Chris Brunt

Christopher "Chris" Brunt (born 14 December 1984 in Belfast, Northern Ireland) is a Northern Ireland Association football, currently playing for West Bromwich Albion F.C..

Career

He grew up in Belfast, where he attended Newtownbreda Primary School, he then went on to study at Wellington College, Belfast a leading Grammar school in Belfast. He began his career playing for St. Andrews FC youth football teams, during which time he had trials with top English professional teams such as Manchester United and Middlesbrough F.C., eventually signing for the latter.

Sheffield Wednesday

After failing to break into the first team at Middlesbrough F.C., he moved to Sheffield Wednesday F.C in 2004 on an initial short-term deal. A permanent free transfer followed soon after as Brunt signed a two-year contract at Wednesday. In 2004-05, his first full season at the club, Brunt helped Wednesday achieve promotion to the Championship by scoring 5 goals. In July 2005 he agreed a one-year extension to his existing contract.

He went on to hit seven goals the following season, finishing the campaign as the club's top goalscorer. During the 2006-07 campaign Brunt passed the 100 appearance mark for Wednesday, making him the club's most experienced player at the time. He also won the Owls' Player of The Month competition six times. After scoring a number of wonder goals in the 2006-07 season, Brunt revealed he eats gummy bears at half time to energise himself for the second half. His performances earned him a call-up to the Northern Ireland national football team.

Due his to his impressive displays during the 2006-07 season Chris was linked with a move away from Hillsborough in the summer, a rumour which Chris himself denied stating 'I want to stay with Wednesday and score as many goals as possible'. This gave some relief to Wednesday fans who saw him as one of their best players. This was proved when he came top of a poll with 45% of the votes on Vital Football to be named the best Sheffield Wednesday player of the 2006-07 season. He was also included in the, 'Unsung heroes in Championship XI' for the 2006-07 season on the website, 'teamtalk.com'.

With only one year remaining on his contract, negotiations between Brunt and Wednesday broke down in July 2007, due to what the club described as 'excessive wage demands'.

Brunt was linked to Premier League sides Manchester City F.C. and Wigan Athletic F.C., with then Wigan boss, Chris Hutchings saying that Brunt was one of four or five players he was looking to sign. Fulham F.C. had a bid rejected in July 2007, and, according to reports, he also attracted the interest of Everton F.C., and fellow Championship side West Bromwich Albion F.C..

West Bromwich Albion

Albion had a bid accepted for Brunt on 14 August 2007. They completed the signing the next day, in a £3 million four-year deal, which includes £500,000 of performance-related add-ons. Brunt made his Albion debut as a second-half substitute in a 2–0 home win over Barnsley F.C. on September 1, 2007. He scored his first goal for the club in a 3–2 victory away at Scunthorpe United F.C. on 22 September, 2007. Brunt's performance in the 3–0 home win against Plymouth Argyle F.C. on 1 March 2008 saw him named in the Championship Team of the Week. On 28 April 2008 Brunt scored a late equalizing goal against Southampton F.C. in a 1–1 draw; this effectively secured Albion's promotion to the Premier League because of their superior goal difference.
He went on to score the free kick in West Brom's 2-0 win over QPR that sealed automatic promotion.

Honours

With Sheffield Wednesday

- Football League One play-off winners: 2004–05

With West Bromwich Albion

- Football League Championship winners: 2007–08

Personal life

Brunt became a father for the first time on 1 May 2008, when his partner Cathy gave birth to a baby boy named Charlie.
Brunt drives an Audi Q7.