Bristol City - Jim Brennan - Nottingham Forest Webjam

In a season where Nottingham Forest has struggled to fill the left back position Jim Brennan was one of the best in the position for the club since legendary former skipper Stuart Pearce.

Brennan was born in Ontario, Canada and initially played his youth football for local side Sora Lazio before joining the Bristol City youth set up as a 16 year old in 1994. He gradually progressed through the ranks into the reserves before making his first team debut in October 1996 in a 2-0 win at Bournemouth. Over the next two seasons Brennan would make a total of 14 league appearances as he became a more regular member of the first team squad as the battled to gain promotion to the Championship

With promotion achieved and the club now in the Championship the 1998/99 season would prove to be the big breakthrough season as he finally established himself as a first team regular. Although it would only be a short stay in the division as the club were relegated after only one season in the second tier Brennan made 29 league appearances and also scored his first professional goal in a 2-2 draw at Stockport. Towards the end of the season Brennan’s good form was rewarded with a call up to the Canada squad for the first time and he won his first cap in a friendly against Northern Ireland.

With Brennan now a regular at Ashton Gate he began the 1999/2000 season hoping to help Bristol City regain their Championship status but his performances were beginning to get noticed elsewhere and after impressing in two League Cup ties against them Nottingham Forest made a £ 1.5million bid for the player.

Nottingham Forest had been relegated from the Premiership the previous season and the club was going through a massive period of change as the previous board of Wray/Scholar/Soar had been replaced by a new one led by Eric Barnes along with the financial clout of Nigel Doughty and they had brought in former England captain David Platt as manager. Keen to show their intention a number of big money transfers were made to try and improve the squad with Italians Moreno Mannini, Gianluca Petrachi and Salvatore Matrecano joined by Riccardo Scimeca in signing for the club. Brennan though not as well known as the other signings became the latest new addition to the ranks.

He immediately became a regular at left back allowing Alan Rogers to play further forward in a left midfield role to which he was more suited. He would play 28 league appearances for his new club in what was a disappointing season for the club as the hoped promotion attempt failed to materialise. Initial reaction from Forest fans was that perhaps the fee was a bit high but he looked a decent signing.

Brennan’s second season at the club would not progress as expected as the combination on the left hand side between Brennan and Rogers not working as expected with Rogers attitude of blaming everyone else for his mistakes beginning to affect Brennan’s form and he would not feature as often as expected making only 12 league appearances during the season and ending the season on loan at Huddersfield Town.

Forest had a change of manager in summer of 2001 when Paul Hart replaced Platt at the helm and the club changed their policy of big spending to one of developing the youth potential. Things looked bleak for Brennan at the start of the campaign when youngster Keith Foy was preferred in the left back position but it was obvious early on that Foy had not got the fitness and attitude required for a professional footballer and Brennan was back in the team.

With Forest now playing a more pleasing on the eye style of football with suited Brennan’s strengths and with Rogers now moved on to Leicester the Canadian began to flourish in the Forest team and would play in 41 league games during the season.

Brennan would be a key performer for the club the following season as the club mounted an unexpected promotion campaign. The only game he would miss during the season would be the final league game where he was rested for the forthcoming play off games where Forest narrowly missed out on a trip to Cardiff after an agonising defeat at Sheffield United. In March of the season Brennan scored what would be his only Forest goal in a 4-0 victory over Norwich City and the Canaries would feature in Brennan’s career a lot sooner.

Brennan was out of contract after the 2002/03 season and it was expected that this would be sorted fairly quickly but time went by and nothing was agreed and then in the summer of 2003 Brennan disappointed at the level of contract offered as well as seeing the club make the permanent signing of Davy Oyen decided to join Norwich City on a Bosman free transfer.

His first year at Carrow Road would initially be a frustrating one as Brennan suffered aan abductor muscle injury which forced him to delay his debut until the end of November but in the end the decision to join Norwich was rewarded as at the end of the season they would win promotion to the Premiership. Brennan would not be a regular in the Premier League and only played in 10 games during the 2004/05 season as Norwich suffered last day heartbreak as they made an immediate return to the Championship as West Bromwich Albion staged their version of the “Great Escape”.

On the clubs return to the Championship Brennan would be a more regular feature in the match day squad though not a regular in the side as he struggled to dislodge Adam Drury at left back. With his contract due to expire at the end of the season and it being unlikely to be renewed Brennan joined fellow Championship side Southampton in January where he would play 14 games on the south coast before being released in the summer.

With options now limited in England Brennan got the call to return home in September 2006 when his home town of Toronto launched a Major League Soccer (MLS) team and Brennan had the honour of being the first player to be signed by the club. Brennan has remained a regular at Toronto and is now the club captain gaining a reputation as Toronto’s “Iron-Man” after playing a number of games with a rib injury. He also made an appearance for the MLS All Star team in 2008 which beat West Ham United 3-2.

Even though the manner of Brennan’s departure from Forest soured some of the fans image of the player he has never been adequately replaced since his leaving and he still looks back on his time at the City Ground with great affection as on his own personal web site states that “Along with Toronto FC, Forest is Brennan’s team. He is a lifelong Red”.

CAREER STATS

LEAGUE CAREER

Bristol City 1996/97 to 1999/2000 51+4 (3)

NOTTINGHAM FOREST 1999/2000 to 2002/03 117+6 (1)

Huddersfield Town (Loan) 2000/01 0+2 (0)

Norwich City 2003/04 to 2005/06 25+18 (1)

Southampton 2005/06 13+1 (0)

NFFC SEASON BY SEASON

1999/2000 League 25 (0)

F.A.Cup 3 (0)

TOTAL 28 (0)

2000/01 League 12 (0)

F.A.Cup 1 (0)

League Cup 2 (0)

TOTAL 15 (0)

2001/02 League 41 (0)

F.A.Cup 1 (0)

League Cup 3 (0)

TOTAL 45 (0)

2002/03 League 45 (1)

Play Offs 2 (0)

F.A.Cup 1 (0)

League Cup 1 (0)

TOTAL 49 (1)

TOTAL League 123 (1)

Play Offs 2 (0)

F.A.Cup 6 (0)

League Cup 6 (0)

TOTAL 136 (1)

INTERNATIONAL CAREER

Canada 1999 to 2008 49 (6)

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