Looking Back: Birmingham City's First Lady finds love

Oct 21 2009 By Andy Walker

Paul Peschisolido and Karren Brady.

KARREN Brady gained plenty from 16 years at Birmingham City; fame, wealth – not forgetting a husband!

Amid the promotions, relegations and bust-ups, romance blossomed in the corridors of St Andrew’s for the First Lady of Football.

In a tale that wouldn’t have been out of place in even the most far-fetched of soaps operas, the woman at the top of Birmingham City fell in love with the club’s star striker.

Handsome Canadian Paul Peschisolido was the player in question and the man who swept a hard-nosed businesswoman off her feet.

In the space of 18 months, Brady and Peschisolido experienced a secret fling, a public declaration of their love, an engagement, the heartbreak of a miscarriage and a dream wedding.

And with the duo now embarking on new career directions, one as a TV personality and the other as a rookie football manager with Burton Albion, they remain a happily married couple of 14 years and the proud parents of two children.

Having arrived at Blues insisting that footballers were ‘only interested in drinking, clothes and the size of their willies’, no one would have expected Brady to be one to mix business with pleasure.

However that all changed when Brady and Peschisolido hit it off at the club’s Christmas party in 1993.

The fling went unknown to most but tell tale signs started to appear. During a match at Notts County in January 1994, the duo were involved in a row over entry to the Meadow Lane boardroom.

The couple were forced to unveil all three months later – across the pages of a national newspaper.

A trip to Toronto to meet the future in-laws followed and the expected engagement arrived. Meanwhile back at St Andrew’s, Blues boss Barry Fry placed Peschisolido on the transfer list and the striker was eventually sold to Stoke.

Life seemed to be going perfectly for Brady and Peschisolido, until heartbreak struck in May 1995. With their wedding a month away, Brady suffered a miscarriage – just hours after her joy at being pregnant had been revealed.

They came through the grief together and tied the knot in a catholic church in Enfield, North London.

Two were soon to become three as Brady announced she was pregnant in October 1995 and the first addition to the Peschisolido household arrived in May 1996. But by the time little Sophia arrived in the world, Peschisolido had already been brought ‘home’ to St Andrew’s when he was resigned by Fry.

While his marriage remained strong, Peschisolido’s relationship with the club that brought him to England ended for good in July 1996 when he was sold to Albion by Trevor Francis.

Brady went on to become a top flight managing director and Peschisolido chalked up another six English clubs before hanging up his boots, there was still room for one more in the Solihull household with the arrival of Paolo in September 1998.