Gunn feels the peak of his playing career was making what he calls the save of his life in the UEFA Cup match against Bayern Munich in 1993.

However, after a 7–1 home defeat in the opening game to local rivals Colchester United, he lost his job a week into the 2009–10 Football League One season.

The money has been used to fund projects to improve the lives of children with leukaemia and their families, notably a national telephone support line.

[3] His parents were James Gunn, a long-distance lorry driver, and Jessie Sinclair, a canteen worker at the Dounreay nuclear power plant; the pair had married despite being on opposite sides of a family feud stretching back to the 16th century.

[4] James was an amateur sportsman, playing football on the right wing for local team Invergordon and winning medals at Highland games events.

[8] Gunn attended secondary school at Invergordon Academy from 1975 to 1980,[9] and gained O Grades in a variety of subjects, including English, maths, history and chemistry.

[11] The team was beaten 9–0 in Gunn's debut,[11] but his subsequent performances attracted the attention of national selectors, and he joined the Scotland under-15 squad around the same time he signed for Aberdeen at age 14.

[12] Gunn commenced his professional career with Aberdeen in 1980,[13] (signing a week prior to Eric Black who came from the same part of the country)[14] and forged a good relationship with Aberdeen manager Alex Ferguson — evidenced by the fact that in 1997 Ferguson brought Manchester United to Carrow Road for Gunn's testimonial match.

[25] As Leighton was unlikely to be dislodged, Ferguson promised to find Gunn another club,[3] and fulfilled his pledge when he sold him for £100,000 to Norwich City in October 1986.

[26] Gunn says of the move south: "Norwich was easy to settle into, a bit like Aberdeen in many ways — a city surrounded by lovely countryside and lots of farms.

[34] However, he was involved in an own-goal incident in an East Anglian derby match in the 1995–96 season, when a backpass from Robert Ullathorne bounced awkwardly off the pitch and over Gunn's attempted clearance kick.

Under the management of John Deehan, Norwich were seventh in the Premier League in the 1994–95 season[33] when Gunn broke and dislocated his ankle whilst playing against Nottingham Forest.

[50] Despite his mixed feelings on joining the club, Gunn's overall impression of his time in Edinburgh is upbeat: "I only played 12 games for the Hibees but it was great.

[54] Gunn found it "intimidation ... a nightmare" but adopted the strategy of patrolling the edge of his area to stay out of range and had "one of the best games of my life":[54] he kept a clean sheet as Scotland won 2–0.

[55] Scotland's coach and future manager of the full international team Andy Roxburgh told Gunn "it was the best performance he'd ever seen from a Scottish goalkeeper, at any level.

[58] He was a member of the squad for the 1990 FIFA World Cup, but played in none of Scotland's three matches at the tournament,[58] as he was third-choice goalkeeper behind Jim Leighton and Andy Goram.

[64] Gunn worked in a liaison role in negotiations of possible transfers and loan signings, tasks where he could make use of contacts gained during his playing career.

[70] The players were equally supportive: according to Scotland on Sunday, "in the dressing room afterwards, [Norwich] midfielder, Darel Russell, dragged the chairman, Roger Munby, into the shower, and demanded that Gunn be appointed permanently.

"[69] Momentum gathered, and a Facebook group called "Bryan Gunn for manager", created by his then 17-year-old daughter, Melissa, soon attracted about 3,000 members.

[69][71] Gunn appointed a backroom staff of former Norwich colleagues, making Ian Crook first-team coach and John Deehan chief scout.

[86] Media coverage of the match was unsurprisingly negative: the BBC used terms such as "calamitous defending", "Colchester run riot", "dismal", and a "disastrous start";[79] journalists also speculated about Gunn's competence as a manager.

"[76] Gunn began work in November 2009 as director of business development for OneStream, part of the Digital Phone Company,[89] based in Great Yarmouth.

[96] On the books as a youth player at Norwich City, in October 2010 he was selected for England under-16s, a full year ahead of the age group.

[104] In the words of author and Norwich supporter, Kevin Baldwin, "Occasionally, the gap between the crowd and the players can cause unfortunate misunderstandings.

[106] Gunn played a match for Norwich against Queens Park Rangers at Carrow Road just days after his daughter died; he said of it, "When I ran out, I thought, wow, I could feel the whole stadium was with me.

"[3] At the end of the season, Gunn won Norwich's Player of the Year award,[62] as the club finished third in the Premiership, its highest ever league position.

Gunn says: "The ultimate aim is to find a cure and if that can be done in the laboratory at the University of East Anglia bearing Francesca's name, then it would be the biggest testimony of all.

"[3]In addition to the research, Gunn set up a telephone support line that offers advice and assistance for parents of children who have leukaemia or other forms of cancer.

It was abundantly clear ... that he was a warm, outgoing and endearing character",[109] adding "He was a tremendous young keeper... always totally professional and I could never fault his discipline, effort or commitment.

[111] Norwich fans noticed it soon after his arrival at the club and, in Gunn's words, "would wait until I got to about the 18-yard line and then start a small "Wooo..." which would build into a full-blown "WOOOO ...