Vivian Anderson (born 29 August, 1956) was the first black football player to represent England. He played as a defender.

Born in Nottingham, he made his professional debut for the local team Nottingham Forest in 1974. He was part of the team that won the European Cup in 1979 and 1980.

His international debit came on 29 November 1978, during a 2-1 victory for England over Czechoslovakia at Wembley. His last international appearance was in 1988.

He also played for Arsenal, Manchester United and Sheffield Wednesday. In 1993 he helped Sheffield Wednesday finish runners-up in both domestic cup finals, before being appointed player-manager of Division One side Barnsley. He remained in charge at Oakwell for one season before being appointed assistant manager of Middlesbrough under former Manchester United team mate Bryan Robson. Anderson was registered as a player at Middlesbrough until the end of the 1996-97 season, but his only appearance for the club came during the 1994-95 season.

While working as assistant manager of Middlesbrough, Viv Anderson helped the club win promotion to the Premiership twice as well as reaching two successive League Cup finals and one F.A Cup final, although the club failed to win any of the finals. When Robson quit Middlesbrough in June 2001, Anderson followed him out of the club and almost four years later has still not returned to club football.

External links

• 100 Great Black Britons profile (http://www.100greatblackbritons.com/bios/viv_anderson.html)
• Profile (http://www.afiwi.com/people2.asp?id=225&name=Vivian+Anderson&coun=0&cat=0&offset=)
• England's black players (http://www.englandfootballonline.com/TeamPlyrs/PlyrsBlack.html)