IN our second feature for the 2009/10 season, which appears each Thursday, we're asking past and present players, plus the coaching staff, what has inspired them both in their professional and personal lives.

This week we chat to midfielder Chris Brunt.

Q1. Which teacher?

CB: Hazel Carson, the PE teacher at my secondary school. I still keep in touch with her and so does my wife, Cathy, as we went to the same school. She was a good teacher for us both.

Q2. Which song?

CB: Most of the songs I have listened to over the last couple of years have been by bands like 'Kings of Leon'. There is no particular reason but I like listening to their stuff.

Q3. Which person outside of football as a teenager?

CB: My parents. They drove me around, getting me from A to B, and they did the same for my brother and sister. I have a lot to thank them for, especially as they had to take me to football matches all over Northern Ireland.

Q4. Which coach as a youth team player?

CB: I had two main coaches at Saint Andrews Boys Club back in Northern Ireland. I didn't move away to play professionally until I was 16 so they were good. I'd also pick my two coaches at Middlesbrough - Dave Parnaby and Mark Proctor. They have all had an influence on me, especially the Boro ones after I moved away from home.

Q5. Which film?

CB: I just like films that I can sit and watch, like 'The Shawshank Redemption'. That is a great movie. If it's on TV, I always end up watching it - even if I don't want to. You just get drawn in! I don't think there are any recent films like that.

Q6. Which manager?

CB: Brian Laws, when I was at Sheffield Wednesday. He was really good with me and made my time there plain sailing. I got on well with him as a person and I still keep in touch with him now.

Q7. Which book?

CB: I like Dan Brown's books - the Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons and The Lost Symbol. They are clever books and really well written. I like Angels& Demons the most.

Q8. Which famous person?

CB: I supported Manchester United when I was a kid and playing football was all I wanted to do, so I'll have to say Ryan Giggs or Eric Cantona. I looked up to them and wanted to play like them. I actually got Ryan's shirt when we played them last season, which meant a lot.

Q9. Which team-mate in your career?

CB: I still speak to Ross Turnbull from my youth days at Middlesbrough, who now plays in goal for Chelsea. But there was a group of about ten of us at Sheffield Wednesday that all joined around the same time and we're similar in age. We all keep in touch. I speak to their families too. I'd say Glenn Whelan at Stoke and Steven Maclean at Aberdeen are the ones I keep in closest contact with.

Q10. Which sportsperson outside of football?