Ian Breckin

Football player infobox
playername = Ian Breckin


fullname = Ian Breckin
nickname = Breckinbauer
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1975|7|24
cityofbirth = Rotherham
countryofbirth = England
height = height|ft=5|in=11
currentclub = Nottingham Forest
clubnumber = 6
position = Central Defender
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1993-1997
1997-2002
2002-2005
2005-
clubs = Rotherham United
Chesterfield
Wigan Athletic
Nottingham Forest
caps(goals) = 132 0(6)
212 0(8)
096 0(0)
123 (12)
nationalyears =
nationalteam =
nationalcaps(goals) =
pcupdate = 17:01, 12 February 2008 (UTC)
ntupdate =

Ian Breckin (born 24 July 1975 in Rotherham, England) is an English footballer. He is 6 ft 2" and weighs 12 stone. He is a commanding central defender who plays for Nottingham Forest, and is the nephew of former Rotherham United defender, John Breckin.

Early Playing Career

He started his career with his hometown club Rotherham United as a trainee before signing pro in 1993. He made over 130 appearances for them and scored 6 goals. He was the sold to Chesterfield for £100,000 in 1997. He spent five years at Saltergate, making over 200 appearances.

He moved to Wigan Athletic in 2002 and became a key player in the side that won promotion to the Premiership. During his time at the club he became a fans faveourite for his passionate performances and outstanding defending earning him the nickname Breckinbauer (in honour in Franz Beckenbauer, former West Germany captain).

Nottingham Forest

He never got the chance to play in the Premiership but was more than happy to take a step down to sign for League One side Nottingham Forest, in a £350,000 deal, with his team-mate Nicky Eaden joining him on a free transfer.He never scored in a Wigan shirt but he was the top scorer for Nottingham Forest as he reached the target he set with 10 goals.

Shortly after he arrived at the City Ground he was quickly made team captain after Gareth Taylor put on a string of poor performances and was dropped from the first team. He made more appearances for Forest than any other player in the 2005-06 season and has been much more successful on Trent-Side than his Wigan counterpart Nicky Eaden. Breckin has been solid at the center of defence while pairing up with another strong defender in the form of Wes Morgan and was the most consistent performer for Forest in the 2005-2006 season, scoring a total of ten goals.

At the end of April 2006, he was crowned Nottingham Forest's Player of the Year, when he got 42% of the votes from Forest fans. Nicky Southall came second with 18% and Nathan Tyson came third with 14%. He also won the Football League One Player of the Month for April.

Breckin missed the start of the 2007-08 campaign with an injury after two years playing in every Forest league game. But he recovered and was recalled to the first-team following the injury of Wes Morgan and helped Forest into second spot at Christmas and scored his first goal of the season in Forest's 4-1 home win against Southend. Breckin won his 100th Forest league appearance in their 2-0 victory against Crewe. But he was then dropped to the bench in favour of Wes Morgan, only making a handful of starts and coming off the bench often towards the end of the season. But he did help Forest keep a league record of 24 clean sheets in the 2007-08 season, helping them secure promotion to the Coca-Cola Championship.

Breckin's contract is due to end in the summer of 2009.

Honours

*Division Two winner with Wigan Athletic 2003
*Championship runner-up with Wigan Athletic 2005
*League One runner-up with Nottingham Forest, 2008
*Football League Trophy winner with Rotherham United, 1996

External links

*soccerbase|id=946|name=Ian Breckin