Michael John Brown (born 11 July 1939) is an English retired

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and coach.

Career

Brown was born in

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

. A full-back, he began his career as a for

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

, before moving on to Lincoln City. Soon after, Brown moved on to Cambridge City. Soon after, he was offered a full-time coaching position at

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and th ...

. After six years as a coach, and following the departure of

Gerry Summers Gerald Thomas Francis Summers (born 4 October 1933) was an English professional football player with West Bromwich Albion, Sheffield United, Hull City and Walsall; he then went into football coaching with Oxford United, Gillingham, Derby County ...

to Gillingham, Brown was offered the manager's job at Oxford, a position he held for a further four years. Despite having limited success with the Us, Brown impressed enough to be offered a job at

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

Ron Atkinson Ronald Frederick Atkinson (born 18 March 1939), commonly known as "Big Ron" or "Mr. Bojangles", is an English former football player and manager. In the 1990s and early 2000s, he was regarded as one of Britain's best-known football pundits. Nick ...

's assistant. When Atkinson was signed by

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

in 1981, he was followed by Brown soon after. The two had a successful spell together at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

, winning two

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

s in 1983 and 1985, as well as reaching the final of the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

in 1983. In addition, the team never finished below fourth in the league in Brown's time there. However, in November 1986, Atkinson was dismissed by United. His replacement,

Alex Ferguson Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football managers of all time ...

, brought his own assistant manager with him, and Brown was no longer required at the club. In 1989, he was signed by

Phil Neal Philip George Neal (born 20 February 1951) is an English retired footballer who played for Northampton Town, Liverpool and Bolton Wanderers as a full back. He is one of the most successful English players of all time, having won seven First D ...

as his assistant at

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

. He remained at Bolton for a further three years, until Neal lost his job with the Trotters and Brown followed him out of the exit door. That summer, he took up a coaching post in

Pahang Pahang (;Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , Pahang Hulu Malay: ''Paha'', Pahang Hilir Malay: ''Pahaeng'', Ulu Tembeling Malay: ''Pahaq)'' officially Pahang Darul Makmur with the Arabic honorific ''Darul Makmur'' (Jawi: , "The Abode of Tranquility") is a ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

, with the

Pahang FA Sri Pahang Football Club () is a Malaysian professional football club based in Kuantan, Pahang. Founded in 1959 and has traditionally worn a yellow home kit since. At the beginning, club's home matches were held around the city public fields an ...

. Brown did not stay in Malaysia for very long, and soon returned to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

's chief scout. He then took up a similar position at

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

in 1997, but only stayed for one season before moving back to Manchester United as Chief Scout. He stayed at United for eight years, before he was forcibly retired by the club, whose policy at the time required all staff over the age of 65 to retire. West Brom re-signed Brown in the summer of 2005, and he stayed there for almost two years before linking up with the former Manchester United captain,

Roy Keane Roy Maurice Keane (born 10 August 1971) is an Irish football pundit, coach and former professional player. He is the joint most successful Irish footballer of all time, having won 19 major trophies in his club career, 17 of which came during ...

, at

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, joining fellow United old-boys

Neil Bailey Neil Bailey (born 26 September 1958) is an English former footballer. He played as a midfielder. He began his career at Newport County in the early 1980s, during the most successful period in the club's history. Bailey was part of the team tha ...

Raimond van der Gouw Raimundus Johannes Hendrikus van der Gouw (, born 24 March 1963) is a Dutch former professional footballer, who played as a goalkeeper. After a successful career with Vitesse in his native Netherlands, and well into his 30s, he moved to Manche ...

and Michael Clegg.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Mick Living people 1939 births Sportspeople from Walsall English footballers Association football fullbacks English Football League players Hull City A.F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Cambridge City F.C. players English football managers Oxford United F.C. managers Manchester United F.C. non-playing staff Bolton Wanderers F.C. non-playing staff Sunderland A.F.C. non-playing staff