is a UEFA Pro License-holder Canadian soccer coach, analyst and former player. During his playing career he played as a defender in Canada and England, most notably with Bristol City, Nottingham Forest, Southampton F.C. Norwich City (where he won the 2003–04 Football League First Division) and Toronto FC.

He also earned 49 caps for the Canadian national team, was member of the Canada side which won the 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup, and later represented his country at the 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup, the 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup and the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup. He was inducted into the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame in November 2015.^[1]

Club career

Bristol City

A left-sided defender who also has played the left side of the midfield, Brennan grew up in Newmarket, Ontario, and started playing with Bristol City youth team in 1994 and made his professional debut in 1996 with Bristol City against cross town rivals Bristol Rovers in the Football League First Division. In 5 years Brennan had five managers including Russell Osman, Benny Lennartsson, Joe Jordan, John Ward and Tony Pulis. In 64 first-team appearances for City over five seasons, Brennan scored three goals. Brennan started his career in the Bristol City youth team and worked his way into the first team before being sold to Nottingham Forest.

Nottingham Forest

Brennan joined Nottingham Forest for £1.5 million in October 1999 and was bought by ex-England captain David Platt.^{[citation needed]} Brennan was the first Canadian-born player to be sold over the 1 million pound mark.^{[citation needed]} In 146 games played with Forest over four seasons under David Platt and Paul Hart, Brennan scored just once, in a 4–0 victory against Norwich City,^[2] the team he would later go on to sign for. While he was recovering from a double hernia he had a short loan spell at Huddersfield with his old manager Joe Jordan. He also came on as a substitute in two league games while on loan to Huddersfield in 2000–01 and received a red card against Birmingham City and headed back to Forest.^{[citation needed]}

Norwich City

Brennan joined Norwich City on a free Bosman transfer in 2003 and was managed by Nigel Worthington. During the 2003–04 season in Division One of the Football League, Brennan scored twice in just nine appearances, as he battled an abductor muscle injury. His goals came against Everton in the FA Cup^[3] and Coventry City in the league.^[4] Despite his personal struggles with fitness, the season saw Norwich win the First Division title and promotion back to the Premier League.

Southampton

Brennan joined George Burley at Southampton on 27 January 2006 with his contract due to expire in summer having failed to make an impact on the Norwich first team after a series of injuries. However, after finishing his contract he left the club the following May and departed England to play for his hometown team Toronto FC.

Toronto FC

On 8 September 2006, Brennan signed with MLS team Toronto FC for the 2007 season, becoming the first player and captain in club history. Brennan remained captain under Mo Johnston, John Carver, Chris Cummins and Preki.^[5] He also became the first Canadian to score for Toronto FC, registering a goal off a free kick against the Columbus Crew on 26 May 2007. This goal subsequently became a Sierra Mist Goal of the Week. Brennan went on to play 27 games, all of them starts, for Toronto FC, the most of any player. He earned a reputation as Toronto's "Iron Man," as he managed to play many of his games despite a rib injury, and looked as though he would go on to play every match of the season. Unfortunately, a knee injury prevented Brennan from achieving this feat. Brennan retained the captaincy for the 2008 season, and nearly managed to score in his team's opening match. Brennan has since added goals in 2008 against Chivas USA in Carson, California and to open the 2009 season at Kansas City, off pass from newly acquired Canadian international teammate Dwayne De Rosario.

Brennan also made an appearance during the 2008 MLS All-Star game in his home stadium, BMO Field. The MLS All-Stars won the game 3–2 against West Ham United. On 6 April 2010 Brennan retired as player to become the assistant general manager for Toronto FC.^[6]

International career

Brennan played at the 1993 FIFA U-17 World Championship in Japan, in a team alongside Paul Stalteri and Jason Bent. He then made his senior debut for Canada in an April 1999 friendly match against Northern Ireland and went on to earn a total of 49 caps, scoring 6 goals.^[7] He has represented Canada in 10 FIFA World Cup qualification matches.^[8] He has played for Canada at the Confederations Cup 2001 and played against Brazil, Cameroon and hosts Japan as well he competed at the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Brennan won a gold medal in the 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup defeating Colombia and bronze medal in the 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup defeating South Korea.

International Goals

Scores and results list Canada's goal tally first.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	2 September 1999	Varsity Stadium, Toronto, Canada	Jamaica	1–0	1–0	Friendly match
2	9 October 2000	Winnipeg Soccer Complex, Winnipeg, Canada	Panama	1–0	1–0	2002 World Cup Qualification
3	12 February 2003	June 11 Stadium, Tripoli, Libya	Libya	2–1	4–2	Friendly match
4	13 June 2004	Richardson Memorial Stadium, Kingston, Canada	Belize	4–0	4–0	2006 World Cup Qualification
5	16 June 2004	Richardson Memorial Stadium, Kingston, Canada	Belize	4–0	4–0	2006 World Cup Qualification
6	1 March 2006	Ernst Happel Stadium, Vienna, Austria	Austria	1–0	2–0	Friendly

Coaching career

Toronto FC

Following Brennan's retirement, Toronto FC named him assistant general manager to Mo Johnston. However following the firing of Johnston in the late 2010 season, Brennan's position remained unknown with the club until the new management team was put in place. It included Paul Mariner as director of player development and Aron Winter as head coach.^[9] On 1 March 2011, the club announced that the new position of Brennan within the club would be as head coach of the Toronto FC Academy U-17 team in the Second Division of the Canadian Soccer League; his first coaching position.^[10]^[11]^[12]

On 14 May 2012, Brennan was promoted to first-team assistant coach under Aron Winter.^[13] On 28 September 2013, Brennan filled in for Toronto FC head coach Ryan Nelsen who was serving a suspension.^[14] In August 2014, Brennan was fired along with Nelsen and the rest of the club's first-team staff.^[15]

Aurora FC

In March 2015, Brennan became the executive director and director of soccer operations at the Aurora Youth Soccer Club.^[16]^[17] Under his leadership the club was renamed Aurora FC and gained entry into the semi-professional League1 Ontario.^[17] He created Aurora FC's slogan One Style, One Passion. He coached his sons' 2008 Boys team for about 4 years. He later departed the club in December 2017.^[16] He stopped coaching the 2008 boys in late December 2018.

York United

In 2018, Brennan joined Carlo Baldassarra and Preben Ganzhorn to found the company that owns the Canadian Premier League club York9 FC.^[18] On 27 July 2018, York9 FC announced Brennan would serve as the club's first head coach as well as executive vice president of soccer operations.^[19] On 11 December 2020, the club rebranded as York United FC.^[20]

On 23 November 2021, York United announced that they had parted ways with Brennan with his contract with the club already due to expire prior to the start of the 2022 season.^[21]

Personal life

Brennan's father is from Ireland, while his mother is from Scotland.^[22]

Honours

Player

Bristol City

Football League One runners up: 1997–98

Norwich City

Football League First Division champions: 2003–04

Toronto

Canadian Championship winners: 2009

Canada

CONCACAF Gold Cup: 2000
CONCACAF U-20 Championship: 1996
Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame: 2014 – 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup Squad

Individual

Canadian Player of the Year: 1999
Confederation Cup All-Star Team: 2001^[23]
Toronto FC Player of the Year: 2007
Red Patch Boys Player of the Year: 2007^[24]
Toronto FC Defender of the Year: 2008
2008 MLS All-Star Game: 2008
Toronto FC Humanitarian of the Year: 2009
Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame: 2015

References

^ "Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame announces Class of 2015". Canada Soccer. 15 July 2015. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
^ "Nottm Forest 4–0 Norwich". BBC. 22 March 2003. Retrieved 17 March 2010.
^ "Everton 3–1 Norwich". BBC. 3 January 2004. Retrieved 17 March 2010.
^ "Coventry 0–2 Norwich". BBC. 14 February 2004. Retrieved 17 March 2010.
^ "Toronto FC set to sign first player". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. 8 September 2006. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007.
^ [1]^{[dead link‍]}
^ Appearances for Canada National Team – Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
^ Record at FIFA Tournaments – FIFA
^ "New Management Team Announced". Toronto FC. Toronto. 6 January 2011. Archived from the original on 25 March 2012. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
^ "TFC Trio To Face New Challenges". Toronto FC. Toronto. 23 February 2011. Archived from the original on 23 June 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
^ "Academy Staff | Toronto FC". 10 November 2011. Archived from the original on 10 November 2011. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
^ "Former Toronto FC interim coach Dasovic is named team's North American scout: Dasovic moves from coaching to scouting". The Canadian Press. 23 February 2011.
^ "Reds Make Front Office Changes". Toronto FC. Toronto. 14 May 2012. Archived from the original on 23 June 2015. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
^ "Toronto FC manager, assistant coach to serve suspensions". CBC Sports. The Canadian Press. 27 September 2013. Retrieved 27 September 2013.
^ "Toronto FC fires Ryan Nelsen, coaching staff". CBC Sports. 31 August 2014. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
^ ^a ^b Peter Galindo (27 June 2018). "Jim Brennan named head coach of CPL's York 9 FC". Sportsnet. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
^ ^a ^b Matthew Gourlie (27 July 2018). "Brennan ready to take on coaching role". June of 86. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
^ "Owners Profile". York9 FC. Archived from the original on 28 May 2019. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
^ Benedetti, Micki (7 July 2018). "Jimmy Brennan Announced as Head Coach of York 9 FC". york9fc.canpl.ca. Archived from the original on 28 May 2019. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
^ Davidson, Neil (11 December 2020). "Canadian Premier League's York 9 FC rebrands as York United FC with new logo, colours". TSN. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
^ O’Connor-Clarke, Charlie (23 November 2021). "York United part ways with head coach Jimmy Brennan". Canadian Premier League. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
^ "Hall of Fame: Jim Brennan". Canada Soccer. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
^ "Five Frenchmen in All-Star team". FIFA. 9 June 2001. Archived from the original on 19 April 2016. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
^ "RFB Toronto FC 'Man of the Year' Award". redpatchboys.ca. Archived from the original on 28 June 2018. Retrieved 1 July 2018.