A pacy winger that had an eye for a goal, ex-England international Brian Marwood spoke about his productive time at Hull City along with a short loan spell at our first opponents of 2025, Middlesbrough.
Joining Hull City as an apprentice:
“I signed an apprenticeship in 1976. I was a bit of a wrench leaving home at that age as I had never been out of Seaham before, so to come to Hull, it was a very strange place to me, but I very quickly enjoyed the area and the people; they were very friendly. I met Garreth (Roberts) very quickly, as we started at the same time, but I formed a lot of friendships that are still there today.
“It is funny because I struggled a little bit through my apprenticeship,” added Marwood. “Those days, you got three years and I was up against international talent from Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Now, when you bring young boys through the system, they are competing against players from all around the world.
“We played in the Northern Immediate League. We had a good team and competed well. It was myself, Garreth, Steve McClaren just to name a few players, but when I got that professional contract, I really didn’t expect it, because I hadn’t done that well as an apprentice. I was probably a late developer. Physically, I was probably behind everybody, but once I got that opportunity and chance to be a professional and go on from there, I used to work hard and take the most of my opportunities that came along.”
Playing for England:
A glittering career saw Marwood play for Sheffield Wednesday, Arsenal and Sheffield United, along with becoming the 1,011th debutant for England when making his solitary senior appearance for the Three Lions in November 1988, in Riyadh against Saudi Arabia. Playing for Arsenal at the time, despite only featuring for nine minutes, Marwood is proud to have represented his country.
“When you’re a kid, you have those ambitions and dreams. For this kid from a small mining community in the North East that no one probably thought was going to be a football player, to come to Hull and be the last one out of my cohort of players to make their debut and then progress to play for your country and represent England was a unique, special and amazing moment.
“It probably might go down in history as one of the shortest England careers, as at that time I was vying against John Barnes and Chris Waddle, two amazing players. However, it was an incredible feeling that I will never forget. I have been blessed and fortunate to have some amazing moments in football, both as a player and subsequently as an administrator; that will be up there with some of the greatest ones.”
Loan spell at Middlesbrough:
In October 1991, Marwood joined Middlesbrough on a short-term loan. A club that he massively respects, the forward was sad the loan didn’t plan out the way he wanted it to go.
“Lennie Lawerence, who was the manager at Middlesbrough, was very close friends with Dave Bassett, who was my manager at Sheffield United. Dave wanted me to get an opportunity to get fit, so the plan was to go for a month on loan. I remember there was a lot of bad weather so it got extended for another month, but to be honest, I wasn’t fit. I didn’t really do particularly well,” said Marwood.
“It is a great club. I have got a lot of friends at the club and I know the owner Steve Gibson really well. Amazing people. My son was a coach there up until recently. He had an amazing time coaching the Under-18s so I have a lot of respect and a lot of time for Middlesbrough. It was probably the right club at the wrong time for me and for them. I was getting towards the end of my career and I was picking up a lot of injuries and it was such a shame it didn’t really work out.”
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