With more than 70 caps for his country and a distinguished league career, Harry Redknapp knew exactly what he was getting when he swooped for Stuart Pearce on a free transfer in the summer of 1999. In need of a left sided defender, the Hammers boss wasn't put off by the former England captain's age and was delighted to offer him the chance of Premiership football after a spell in the Newcastle shadows. With a vast amount of experience, Redknapp valued Stuart's contribution in the dressing room almost as much as his endeavours on the pitch.

 

Born in Hammersmith, London in 1962, Pearce found his way into the professional game via the non-league route. The left-back played over 100 games for Wealdstone, while training and working as an electrician. In 1983, after a five year spell with the Stones, the non-league side accepted a £30,000 bid from top-flight club Coventry City and signed professional forms for the Highfield Road outfit.

 

Two years later in 1985, Pearce joined Nottingham Forest under Brian Clough; the uncompromising defender played in a hard but fair manner and earned his nickname “Psycho” for his unforgiving style of play. Pearce clearly thought his career in football was not for the long-haul when he took out ad-space in the Forest matchday programme to advise his services as an electrician!

 

Aged 25, he made his international debut for England against Brazil at Wembley on 19 May 1987. Pearce was somewhat of a penalty specialist but suffered the heartbreak of missing the Three-Lions spot-kick against Germany in the 1990 World Cup semi-final in Turin.

 

In 1996/97 season, the City Ground club under manager Frank Clark struggled in the league, with Clark’s resignation Pearce was appointed caretaker player-manger. Despite winning manager of the Month award in January 1997, Forest was relegated in bottom place, and after 12 years at Forest, Pearce opted to leave the club on a free transfer at the end of the season. The England international made over 400 appearances for Forest over twelve years, most of it as club captain, winning two League Cups and the Full Members Cup and scoring 60 goals.

 

Pearce joined Newcastle United under Kenny Dalglish the following season, but after making only 37 appearances he was frozen out by new manager Ruud Gullit. Pearce had no hesitation in joining Harry Redknapp’s West Ham United in July 1999.

 

Pearce made his Hammers debut on 7 August 1999 in the 1-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur in the opening fixture of the season. A month later he gained the last two of his 78 England caps and just five games into his east London career "Psycho" broke his leg in the match against Watford. In March 2000, after a six-month lay-off the veteran lined up in his third game back after injury in the Premiership against Southampton, but hobbled out after just nine minutes, it was later revealed he had sustained a leg brake in exactly the same place.

 

Once again the England legend defied the laws of ageing to overcome this setback to produce outstanding displays for the Hammers in 2000/01. With the sudden departure of Harry Redknapp at the tail-end of the campaign, the West Ham board declined to promote him into the managerial hot-seat that he so wished; instead he became Kevin Keegan’s first signing as he joined Manchester City on a free transfer in June 2001.

 

After ending his playing career at Maine Road, he remained at the club as a coach under Keegan, and later managed them when Keegan left in March 2005. In February 2007, he was appointed manager of the England national Under-21 team, initially part-time in conjunction with his role at Manchester City. His role with the national set-up was extended in January 2008 when new manager Fabio Capello appointed Pearce as a coach for the senior England team in addition to his Under-21 duties.

 

Pearce’s managerial path took him to Nottingham Forest in 2014 and after a spell working with Portsmouth; he joined West Ham as assistant to manager David Moyes in November 2017. He left the club at the end of the season, after Moyes’ contract was not renewed. In August 2020 he returned as first-team coach when Moyes was reinstated as the clubs new manager, but left at the end of the summer of 2022 to pursue other interests. Pearce now works as a football pundit for TalkSport Radio.