Christopher Brunt (born 14 December 1984 in Belfast) is a Northern Irish footballer who plays for English Premier League side West Bromwich Albion. He plays as a left winger and more recently an attacking midfield position. He is also the Albion captain.

Brunt grew up in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where he attended Newtownbreda Primary School. His father Colin was a talented rugby union player. He then went on to study at Wellington College, a grammar school in Belfast. As a youth player he appeared for Saint Andrews Boys Club.

Brunt had trials with both professional teams Manchester United and Middlesbrough, eventually signing for Middlesbrough, but he failed to break into the first team.

He moved to Sheffield Wednesday in March 2004 on an initial short-term deal. A permanent free transfer followed soon after as Brunt signed a two-year contract at Wednesday. In 2004–05, his first full season at the club, Brunt helped Wednesday achieve promotion to the Championship by scoring five goals. In July 2005 he agreed a one-year extension to his existing contract.

Gareth 'Big G' McAuley (born 5 December 1979) is a Northern Ireland footballer who plays for West Bromwich Albion as a defender.

Coming from Glenoe outside of Larne and nicknamed "Big G", McAuley began his career at Linfield and spent some time in early 2000 on loan at Ballyclare Comrades. After four years at Linfield, he moved to Crusaders in the summer of 2000. After two successful seasons, he moved to Coleraine. During this period, he worked as a window draftsman.

In the summer of 2004, McAuley decided the time had come to look for a move into full-time football in the English Football League. After attracting interest from Lincoln City and Stockport County he linked up with Edgeley Park based club for a two week trial under the eye of the former Northern Ireland manager Sammy McIlroy who had given McAuley his first Northern Ireland B call-up. After impressing in his trial, McAuley seemed set to sign for Stockport but talks broke down and he instead joined Lincoln City on a two-year deal with Coleraine receiving £10,000 for his services. With Lincoln already boasting one of the strongest defences in League Two at the time of McAuley's arrival, he did not walk straight into the first team. His first few appearances for the club were all as a substitute, and often in the role of a target man striker.

Stephen "Steve" Kean (born 30 September 1967) is a Scottish football manager and former player. He is the current manager of Blackburn Rovers in the English Championship. He was a winger, playing in Scotland, England and Portugal in the 1980s and 1990s, before becoming a manager.

Kean grew up in Cumbernauld, a new town on the outskirts of Glasgow, attending St. Maurice's High School. Upon leaving school, he joined Celtic as a professional, but was unable to break into a first team then dominated by Celtic legends Tommy Burns, Murdo MacLeod and Paul McStay.

He joined Swansea City on loan in 1987, at the same time as Chris Coleman. They formed a lasting professional relationship, which carried on after both of their playing days had ended.

Kean then played for Academica Coimbra in Portugal, making 12 appearances, and scoring one goal.

Since retiring from playing Kean has worked as a coach for Reading, Fulham, Real Sociedad and Coventry City, working as an assistant to Chris Coleman at Fulham, Real Sociedad and Coventry.

Keith Gordon Downing (born 23 July 1965 in Oldbury) is an English former footballer. He made the vast majority of his appearances for Wolverhampton Wanderers, where he was nicknamed “Psycho” for his robust style playing in central midfield.

Downing began his professional career in 1984 at Notts County, after a spell at Mile Oak Rovers, before moving to Wolves in 1987. At Wolves he played over 200 league and cup games, scoring 11 goals in total, and helping the team to two successive promotions in the late 1980s.

In 1993 Downing moved to Birmingham City, but managed only one league game, before leaving for Stoke City and later Cardiff City. He ended his playing career at Hereford United, becoming player-coach in 1998 and subsequently returned to Wolves as a youth team coach.

He joined Cheltenham Town as assistant manager in the summer of 2004, working alongside manager John Ward, who he had met through his time at Wolves where Ward had been assistant manager. When Ward left the club to join Carlisle United in October 2007, Downing stepped in as caretaker manager, before being given the position on a full time basis on 2 November 2007. He left the club by mutual consent on 13 September 2008.