 Brill training withOldham Athletic in 2009 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Dean Michael Brill[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1985-12-02)2 December 1985 (age 39)[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Luton, England | ||
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)[1] | ||
| Position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1995–2003 | Luton Town | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2003–2009 | Luton Town | 81 | (0) |
| 2006–2007 | →Gillingham (loan) | 8 | (0) |
| 2009–2011 | Oldham Athletic | 58 | (0) |
| 2011–2012 | Barnet | 36 | (0) |
| 2012–2013 | Luton Town | 7 | (0) |
| 2013 | →Inverness Caledonian Thistle (loan) | 12 | (0) |
| 2013–2016 | Inverness Caledonian Thistle | 49 | (0) |
| 2016–2017 | Motherwell | 0 | (0) |
| 2017 | Colchester United | 0 | (0) |
| 2017–2020 | Leyton Orient | 89 | (0) |
| Total | 340 | (0) | |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2017 | Leyton Orient (caretaker) | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Dean Michael Brill (born 2 December 1985) is an English former professionalfootballer who played as agoalkeeper and is now acoach atTottenham Hotspur.
Born inLuton, Bedfordshire,[1] Brill joined Luton at the age of nine, progressing through the Centre of Excellence and representing Luton Schools and Bedfordshire County Schools at various age groups. His abilities alerted the attention of bigger clubs, includingLiverpool, but Luton fought off the competition to secure his signature.[2]
Beginning2003–04 as understudy toRob Beckwith, Brill made his league debut as asubstitute in a 3–0 defeat away toOldham Athletic, after Beckwith had been sent off.[3] His full league debut came three weeks later in a 3–1 win at home toWycombe Wanderers and retained his place for the following two matches, a 1–0 win away toStevenage Borough in theFootball League Trophy and a 4–2 defeat away toBrentford.[3]
With regular goalkeeperMarlon Beresford unavailable, Brill began2005–06 as the number one goalkeeper, impressing against newly relegatedCrystal Palace during a 2–1 victory atSelhurst Park on the opening day of the season.[4]
Brill made his first appearance of2006–07 as a substitute in a 3–0 defeat away toPreston North End.[5] His first starting appearance of the season came in a 3–2 defeat at home toQueens Park Rangers, where he deputised for the suspended Beresford.[5] However, following theloan signing ofDean Kiely fromPortsmouth,[6] Brill was pushed down to third-choice goalkeeper and in December 2006, he was loaned toLeague One clubGillingham. He made eight appearances during a month-long stay.[5] Having made 12first-team appearances for Luton,[5] Brill was namedYoung Player of the Season at Luton's end of season awards.[7]
At the beginning of the2007–08, Brill found himself out of favour after the loan signings ofDavid Forde andBen Alnwick.[8][9] However, after Luton went into administration in November 2007, managerKevin Blackwell was unable to sign a new goalkeeper on loan, and Brill was recalled to the first-team. He finished the season with 47 appearances,[10] culminating inrelegation toLeague Two.[11]
Brill started the first four matches of2008–09,[12] with Luton facing an almost impossible task to overcome a 30-point deduction.[13] Brill finished the season with 25 appearances and started in Luton's2009 Football League Trophy Final victory overScunthorpe United atWembley Stadium.[12][14] The points deduction proved too much to overcome and Luton were relegated for the third successive season, dropping into theConference Premier.[15] Brill was released by the club on 27 May 2009 following the expiration of his contract.[16]
On 1 July 2009, Brill signed a two-year contract with League One club Oldham Athletic.[17] He was released by the club in May 2011.[18]
Aftertrials atYeovil Town andBarnet, Brill signed for the latter on a one-year contract.[19] He kept a clean sheet on his debut in a 1–0 win away toMorecambe.[20] Brill made a crucial save in the dying seconds of Barnet's 2–1 win away toBurton Albion on the final day of2011–12, a result which kept the club inFootball League at the expense ofHereford United.[21] He was released by the club in May 2012.[22]
After spending three weeks on trial during pre-season with former clubLuton Town, who were in the Conference Premier, Brill signed a two-year contract with them on 31 July 2012.[23] He made 12 appearances in2012–13,[24] but was transfer-listed by the club in April 2013.[25]
In July 2013, Brill signed on loan forInverness Caledonian Thistle until January 2014.[26] He debuted on the opening day of2013–14 in a 3–0 win at home toSt Mirren, keeping his first of three consecutive clean sheets.[27] After a successful spell on loan, Brill signed a permanent deal with Inverness in November 2013, after Luton agreed to release him from the remainder of his contract.[28]
Between May and September 2014, Brill did not let a single goal in, enabling Inverness to achieve a club record of 616 minutes without conceding a goal.[29] Later in the season, Brill suffered an injury which kept him out for a few matches. Worse was to follow, as he sustained a dislocated knee only minutes into his comeback game.[30] This prevented him making any first-team appearances in2015–16 and he was released by the club in May 2016.[31]
Brill signed for Scottish Premiership clubMotherwell on 27 June 2016 on a one-year contract.[32] He left the club on 27 January 2017, having failed to make an appearance.[33]
On 31 January 2017, Brill signed forColchester United on a contract until the end of2016–17.[34] He left the club at the end of his contract after failing to make a first-team appearance.[35]
Brill joined newly relegatedNational League clubLeyton Orient as agoalkeeping coach on 3 August 2017.[36] FollowingSteve Davis' sacking as head coach on 14 November, Brill was named interim head coach alongsideRoss Embleton.[37] AfterJustin Edinburgh was appointed head coach later that month,[38] Brill became a member of the playing staff, making his debut for the club on 2 December in a 1–0 away defeat toSolihull Moors.[39] He signed a two-year contract extension in February 2018 after he kept five clean sheets in 14 appearances up to that point in2017–18.[40] He finished the season with 29 appearances for Leyton Orient and was replaced as goalkeeping coach in July, allowing him to focus on his playing career.[41] The following season, Brill was ever-present in league competition and kept 24 clean sheets in all competitions, equalling the club record, as Leyton Orient won the National League title and promotion to League Two.[42] Ahead of the2019–20 season, Brill signed a one-year contract extension with the club.[43] After making 20 appearances in the first half of the season, with 19 of those appearances coming in the league, he sustained an injury in late December 2019 and announced his retirement from playing on 24 January 2020 to rejoin the club's coaching staff.[42]
Dean Brill was originally appointed goalkeeping coach atLeyton Orient on 3 August 2017[36] and interim head coach on 14 November[37] before returning to playing. He was appointed first-team coach at Leyton Orient in January 2020[42] and head of goalkeeping in July 2020. He left Orient in June 2021 to become a goalkeeping coach atTottenham Hotspur's academy[44] where he became head of academy goalkeeping in July 2022.[45] In July 2025, Brill was promoted to first team assistant goalkeeping coach.[46]
| Club | Season | League | National cup | League cup | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Luton Town | 2003–04[3] | Second Division | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2[a] | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| 2004–05[47] | League One | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2005–06[48] | Championship | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 6 | 0 | ||
| 2006–07[5] | Championship | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 12 | 0 | ||
| 2007–08[10] | League One | 37 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2[a] | 0 | 47 | 0 | |
| 2008–09[12] | League Two | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1[a] | 0 | 25 | 0 | |
| Total | 81 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 97 | 0 | ||
| Gillingham (loan) | 2006–07[5] | League One | 8 | 0 | — | — | — | 8 | 0 | |||
| Oldham Athletic | 2009–10[49] | League One | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1[a] | 0 | 30 | 0 |
| 2010–11[50] | League One | 30 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1[a] | 0 | 33 | 0 | |
| Total | 58 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 63 | 0 | ||
| Barnet | 2011–12[20] | League Two | 36 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5[a] | 0 | 45 | 0 |
| Luton Town | 2012–13[24] | Conference Premier | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 4[b] | 0 | 12 | 0 | |
| Inverness Caledonian Thistle | 2013–14[27] | Scottish Premiership | 37 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | 45 | 0 | |
| 2014–15[51] | Scottish Premiership | 24 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 27 | 0 | ||
| 2015–16[52] | Scottish Premiership | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | ||
| Total | 61 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 0 | — | 72 | 0 | |||
| Motherwell | 2016–17[53] | Scottish Premiership | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | |
| Colchester United | 2016–17[53] | League Two | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | 0 | 0 | |||
| Leyton Orient | 2017–18[24] | National League | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 5[b] | 0 | 29 | 0 | |
| 2018–19[24] | National League | 46 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 7[b] | 0 | 54 | 0 | ||
| 2019–20[54] | League Two | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 0 | |
| Total | 89 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 103 | 0 | ||
| Career total | 340 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 28 | 0 | 400 | 0 | ||
Luton Town
Inverness Caledonian Thistle
Leyton Orient
Individual
