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Date and Place of Birth 24th July 1975 - EASINGTON
Transfers to and from Burnley youth from summer 1991 to YORK CITY - 15th March 2001
First and Last Burnley Games PORTSMOUTH (a) - 2nd January 1995 sub: replaced Craig Armstrong
PRESTON NORTH END (h) - 4th March 2000 sub: replaced Andy Cooke
Other Clubs TORQUAY UNITED (loan from BURNLEY), HALIFAX TOWN (loan from BURNLEY) ---------------------------------------- YORK CITY, BURY |
Burnley Career Stats
| Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Others | Total | |||||
| apps | gls | apps | gls | apps | gls | apps | gls | apps | gls | |
| 1994/95 | 2(3) | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2(3) | - |
| 1995/96 | 7(2) | - | - | - | - | - | 2 | - | 9(2) | - |
| 1996/97 | 37(2) | - | 3(1) | - | 2(1) | - | 2 | - | 44(4) | - |
| 1997/98 | 37(3) | 1 | 2 | - | 3 | - | 3(1) | - | 45(4) | 1 |
| 1998/99 | 33(1) | - | 1 | - | 2 | - | 1 | - | 37(1) | - |
| 1999/2000 | 4(3) | - | - | - | 1 | - | 0(1) | - | 5(4) | - |
| Total | 120(14) | 1 | 6(1) | - | 8(1) | - | 8(2) | - | 142(18) | 1 |
Profile by Andy Ashworth
Brassy was a footballer never blessed with amazing skills, though as far as I was concerned he made up for this with his first class attitude on the pitch.
He signed for us from our youth ranks but cut his teeth in league football during a loan spell at Torquay. Back at Burnley he served under a string of managers and slowly saw himself moved from his original position at right back into the centre of defence. For a spell he was named captain and at one point was linked with a (moderately) big money move away from the club, with Sunderland allegedly sniffing around.
Under Stan Ternent he was slowly phased out of the 1st team and he found himself available for transfer. He spent time at Halifax on loan and then moved on just before his contract was due to expire.
His next port of call was York City, joining them as a 25 year old. He quickly became an integral part of the side, being named captain in his 1st season. What happened in his 2nd term however, shocked everyone. At 27 years of age he became the new player/manager at the club, replacing Terry Dolan. He was their youngest ever manager and the youngest league boss for over 50 years.
After an encouraging start results took a turn for the worse and York dropped out of the league. After a poor start to the next season he was sacked and replaced by Viv Busby - a man the club had brought in to help him. Chris stayed on as a player but before long Busby was also relieved and Brassy found himself unwanted as a player by the new regime.
A loan spell, followed by a permanent deal at Southport gave him the first team football he craved and he stayed with the Sandgrounders for a season before accepting a role as player/coach with Bury.
His time at Bury has not gone without incident though and he has etched his name into football folklore with his comedic own goal against Darlington. He may be remembered by fans up and down the country for this alone, but me, I'll remember him for being a defender who would put his body on the line to make sure the ball did not cross the goal line of his team.
Released at the end of the 2006/07 season by Bury he was invited back for pre-season training but failed to win a contract. He joined Hyde United as a player but combined that with a role at Bury in charge of their Centre of Excellence.
On 15th January 2008 he answered the call from Bury to become caretaker manager of Bury following the sacking of Chris Casper and Keith Alexander. His first game in charge saw them win an FA Cup replay against Championship side Norwich City.
Any hopes he had of winning the job on a permanent basis were dashed when they suffered a 5-1 home defeat against Franchise and two days later, on Monday 4th February 2008, Alan Knill was appointed manager. Despite the cup win Bury had won just one point from the three league games whilst Brass was in caretaker charge.
After a couple of months helping Knill he returned to the Centre of Excellence but in January 2009 he accepted the permanent position as assistant manager. After working with a contract alongside Knill, he was given a deal in October 2010 until the end of the 2011/12 season.
Knill left Bury in March 2011 to become manager of Scunthorpe United and Brass joined him to continue as his assistant.When Knill was sacked at the end of October 2012, and replaced by former Claret Brian Laws, Brass continued but on 4th December 2012 had his contract terminated for cost reasons. He rejoined Knill at Torquay for a short time and in December 2013 returned to Bury as assistant manager to David Flitcroft. After a season and a half in that role he was elevated to Head of Football Operations in June 2015.
Links
Brassy gets Bury contract (25/10/10)
No Brass at Scunthorpe (04/12/12)