Allan Duncan Brown (12 October 1926 – 20 April 2011) was a Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. Brown played as an

inside forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than Midfielder, midfielders and Defender (association football), d ...

for East Fife,

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

and

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

. He also represented

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, scoring six goals in 14 international appearances, and the Scottish League. Brown was player/manager of Wigan Athletic, and also managed

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. They have played their ho ...

, Bury,

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

and

. As a player, Brown won the

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup, also known as the Premier Sports Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League cup in ...

with East Fife in 1949–50. As a manager, he guided Luton Town to the Fourth Division title in 1967–68.

Playing career

Brown, who was born in Kennoway,

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

, started his professional playing career at East Fife, joining them in 1944 from his local side Kennoway.http://www.neilbrown.newcastlefans.com/player/allanbrown.html Independent site profile Brown made 62 league appearances for the Fifers, scoring 20 goals as well as numerous cup appearances. He left in December 1950. Brown made his full

debut whilst with East Fife in April

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...

, a 3–1 win over

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

Hampden Park Hampden Park ( ; Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden'') is a association football, football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland, which is the national stadium of football in Scotland and home of the Scotland national football ...

. This was followed in the same season by two further games away to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, as well as helping his club team win the League Cup. Brown moved to

for a fee of £26,500 (then the largest fee received by a Scottish club), joining compatriots Jackie Mudie, Ewan Fenton, Hugh Kelly and goalkeeper

George Farm George Neil Farm (13 July 1924 – 18 July 2004) was a Scottish professional football goalkeeper and manager. Born in Slateford, a suburb of Edinburgh, Farm represented his country on ten occasions, the last three of which occurred after a g ...

, where he earned the nickname ''Bomber''. At Blackpool he enjoyed success; however, he missed the Seasiders'

1951 FA Cup Final The 1951 FA Cup final was contested by Newcastle United and Blackpool at Wembley on 28 April 1951. Newcastle won 2–0, with both goals scored by Jackie Milburn. Bill Slater, who played at inside left for losers Blackpool, was the last survi ...

appearance after injuring his knee ten days earlier. He also missed the famous

1953 FA Cup Final The 1953 FA Cup final, also known as the Matthews Final, was the eighth to be held at Wembley Stadium after the Second World War. The football match was contested between Blackpool and Bolton Wanderers, with Blackpool winning 4–3, equalling the ...

victory after breaking his leg whilst scoring an 88th-minute winner in the quarter-final against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

on 28 February 1953. On 22 October 1955, Brown was placed on the transfer list of his own volition, reportedly telling club manager Joe Smith he would "only sign for a Scottish club ..I want to get back over the Border". Brown was inducted into the

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

at Bloomfield Road, when it was officially opened by former Blackpool player

Jimmy Armfield James Christopher Armfield (21 September 1935 – 22 January 2018) was an English professional association football, football player and manager. He played the whole of his Football League career at Blackpool F.C., Blackpool, usually at right b ...

in April 2006. Organised by the Blackpool Supporters Association, Blackpool fans around the world voted on their all-time heroes. Five players from each decade are inducted; Brown is in the 1950s. While at Blackpool, Brown won a further eleven international caps, scoring against

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

at both the start of the 1952–53 and 1953–54 seasons. Brown was selected for the 22-man squad for the 1954 World Cup finals. The

Scottish FA The Scottish Football Association (; also known as the Scottish FA and the SFA) is the governing body of football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to s ...

decided to take only 13 of the 22 to the finals. Brown was among those who travelled. Brown's final two games came in the finals against

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

. Brown moved to

in February 1957, for a fee of £8,000, scoring on his league debut at

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

. He scored five goals in the Hatters' successful 1958–59 FA Cup run, including scoring the only goal in their sixth-round victory over his former club, Blackpool. He at last played in a

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

final, as Luton lost 2–1 to

in the 1959 FA Cup Final. He scored 51 goals in 151 league appearances for Luton. Brown moved to

in March 1961.

Managerial career

In August 1963, Brown joined then non-league

as player-manager, replacing Johnny Ball. He remained at Wigan until July 1966. In November 1966, he returned to Luton, this time as manager of a side struggling in the Fourth Division. He soon changed the fortunes of the Hatters, leading them to the Fourth Division title in

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

. They started the next season promisingly (and were eventually to finish in third place); however, Brown was sacked in December 1968 after it was discovered he had applied for the vacant managerial post at Leicester City. Brown's departure from Luton is memorialized at the 47:51 mark of "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", when the character Campbell can be seen reading a newspaper with the prominent headline "Why Brown had to go". He was not out of work for long, joining

as manager in January 1969. He kept the Gulls comfortably in Division Three during his first two-and-a-half seasons in charge (finishes of sixth, thirteenth and tenth), but after a poor start to the 1971–72 season, he was sacked in October 1971. Torquay would eventually be relegated later that season. On 20 June 1972, Brown became manager of Bury, leading them to twelfth place in Division Four at the end of his first season in charge. The following season, 1973–74, Bury started brightly, and would eventually be promoted in fourth place; Brown, however, had left on 19 November 1973, to manage

, and took them to seventh place by the end of the season. The following

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

, Forest started badly and Brown upset the fans by selling Duncan McKenzie to Brian Clough's

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

. He was sacked on 3 January 1975, shortly after a 2–0 home defeat to local rivals Notts County. Clough replaced Brown at Forest. On 5 May 1976, Brown was appointed manager of another of his former playing clubs,

, who at the time were in the Second Division. The following

saw them battle for promotion and eventually finish in fifth place, missing out on a return to Division One by two points. During the next season the club were again challenging for promotion, but after an argument with chairman Billy Cartmell, on 6 February 1978 Brown was sacked. Cartmell had made remarks in a daily newspaper about Brown's job being on the line despite five-goal home wins in recent games, to which Brown responded by calling the chairman a "back-stabbing rat", which the board felt was unacceptable. After his departure, Blackpool won only one more game, dropped down the table, and were narrowly relegated at the end of the season. Later that year he moved to

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

to manage Quadsia, but returned to manage

in March 1981 as a replacement for Alan Ball; however, he was unable to prevent their relegation to Division Four for the first time in their history. The following season saw a mid-table finish, and Brown left Blackpool in May 1982.

Death

Brown died on 20 April 2011, at the age of 84. A

wreath A wreath () is an assortment of flowers, leaves, fruits, twigs, or various materials that is constructed to form a ring shape. In English-speaking countries, wreaths are used typically as household ornaments, most commonly as an Advent and C ...

was laid behind the South Stand goal before the fixture between Blackpool and

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

at Bloomfield Road three days after his death.

Honours

As a player

East Fife *

: 1949–50 Luton Town *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

runner-up: 1958–59

As a manager

Luton Town *

Football League Fourth Division The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Following the creation of the Premier ...

: 1967–68

References

;Sources * * *

External links

*
Brown in East Fife history

Brown at Forest

Allan Brown at Blackpool

Brown in the Blackpool Supporters Association Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Allan 1926 births 2011 deaths Footballers from Fife Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's international footballers Blackpool F.C. players East Fife F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Scottish football managers Blackpool F.C. managers Bury F.C. managers Luton Town F.C. managers Nottingham Forest F.C. managers Southport F.C. managers Torquay United F.C. managers Wigan Athletic F.C. managers 1954 FIFA World Cup players Scottish Football League players Scottish Football League representative players English Football League players English Football League managers Men's association football inside forwards People from Kennoway 20th-century Scottish sportsmen