Born: Bury St. Edmunds, 7 May 1974.
Position: Centre back/centre forward
Signed: 21 January 2004, West Ham (part-exchange with Andy Melville)
Fulham debut: Fulham 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur, 31 January 2004
Fulham appearances: 62
Fulham goals: 1
Sold: Released, 23 May 2008.
A Premier League winner with Blackburn Rovers, Ian Pearce arrived at Fulham in January 2004 as part of a deal that saw Andy Melville head for West Ham. The experienced defender started nine games as the Whites finished ninth in the top flight during his former team-mate Chris Coleman’s first full season in management but the rest of his time at Craven Cottage was bedevilled by regular injury problems. Occasionally used as a centre forward, Pearce played through the pain to score an injury-time equaliser having broken his foot against Portsmouth in March 2007. He was released the following summer – and is now the head of recruitment at West Bromwich Albion.
