Stuart Pearce
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50%Born
1962 (62 years old)
Birth Place
Shepherd's Bush, EnglandPosition
Left-Back
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Height
178 cm
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SoccerTeam
_Retired Soccer
2nd Team
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Stuart Pearce MBE (born 24 April 1962) is an English professional football manager and former player, who was most recently a first-team coach for Premier League club West Ham United. He was nicknamed "Psycho" for his unforgiving style of play.
As a player, Pearce played as a defender and appeared for Wealdstone, Coventry City, Nottingham Forest, Newcastle United, West Ham United and Manchester City in a career that spanned twenty-two years. He 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. In 2016, he briefly came out of retirement, signing a one-match deal with Longford, from a town in Gloucestershire, a team dubbed "the worst in Great Britain", in order to support the grassroots game.
Pearce's managerial career began at Nottingham Forest in a caretaker role, from December 1996 to May 1997. In November 2000, he was assistant coach to Peter Taylor in Taylor's only match in charge of England. Following his retirement in 2002, he remained with Manchester City as a coach under Kevin Keegan. In 2005, he was named caretaker manager and was given the job permanently that summer. In 2007, he was named caretaker manager of the England national under-21 team, guiding them to the semi-finals of the 2007 UEFA Under-21 Championship. After being sacked by City in May 2007, he was given the England U21 job permanently a month later. Under Pearce, the team finished as runners-up in the 2009 UEFA Under-21 Championship, but failed to make it out of the group stage in the 2013 UEFA Under-21 Championship. In addition, Pearce was an assistant coach under Fabio Capello, managed the Great Britain Olympic football team at the 2012 Summer Olympics, and was caretaker manager of England for one game in February 2012. In 2013, he left the U21s, as his contract was not extended by the Football Association. He 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. He has since coached at Portsmouth and at West Ham United.
Born in Shepherd's Bush, Hammersmith, London, Pearce is the youngest of four children. He has two brothers, Dennis and Ray, and a sister, Pamela. Dennis was once a member of the far right British National Party and was third on the BNP list for London for the 2009 European Parliament election. Ray was formerly a referee, and in September 1986, was a linesman in a League Cup match involving his brother. Pearce first attended Fryent Primary School in Kingsbury, North West London, before attending Claremont High School in Kenton.
Pearce made his debut for England against Brazil in a 1–1 friendly draw at Wembley on 19 May 1987 at age 25. Replacing Kenny Sansom as the first choice left-back for his country, injury prevented him from playing in the 1988 UEFA European Championship. Following the tournament, he was consistently picked as left-back and scored his first England goal in his 21st senior appearance for England on 25 April 1990, scoring in a 4–2 friendly win over Czechoslovakia at Wembley.
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. England progressed to the semi-finals, and Pearce was one of two players (the other being Chris Waddle) to miss a penalty in the shoot-out against West Germany after the match had ended in a 1–1 draw. Pearce left the field in tears.
The following summer, on 8 June 1991, Pearce scored his second England goal in a 2–0 win over New Zealand during the England side's tour of Oceania. This game was his 40th appearance for England.
The Euro 96 games had been England's first competitive matches since the end of the World Cup qualifiers nearly three years earlier. They had not been required to qualify for the tournament due to being hosts. 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 Pearce scored the last of his five goals for England. When Terry Venables became England coach later in 1994, Pearce lost his place to Graeme Le Saux, but then regained it after Le Saux suffered a broken leg in December 1995. Pearce stayed in the side into Euro 96, scoring a penalty in a quarter-final shoot-out against Spain, which England won. His impassioned reaction following his successful penalty in front of the celebrating Wembley crowd became one of the images of the tournament. He also scored in the semi-final shoot-out against Germany, but Germany again won after Gareth Southgate missed his spot-kick.
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 Pearce's form for West Ham prompted a recall for the 37-year-old for two qualifying games for Euro 2000. 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. Pearce's last appearance for England was in a goalless draw in Poland on 8 September 1999 in the Euro 2000 qualifiers. At 37 years and 137 days, he was the third-oldest outfield player ever to appear for England (only Stanley Matthews and Leslie Compton, plus five goalkeepers, have been older).
During his one match tenure, Peter Taylor appointed Pearce as assistant manager. England played, and lost to, Italy away in Turin.
Pearce was married to Liz Cox for twenty years, with whom he has two children. His daughter Chelsea is an equestrian and has regularly competed in eventing since 2010.
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. He lists the Stranglers as one of his favourite bands, having seen them in concert over 300 times. In 2021, he appeared in the music video for their single "This Song".
In 1994, Pearce was accused of directing a racial slur at Paul Ince during a Nottingham Forest–Manchester United match. It was alleged Pearce called Ince an "arrogant black cunt". Pearce has since admitted the offence, saying, "It wasn't right or appropriate at the time, or at any time."
In 1998, 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. Pearce escaped with only minor hand injuries and a stiff back.
In January 1999 and in appreciation of his talents and his support for various charities, Pearce was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by Elizabeth II. His autobiography, Psycho, was released in 2001.
Pearce is a fan of rugby league and is occasionally seen at Warrington Wolves games.
Career Honours
 English Championship 2001-2002 Manchester City |  English Football League Cup 1989-1990 Nottingham F. | English Football League Cup 1988-1989 Nottingham F. |
Career Milestones
Former Youth Teams
Former Senior Teams
1978-1983 |
1983-1985 |
1985-1997 |
1987-1999 |
1997-1999 |
1999-2001 |
2001-2002 |
Former Club Staff
|
2005-2007 Manager |
2007-2013 Manager |
2008-2012 Assistant Manager |
2012-2012 Caretaker Manager |
|
2014-2015 Manager |
2017-2018 Assistant Manager |
2020-2022 Assistant Manager |
Contracts
Fanart
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| West Ham | Appearances | English Premier League | 2000-2001 | 34 |
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| West Ham | Goals | English Premier League | 2000-2001 | 2 |
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