Goodbye Karren Brady: Massages, pink puffa jackets, sexy texts and more great moments in her Birmingham City career

By Mirror Football Support in Mirror Football Blog

Published 16:33 31/08/09

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10) Karren became managing director of Birmingham City aged 23, having impressed diddy porn baron David Sullivan while selling ads in his Sunday Sport bongo weekly. It was a bizarre echo of her childhood, of which Karren once said: "My brother and I used to have these schemes, we would run car washes. And I used to put posters up on my bedroom window saying, 'Call in for manicures, pedicures and massage.' I was about six or seven. Men would come to the door saying, 'Can I have a massage?'"

9) Brady, who complained about not being taken seriously by football's men-only old guard after taking over at St Andrews, attended her first Birmingham City match in a huge pink puffa jacket. One of Karren's first acts after taking over at St Andrews was to shut down the club's youth team. A source explained that Blues were merely emulating other big organisations as "Heinz don't grow their own beans, do they?"

8) While travelling to an away game during her early days at Birmingham, a Blues player shouted, "I can see your tits in that shirt." Karren replied: "When I sell you to Crewe, you won't be able to see them from there, will you?" Then she did.

7) Karren initially struggled to win the respect of City's eccentic manager Barry Fry. He said: "I thought this is a f***ing gimmick, y’know; porn king and a f***ing bimbo running the show, they’re having a laugh. But I’ve got a lot of respect for Karren. We had a fantastic relationship. I f***ing loved her and she f***ing hated me! I was so uncouth, she didn’t know what to do with me. I used to go in and she’d say 'Barry, I want you to do this and that', and I’d say 'no problem love,' then go and do the exact opposite."

6) Karren once promised she would never go out with a footballer as "they are only interested in drinking, clothes and the size of their willies". She married Paul Peschisolido, whom, she had told to Stoke City a year earlier. A year later she sold Paul to Derby County, making a profit of £575,000 on the deals.

5) When Peschsolido won his first match as boss of Burton Albion recently, Karren texted him to inquired "Sex and an Indian tonight"? She received the reply, "Where and when?" The she realised she had texted another manager called Paul instead.

4) Workaholic Karren did not have a holiday for 13 years and returned to work just three days after the birth of her daughter Sophia. She was back at work within a month of her operation for a brain aneurysm in 2007. Her mate David Dein, the former Arsenal chairman, bought her a toy called The Brain Game to celebrate.

3) Karren was unamused in 2002, when she hosted a dinner for other First Division directors at St Andrews. One of the speakers, Watford's Haig Oundjian, offered his thanks to "Sharon Brady" for a lovely spread.

2) Karren, who is replacing Margaret Mountford on TV's Apprentice, gave 2008 runner-up Claire Young a job at Birmingham City despite the tubby loudmouth admitting she had only ever attended one football match and describing herself as a "10 years younger version" of Karren. Alas, "other business commitments" prevented Claire from taking up the role.

1) There are no clues as to why Karren might now be on her way out of Birmingham, but calling Carson Yeung a “wealthy poser” in a 2008 newspaper column might have done it. Last year Yeung preferred not to take up his luxury box at St Andrews as it was next to Brady's.

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