Simon Grayson
Simon, or ‘Larry’ Grayson as he is affectionately known was named as the bright new Manager of Leeds United in December 2008. Previously he was appointed Blackpool Manager in the summer of 2006, having already taken the roles of Player, Captain, Youth Coach, Reserve Team Manager, and Caretaker Manager at Bloomfield Road.
Simon Grayson is a Celebrity Appearance Consultant for us
‘Larry’ had an illustrious playing career spanning more than 500 games, the highlight with him being the first Captain in Leicester City’s history to lift a major trophy at Wembley, when the Foxes defeated Derby County in the First Division Play Off Final.
Big money moves to Aston Villa and Blackburn Rovers followed, and then Larry had various loan spells at Sheffield Wednesday, Nott’s County, Stockport County and Bradford City before he joined Blackpool in 2002.
After guiding Blackpool away from relegation when he first took the Managerial reigns, the following season he led them to a Wembley Play Off Final victory, and followed that up by securing their place in the Championship with a 16th place finish in 2007/2008.
Playing Honours:
Leicester City
- First Division play-off winner: 1993-94, 1995-96
- League Cup winner: 1996-97
Blackpool
- League Trophy winner: 2003-04
- Managerial Honours to date
- Blackpool
- League One play-off winner: 2006-07
- League One Manager of the Month: December 2006, April 2007
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Chris Kamara
A former ‘hard man’ midfielder, Kammy played for 11 clubs in his career, with the the highlight being part of the 1992 Championship-winning Leeds United Squad under Howard Wilkinson.
After retiring from playing Bradford City, he switched to the role of Team Manager with The Bantams. It was during his two-year management stint that the team was promoted into the First Division for 1995/96 and it was Kamara who assembled most of the team that moved up again, into the Premiership.
Chris began commentating in 1996 while he was still a manager at Stoke City, working for Sky Sports and YTV. He has also commentated for Radio 5.
Kammy now presents Sky Sports’ Goals On Sunday Show and provides additional commentary on some of Sky’s Televised Matches. Perhaps he is most renowned for The Soccer Saturday Programme, where he usually appears over live Video Link providing brief updates on the Match.
An irrepressible character, he is often known to get over excited and exclaim, “unbelievable, Jeff!” To host Jeff Stelling, a phrase which has become his trademark catchphrase.
Chris is an excellent after dinner speaker, and has the perfect profile and personality for any of your forthcoming personal appearance requirements.
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John Barnes
John was born in Kingston, Jamaica on November 11 1963, and his footballing career began at Watford in 1981. After a hugely successful spell at a Graham Taylor led Watford, he signed for Liverpool Football Club in 1987, where he won an FA Cup and Two League Championship medals along the way. John was a full England international and scored 12 goals in 78 appearances.
John was voted football writers player of the year in 1988 and 1990 and was also footballer of the year in 1988. In 1997 he was awarded him MBE for services to the game. He retired from football in 1999 after spending short spells at Newcastle and Charlton, and then he had a brief spell as Manager of Celtic.
‘Digger’ famously topped the charts on 2 separate occasions when rapping on the Liverpool’s FA Cup Final song in 1988 and again on England 1990 World Cup song World in Motion.
He is now involved in numerous TV and media work and has just been appointed national coach for Jamaica. A massive honour, John has also been announced as one of the ambassadors along with David Beckham and Prince William for England’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup. He is available for all speaking engagements, golf days, corporate events, media days and guest appearances.
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Willie Thorne
His playing career has been showered with success, with a total of 14 tournament victories worldwide. “The Great WT”, as he is affectionately known, was a regular in the Top 16 World Ranking players for well over a decade. Willie is the World Record holder of the highest number of 147 breaks in the history of snooker, earning him the nickname “Mr Maximum”. Willie has established himself as one of the great characters of the game for over twenty-five years.
Willie is a well known sporting celebrity, with numerous appearances on TV including Strictly Come Dancing,Wogan, Big Break, Noel’s House Party, You Bet, Question of Sport, They Think its All Over, Sporting Triangles, Des O’Connor, The Salon, Breakfast TV, Fantasy Football and Through the Keyhole to name a few.
Willie has also hosted 16 shows for Sky TV called Cue Masters and is now a TV commentator for all the major snooker championships on Sky TV, ITV and BBC, maintaining his status as a household name.
Top class performers in any sporting discipline are a rare breed but few have the ability to be truly entertaining and hold an audience. A scarce commodity indeed that has made Willie one of the nation’s most popular sporting celebrities.
Due to Willie’s vast experience of TV appearances and presenting, combined with his instantly recognisable features, Willie has established himself as one of the UK’s leading after dinner speakers, auctioneers, hosts and MC’s. Willie is a must for any event, such as conferences, corporate hospitality, golf days, snooker exhibitions and many more.
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Matt Le Tissier
After a trial at Oxford United, who rejected him for being overweight, Le Tissier signed for Southampton in May 1985.
Matt played his first professional game on September 2, 1986 and went on to play 443 league games for Southampton, 52 League Cup games, 33 FA Cup games and 12 other official games, making a total of 540. He scored 209 goals for his club including 49 out of 50 penalties!
His top scoring season was 1993-94, when he scored 30 goals, made more remarkable due to his struggling side. The following season he won the coveted Match Of The Day Goal of the Season award for his drifting 40-yard lob against Blackburn Rovers.
Already well established in Southampton folk-lore, he scored the last goal in the final competitive match played at The Dell on May 19, 2001 against Arsenal. After being out most of the season due to injury, he was brought on as a substitute near the end of the match to the delight of the fans, and sticking to a “boys-own” script, he scored a spectacular left-footed volley on the turn from outside the penalty box to earn The Saints a 3-2 win; this turned out to be Arsenal’s last away defeat for over a year.
England - As a Channel Islander, he was eligible for any of the Home Nations teams as well as eligible to play for France!
He played 8 times for England from 1994 to 1998.
His crowning international moment was his hat-trick for the England B team in a game against Russia in which he also hit the crossbar twice, prior to the 1998 World Cup Finals. Despite his sterling performance, in a bitter-sweet end to his international career manager Glenn Hoddle failed to select Le Tissier for the full World Cup squad.
Matt has been honoured by receiving the freedom of the city of Southampton and has also had one of the luxurious hospitality suites at the St Mary’s Stadium named after him. An apartment block built on the old site of The Dell is also named after him.
On 7 February 2007, Le Tissier had a plane in the Flybe fleet named after him on his home island of Guernsey.
After retiring as a player, Matt now works as a pundit on Soccer Saturday for Sky Sports, and is a very popular and humorous speaker on the After Dinner Circuit.
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Kenny Burns
Kenny Burns the former Scotland international footballer, was most famous for his time with Nottingham Forest, where he played a vital role in their European Cup successes. Burns started his career with Rangers as an apprentice but left for Birmingham City aged 17, in 1971. While with the Blues he was primarily a striker, and he earned the first of his 20 caps in that role in 1974.
After joining Nottingham Forest for £150,000 in 1977, he was converted into a central defender by Brian Clough and Peter Taylor. Burns proved a great success in his new role and was voted FWA Footballer of the Year in 1977-78, as Forest won the First Division title. He was an influential figure in the side’s European Cup campaigns over the next three seasons, his defensive partnership with Larry Lloyd instrumental to Forest’s victory in the 1979 and 1980 tournaments. At one time he was renowned for his ‘wild man’ image and while maintaining an aggressive nature, he also possessed a shrewd football brain and was always likely to score vital goals.
Burns left the City Ground in 1981 when Forest accepted a £400,000 offer from Leeds United for him. He stayed with the Yorkshire side until 1984 and he would also play with Derby County, Notts County (on loan), Barnsley and Elfsborg in the latter stages of his career.
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Archie Gemmill
Although only 5ft 5ins tall Archie Gemmill made up for his lack of inches by his determination and enthusiasm. Born in Paisley, Scotland he began his career at St Mirren before being transferred to Preston North End in 1967 for £16,000. It was there that he came to the attention of Brian Clough, who actually slept in Archie’s house to secure his signature!
It was after moving to Derby County to play under Brian Clough that Gemmill really kick started his career. He helped Derby to two League titles in 1972 and 1975 and played 261 games before he moved to the City Ground to rejoin Brian Clough at Nottingham Forest. He played 78 games for Forest and was a huge favourite before moving on to Birmingham, Wigan and then back to Derby.
Archie won 43 caps for Scotland, and played in the 1978 World Cup finals in Argentina, scoring one of the wonder goals of the tournament in a World Cup first round tie against Holland.
Domestic Honours:
- 3 League Championships 1972, 1975 and 1979
- European Cup 1979
- League Cup
- Over 600 League Appearances
- International Honours
- 43 Caps for Scotland
- World Cup Argentina 1978
