Premier League Legends - Brian Deane

It may have been your first instinct to ask: who? And you would be forgiven for not immediately recognizing the name. He may not find himself on the sort of lists which feature Thierry Henry, Wayne Rooney, and Alan Shearer but Brian Deane can boast of an accomplishment to which no other legend in Premier League history may lay claim.

Brian Christopher Deane was born on 07th February, 1968 in Leeds, England. He played as striker for nine different clubs between 1985 and 2006, and made three senior appearances for England’s national team [1991-92].

Deane’s career began at Doncaster Rovers, for whom he scored 13 goals in 76 appearances. He signed for Sheffield United in 1988, in what would prove to be the first of three separate spells with the Blades. The South Yorkshire club experienced remarkable success with Deane leading their forward lines—winning successive promotions in his first two seasons to rise from the Third Division to the First.

Deane scored 106 goals in 244 appearances in all competitions across five seasons in three different divisions for Sheffield United, including the inaugural season of the newly created Premier League.

It is here we discover his greatest claim to fame: on 15th August 1992, with 5 minutes on the clock of the English Premier League’s first ever matchday, Brian Deane scored the competition’s first ever goal. He scored another from the penalty spot on 50 minutes to help his club win 2-1 against Manchester United. In total, he scored 14 goals from 41 league appearances, and helped the Blades to a 14th-placed finish.

Leeds United signed him at the end of the season in June 1993 for £2.9 million, a deal which represented a record purchase for the Whites and a record sale for Sheffield United at the time. Over the next four seasons, Deane scored 38 goals in 168 appearances across all competitions before returning to Bramall Lane in the summer of 1997.

Just six months later, Graeme Souness signed him for Benfica but Deane’s stay in Portugal would prove similarly short-lived. Middlesbrough brought him back to England after only nine months for £3 million.

The nomadic turn Deane’s career had taken would persist, however, and he followed his time at Boro [1998-2001] with spells at Leicester City [2001-03] and West Ham United [2003-04]. He returned to Leeds after they were relegated in 2004, then spent just under four months at Sunderland in 2005 before moving to Perth Glory. Five months later, he found himself back at Sheffield United, from where he retired after another six months.

Deane made 770 appearances in all competitions across his journeyman career, and scored 231 goals. From November 2012, he tried his hand at management with the Norwegian club, Sarpsborg 08 FF.

In July 2019, Deane acquired 50% shares in the Kosovan club FC Ferizaj as part of a group of investors who formed the club’s new leadership.