Editing Stuart Pearce (section)

==Club career==

===Early career===
Pearce failed a trial at [[Queens Park Rangers F.C.|Queens Park Rangers]] and then rejected an offer from [[Hull City A.F.C.|Hull City]], instead settling into a career in the [[non-league football|non-league]] game with his local side, [[Wealdstone F.C.|Wealdstone]], while training and working as an [[electrician]]. For almost five years, he was the first-choice full-back for the team, then amongst the biggest names of non-league football in the [[National League (English football)|Alliance Premier League]].

===Coventry City===
In 1983, Wealdstone received an unexpected offer of £30,000 (then a very large sum for a semi-professional player) for Pearce from top-flight club [[Coventry City F.C.|Coventry City]]. ''Sky Blues'' manager [[Bobby Gould]] had been to watch Wealdstone and was impressed by Pearce's determination and combative attitude. Pearce agreed to the step-up in clubs reluctantly&nbsp;– making his professional debut for Coventry immediately. He established himself as an uncompromising left-back who played in a hard but fair manner.

===Nottingham Forest===
Two years later in 1985, Pearce was brought to [[Nottingham Forest F.C.|Nottingham Forest]] by manager [[Brian Clough]] in a combined deal which also saw Coventry centre-back [[Ian Butterworth]] move to Forest. Despite the transfer, Pearce was still unsure of his prospects in the professional game and even advertised his services as an electrician in Forest's match-day programme.

Pearce spent twelve years at Forest, most of it as club captain. During his playing career, he won two [[Football League Cup|League Cups]] and the [[Full Members Cup]], while also scoring from a [[Direct free kick|free-kick]] in the [[1991 FA Cup Final|1991 FA Cup final]], when Forest were beaten by [[Tottenham Hotspur F.C.|Tottenham Hotspur]]. In his time at the [[City Ground]], Pearce was one of the Forest players who had to cope with the horrors of the [[Hillsborough disaster]] during the opening minutes of their FA Cup semi-final against [[Liverpool F.C.|Liverpool]]. Pearce played in the rescheduled match at [[Old Trafford]], which Liverpool won 3–1. He helped them finish third in the league that year (as they had done a year earlier), and also contributed to their victories in the [[EFL Cup|League Cup]] and Full Members Cup. He helped them retain the League Cup a year later and in 1991 he had his first crack at the [[FA Cup]], and despite giving Forest an early lead against Tottenham in a match most remembered for the knee injury suffered by Pearce's opponent [[Paul Gascoigne]], Pearce ended up on the losing side as Spurs came back to win 2–1. He missed out on a [[Wembley Stadium (1923)|Wembley]] appearance the following season as Forest lost 1–0 to [[Manchester United F.C.|Manchester United]] in the [[1992 Football League Cup Final|1992 League Cup final]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sporting-heroes.net/football-heroes/displayhero_club.asp?HeroID=42765|title=Sporting Heroes|work= Sporting-Heroes.net|publisher=George Herringshaw}}</ref>

In 1993, Forest were relegated from the Premier League and [[Brian Clough]] resigned after 18 years as manager, but Pearce opted to stay at the [[City Ground]] and captained Forest to an instant return to the top flight as Division One runners-up. He helped Forest finish third in the Premier League in 1995 and reach the [[UEFA Cup]] quarter-finals in 1996.

In [[1996–97 in English football|1996–97 season]], Forest struggled in the league and manager [[Frank Clark (footballer)|Frank Clark]] resigned in December, which saw 34-year-old Pearce appointed [[caretaker manager|caretaker]] [[player-manager]] of Forest in December 1996. His first match in charge was at home to [[Arsenal F.C.|Arsenal]] in the league. He admitted in an interview with ''[[Match of the Day]]'' that, in his first attempt at picking a starting XI, he did not realise until it was pointed out to him by his wife that he had omitted [[Goalkeeper (association football)|goalkeeper]] [[Mark Crossley]]. Forest, however, won the match 2–1, coming from behind after an [[Ian Wright]] goal with two goals from [[Alfie Haaland]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.soccerbot.com/fa/results/ukprem97.htm|title=UK Premier League 1996-1997 |work=Soccerbot}}</ref> Despite winning [[FA Premier League Manager of the Month|Manager of the Month award]] in January 1997, he would later share the caretaker role with [[Dave Bassett]], and Forest were relegated, finishing in bottom place.

Pearce opted to leave the club on a free transfer at the end of the [[1996–97 in English football|1996–97 season]] after 12 years at the City Ground.

===Later career===
Pearce joined [[Newcastle United F.C.|Newcastle United]] along with fellow veterans [[John Barnes (footballer)|John Barnes]] and [[Ian Rush]] in the 1997–98 season under [[Kenny Dalglish]], and played in the [[1998 FA Cup Final|1998 FA Cup final]], though again he emerged on the defeated side. He scored once during his spell at Newcastle, in a [[UEFA Champions League]] tie against [[FC Dynamo Kyiv|Dynamo Kyiv]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football-champions-league-newcastle-finish-campaign-in-the-right-vein-1288179.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220525/https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football-champions-league-newcastle-finish-campaign-in-the-right-vein-1288179.html |archive-date=25 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Newcastle finish campaign in the right vein|publisher=ESI Media|work=The Independent|date=10 December 1997 |access-date=3 November 2009| first=Simon| last=Turnbull}}</ref> Eventually, Pearce was isolated, along with other players including Barnes and [[Rob Lee]], after [[Ruud Gullit]] succeeded Dalglish. A number of players were treated coldly by Gullit, and Pearce along with Barnes and Lee were made to train with the reserves despite cumulatively having over 150 England caps between them. As result Pearce didn't make any first team appearances for Newcastle after December 1998.<ref>{{Soccerbase season|6210|1998|name=Stuart Pearce|access-date=24 June 2024}}</ref> Both Pearce and Barnes assert in their autobiographies Gullit felt threatened by the senior players in the squad, and they felt they were being sidelined to prevent them challenging him for the manager's position should it arise. Pearce claims also that he once kicked Gullit up in the air during a training session, and a number of other players sniggered at this due to Gullit's poor relationship with them.<ref>{{cite book|title=Psycho: The Autobiography |author=Stuart Pearce|id={{ASIN|0747264821|country=uk}} }}</ref>

Pearce went on to play for [[West Ham United F.C.|West Ham United]], a year after falling out of favour with Gullit. He made his debut on 7 August 1999 in a 1–0 home win against Tottenham Hotspur. His first goal came on 21 October 2000 in a 2–1 home defeat to Arsenal. He made 50 appearances in all competitions, scoring three goals and in 2001 he was named [[West Ham United F.C.#Hammer of the Year|Hammer of the Year]].<ref name=Hoty>{{cite web|title=Stuart Pearce|url=http://www.westhamstats.info/westham.php?west=2&ham=734&united=Stuart_Pearce|work=WestHamStats.info|access-date=18 May 2013}}</ref>

In the summer of 2001, he was [[Kevin Keegan]]'s first signing for [[Manchester City F.C.|Manchester City]] for what would be the final season in his career. He [[Captain (association football)|captained]] the club to the First Division championship and scored direct from a free-kick on his debut, against [[Watford F.C.|Watford]]. In the final game of his career, against [[Portsmouth F.C.|Portsmouth]], he had the chance to reach 100 career goals.<ref>{{cite news| title = Retiring Pearce hunts ton| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/1939915.stm|publisher=BBC Sport| date = 19 April 2002| access-date =24 February 2008}}</ref> He took a [[Penalty kick (association football)|penalty kick]] for City four minutes into [[injury time]], but missed it along with the chance to reach his target.<ref>{{cite news| title = Pearce left red-faced| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/1935818.stm|publisher=BBC Sport| date = 21 April 2002| access-date =24 February 2008}}</ref>

===Amateur football===
On 28 January 2016, at the age of 53 and more than thirteen years after retiring, Pearce signed as a player for non-league side Longford, a club from [[Longford, Gloucestershire]]. The club was dubbed as "the worst in the UK" as they lost all their games at that date with a single goal scored and 179 conceded and lying at the bottom of the [[Gloucestershire Northern Senior League]] Division Two, the [[English football league system|13th tier of English football]].<ref name=Longford>{{cite news | title = England legend Stuart Pearce signs for Longford AFC | url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-35428976 |publisher=BBC News | date = 28 January 2016 | access-date =28 January 2016}}</ref> On 12 March, Pearce made his debut for Longford as a second-half substitute in a 1–0 loss against Wotton Rovers.<ref>{{cite news | title = Stuart Pearce makes Longford AFC debut as sub | url =  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-35794620 |publisher=BBC News | date = 12 March 2016 | access-date = 12 March 2016}}</ref>