Alexander White Brown (21 December 1877 – 6 March 1944) was a
Scottish footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...
.
Career
Brown was a prolific scorer in Scottish youth football, and earned his nickname as the "Glenbuck Goalgetter" as a 16-year-old playing for
Glenbuck Athletic.
[ Turning professional with St Bernard's two years later, he was soon induced across the border to ]English football
Association football is the most popular sport in England, where the first modern set of rules for the code were established in 1863, which were a major influence on the development of the modern Laws of the Game. With over 40,000 association f ...
with Preston North End
Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...
.[ After three years, his career continued with ]Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
, then Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...
.
During the 1900–01 season, Brown scored 15 goals during Tottenham's 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 ...
run, including a goal in every round, which resulted in the club becoming the only non-League
Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...
team to win the Cup. Brown scored both of Tottenham's goals in the first Final against Sheffield United
Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...
, a 2–2 draw; in the replayed match he scored another as Spurs beat United 3–1 to win the Cup.[ In total, during his brief spell at Tottenham, Brown scored 64 goals in just 84 domestic games. He also played in the 1901–02 World Championship fixtures against Hearts, lining up alongside ]Sandy Tait
Alexander Gilchrist Tait (3 December 1871 – 6 April 1949) was a Scottish professional footballer who played full back for teams including Glenburn Athletic, Ayr, Royal Albert F.C., Rangers, Motherwell, Preston North End, Tottenham Hotspur, L ...
who came from the same Ayrshire
Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Re ...
mining village, Glenbuck
Glenbuck ( gd, Gleann Buic) is a small, remote village in East Ayrshire. It is nestled in the hills east of Muirkirk, East Ayrshire, Scotland.
Glenbuck Loch
The site of the village was slightly to the north-west of Glenbuck "Loch", on the Riv ...
.[Hotspur Towers - Sandy Brown]
India Spurs, 13 September 2017
A spell back at Portsmouth and a time at Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area.
Until the early 1800s, the a ...
followed before Brown settled at Luton Town
Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...
in 1905.[ After 33 goals in 69 league games, Brown left for ]Kettering Town
Kettering Town Football Club is a football club based in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of and play at Latimer Park in Burton Latimer. Kettering were the first club to wear sponsorship on their shirts in ...
before returning to Scotland with first Nithsdale Wanderers, then Ayr United
Ayr United Football Club are a football club in Ayr, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League. Formed in 1910 by the merger of Ayr Parkhouse and Ayr F.C., their nickname is ...
.
Brown won one cap for Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
, in a 1–0 defeat by 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 ...
during the 1903–04 British Home Championship. He had been selected in 1902 against the same opposition and scored a goal,[ but that match in Glasgow was declared ]