Gary Brabin

English football player and manager (born 1970)

Gary Brabin (born 9 December 1970) is an English former professional footballer, coach and manager who is the assistant manager at club Oldham Athletic and the sporting director at club The New Saints. A midfielder with a 12 year career in the English Football League, he represented Stockport County, Doncaster Rovers, Bury, Blackpool, Lincoln City, Hull City and Torquay United. He also played non League football for Gateshead, Runcorn, Boston United, Chester City, Halifax Town, Southport and Burscough, and also played in the Welsh Premier League for Total Network Solutions / The New Saints. He was named as Chester City's Player of the Year in 2001–02, and also won three caps for the England C team. He later went into coaching, firstly with Burscough and The New Saints, before he was appointed manager at Southport in April 2008. Two months later he went on to be named as Cambridge United manager, and despite being named as Conference Premier Manager of the Year for 2008–09, was sacked in July 2009. He later scouted for and coached at Luton Town, before he was promoted to first team manager in March 2011. He led the club to the Conference play off final two months later, which ended in defeat, and he was sacked in March 2012. He returned to Southport as manager in October 2014, before again leaving the club three months later to work as a coach at Everton. He was appointed manager at Tranmere Rovers in May 2015, before being sacked in September 2016. He joined Port Vale as a coach in October 2017, and was appointed assistant manager at Blackpool 11 months later. In June 2019, he returned to Luton Town as the club's assistant manager for the 2019–20 season. He went on to work in the backroom staff at The New Saints and Oldham Athletic.

Brabin began his senior career with Fourth Division side Stockport County, making three appearances under Danny Bergara during the 1989–90 season. He played just one further match at Edgeley Park in the 1990–91 campaign, before leaving the "Hatters" and dropping into the Northern Premier League with Tony Lee's Gateshead following a successful loan period at the Gateshead International Stadium. He then left the "Tynesiders" and joined Conference club Runcorn, who struggled in the 1991–92 and 1992–93 seasons, before he helped the "Linnets" to a fifth place finish in 1993–94. He also made two appearances at Wembley Stadium in the 1993 and 1994 FA Trophy finals as Runcorn lost out 4–1 to Wycombe Wanderers and then 2–1 to Woking.

Brabin departed Canal Street and made a return to the Football League after being signed by Doncaster Rovers manager Sammy Chung for a £45,000 fee in July 1994. He also played three games for the England C team against Wales, Finland and Norway. An FA disciplinary committee later found him guilty of 'ungentlemanly and improper behaviour' and fined him £500 and banned him for two matches to run consecutively with a three match ban he picked up for accumulating 21 disciplinary points. He scored a further three goals from 29 appearances during the 1997–98 season, as player manager Nigel Worthington led the "Seasiders" to a 12th place finish. He played ten games at the start of the 1998–99 season, before leaving Bloomfield Road to join Hull City at the bottom of the Third Division in January 1999.

After leaving Hull, Brabin trained with St. Johnstone and had trials at Plymouth Argyle, Torquay United, Dundee and Dundee United. He left the "Pilgrims" to make a return to the Third Division with Torquay United. He played seven games for Roy McFarland's "Gulls", before he had his contract at Plainmoor cancelled after failing to settle on the coast; he had been sent off against former club Hull City in his second appearance and sent off again in a 2–0 defeat to local rivals Exeter City after elbowing Martin Barlow in the face. He returned to the Conference to score three goals in 17 appearances for Chester City. Despite joining the "Seals" relatively late on in the campaign, he was named as Chester City's Player of the Season as the helped the "Blues" to avoid relegation. Brabin left the Deva Stadium and then signed with Total Network Solutions, and scored six goals in 30 Welsh Premier League matches in the 2002–03 campaign, as TNS finished as runners up to Barry Town. Ken McKenna's Saints again finished second in 2003–04, this time behind Rhyl, as Brabin scored just once from his 18 appearances. He retired on medical advice in February 2004 after suffering from breathlessness.

Brabin was a midfielder, but could also play at centre back due to his heading ability. He guided the "Sandgrounders" into the Conference North play offs, where they were beaten by Stalybridge Celtic in the penalty shoot out after a 2–2 aggregate draw over the two legs of the semi final.

On 23 June 2008, Brabin was named as manager of Cambridge United on a two year contract, taking over from Jimmy Quinn. He led the "U's" to runners up spot in the Conference at the end of the 2008–09 season, finishing just two points behind Burton Albion. United defeated Stevenage Borough in the play off semi finals, but were beaten 2–0 by Torquay United in the play off final at Wembley Stadium. The following month he was named as the Conference Premier Manager of the Year. However, he was sacked from his post at the Abbey Stadium on 13 July 2009 following a series of disputes with the club's board.

Brabin was appointed as chief scout at Luton Town in October 2009. In May 2010, he was named as Luton's assistant manager, taking over from Alan Neilson. He was promoted to manager at Kenilworth Road until the end of the 2010–11 season after Richard Money left the club on 28 March 2011. Brabin secured Luton's place in the Conference Premier play offs, leading them to a 5–1 aggregate victory over Wrexham in the semi finals. In the final at the City of Manchester Stadium, Luton drew 0–0 after extra time with AFC Wimbledon, and eventually lost 4–3 in a penalty shootout that left the club facing a third year at non League level. Brabin received the full support from the Luton board despite the disappointment of the defeat and, one week later, he signed a new two year contract to stay as permanent manager. Brabin was sacked on 31 March 2012 after the team fell out of the play off positions with seven games remaining of the 2011–12 season. His successor, Paul Buckle, led the "Hatters" to the 2012 Conference Premier play off final on 20 May, where they were beaten by York City. Ironically, just five days later Brabin was convicted of using threatening and behaviour, but cleared of assault, following an altercation with two stewards after he was sent to the stands during a match at York City on 19 April 2011.

Brabin returned to Southport for the third time on 6 October 2014, replacing Martin Foyle. He took the club to an FA Cup Third Round tie with Derby County and up to 20th in the Conference. On 20 January 2015, Brabin left Southport to take up a post at Everton to be part of the coaching set up at the under 21 level. His successor at Haig Avenue, Paul Carden, led Southport to a 19th place finish at the end of the 2014–15 season.

On 5 May 2015, Brabin was appointed as the manager of Tranmere Rovers following their relegation to the National League. He guided Rovers to a sixth place finish at the end of the 2015–16 season, missing out on the play offs by just two points. Two of his signings, Andy Cook and James Norwood, would go on to form a highly effective partnership for the club over the following two seasons. He was named as the National League Manager of the Month for August 2016. However, his contract at Prenton Park was terminated on 18 September 2016, with the club in fifth place but in poor form and his relationship with the club's supporters remaining consistently tense. He was succeeded by Micky Mellon, who led Tranmere to the 2017 National League play off final, where they were beaten by Forest Green Rovers.

Brabin was appointed as a coach at EFL League Two side Port Vale by newly appointed manager Neil Aspin in October 2017. In March 2018, he was named as second favourite to take the management position at Wrexham. In September 2018 he left Vale Park to take up the position as assistant manager to Terry McPhillips at EFL League One side Blackpool. He stepped down from the role for "personal reasons" in March 2019. In June 2019, he returned to Luton as one of Graeme Jones's two assistant managers. Brabin departed Luton in March 2020 following Jones's dismissal. In April 2021, he was appointed as the Sporting Director at Cymru Premier team The New Saints. In October 2023, he was appointed assistant manager to Micky Mellon at National League side Oldham Athletic, whilst continuing his role at The New Saints.