Scottish footballer and manager (1923?2020)
Robert Brown
(19 March 1923 ? 15 January 2020) was a Scottish international
football
player and manager. He played as a
goalkeeper
for
Queen's Park
,
Rangers
and
Falkirk
and made five international appearances for
Scotland
. He managed
St Johnstone
at club level and the Scotland national team from 1967 to 1971. Brown was inducted into the
Scottish Football Hall of Fame
in 2015.
Playing career
[
edit
]
Club
[
edit
]
Brown was born in Anderson Drive, Denny,
Stirlingshire
. He made his debut as a goalkeeper for
Queen's Park
in 1939, when he was still attending school.
[2]
After leaving school, Brown attended
Jordanhill College
with the intention of becoming a
physical education
teacher.
[2]
He went on to establish himself as the first-choice goalkeeper for Queen's Park in the next two seasons, but like many others at this time, his football career was interrupted by the
Second World War
. Brown joined the
Fleet Air Arm
of the Royal Navy, and he initially trained to be a navigator on a
Fairey Swordfish
torpedo plane.
[2]
He was then transferred to the Navy's physical training department, where he worked as an
instructor
.
[2]
This posting allowed him to play as a guest in the
wartime leagues
for
Portsmouth
,
Chester
,
Chelsea
and
Plymouth Argyle
.
[1]
Brown considered himself fortunate, as five of the six Jordanhill students who had joined the Fleet Air Arm with him died during the war.
[2]
He continued his teaching studies at
Portsmouth College
.
[2]
In his last season with Queen's Park, in 1945?46, he shared the goalkeeper's jersey with another future Scottish international
Ronnie Simpson
.
[3]
It was Brown who was selected to play as the club won a rare trophy, the
Glasgow Cup
, during that campaign.
[4]
Due to the wartime conditions he made no official
Scottish Football League
or
Scottish Cup
appearances in his time with the
Spiders
, but did play 105 times for the first team.
[5]
At the end of the 1945?46 season Brown left Queen's Park for
Rangers
, where he played for ten years. During his time at
Ibrox
he played on a part-time basis while working as a teacher.
[2]
Brown won three
Scottish league championships
, three Scottish Cups and two
Scottish League Cups
, including a domestic treble in
1948?49
.
[6]
He played in 296 matches in the three major competitions for Rangers, including 179 in succession,
[2]
and also won the wartime
1946 Victory Cup
and another two Glasgow Cups.
[7]
Brown's status as a part-time player subsequently caused difficulty with the Rangers manager
Bill Struth
, who wanted Brown to leave teaching and play football full-time.
[2]
He was replaced by
George Niven
as first-choice goalkeeper in 1952, and only made a few appearances before leaving Rangers in 1956.
[2]
Brown then moved to
Falkirk
, where he played for two years before he retired from playing.
International
[
edit
]
Brown played in five wartime internationals for Scotland, with his first appearance coming at
Villa Park
in February 1945.
[8]
His strong club form was rewarded with a full international call up and, in January 1946, he made his
Scotland
debut in a
Victory International
friendly against
Belgium
;
[8]
this was the first of five full international appearances for Brown, who remains the last amateur player to earn a full cap for Scotland and also the last to do so while a Queen's Park player.
[2]
He also appeared eight times for the
Scottish League
between 1949 and 1952 while with Rangers.
[2]
[9]
Managerial career
[
edit
]
After retiring as a player and leaving his teaching job in 1958, Brown became manager of
St Johnstone
.
[2]
The
Perth
club had finished 11th in the
old Second Division
in the
1957?58
season.
[2]
Brown guided them to 6th place in his first season, and then promotion as champions in
1960
.
[2]
Saints
were relegated in
1962
, but Brown stayed on as manager and won promotion back to the top division in
1963
before stabilising them as a top-division club, finishing in mid-table in the next few seasons.
[2]
In total he managed 393 games for St Johnstone.
[10]
Brown became the first full-time
Scotland manager
in 1967.
[2]
He was also the first manager to be given full authority to pick the team, which had previously been controlled by a
Scottish Football Association
committee.
[2]
His first international match as manager was a 3?2 victory over the
1966
world champions
England
at
Wembley
, which led to Scots declaring themselves as "
unofficial world champions
".
[2]
This game also saw Brown give his goalkeeping understudy from his Queen's Park days, Ronnie Simpson, his international debut at the age of 36. Brown continued as Scotland manager until 1971, but often found his squads depleted by club demands and results suffered accordingly.
[2]
He won nine of 28 games played, and the team did not qualify for either the
1968 European Championships
or the
1970 FIFA World Cup
.
[2]
Brown's only active involvement in football after leaving the Scotland job was to scout for
Plymouth Argyle
.
[2]
Later life
[
edit
]
After finishing with Scotland in 1971 he turned to his business interests outside football.
[2]
[1]
Brown and his wife Ruth settled in
Helensburgh
, where they ran a gift and coffee shop.
[2]
Ruth died in 1983, aged 59, due to blood cancer.
[2]
In 2017
[11]
Brown was retired and still lived in Helensburgh. He was inducted into the Rangers FC Hall of Fame
[12]
and into the
Scottish Football Hall of Fame
in 2015.
[13]
Brown was featured in Episode 4
A Better World
of the
BBC Two
documentary
Britain's Greatest Generation
broadcast in May 2015.
[14]
Brown died of natural causes on 15 January 2020 at the age of 96.
[6]
He was survived by three daughters, Carolyn, Alison and Gillian.
[2]
Managerial statistics
[
edit
]
As of 28 March 2015
[update]
Team
|
From
|
To
|
Record
|
G
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
Win %
|
St Johnstone
[10]
|
1958
|
1967
|
393
|
150
|
81
|
162
|
0
38.17
|
Scotland
[a]
|
1967
|
1971
|
33
|
14
|
8
|
11
|
0
42.42
|
Total
|
426
|
164
|
89
|
173
|
0
38.50
|
- ^
Includes five matches from the 1967 SFA tour (all wins) that were reclassified as full internationals in 2021.
[15]
Honours
[
edit
]
Manager
[
edit
]
St Johnstone
Scotland
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
"Bobby Brown"
. Greens on Screen
. Retrieved
26 April
2013
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
p
q
r
s
t
u
v
w
x
y
z
"Obituary: Bobby Brown, Scottish football legend"
.
The Times
. 18 January 2020
. Retrieved
18 January
2020
.
- ^
Bobby Brown
Archived
10 August 2020 at the
Wayback Machine
, QPFC.com
- ^
Scrappy Game Won By Amateurs
, The Glasgow Herald, 8 October 1945
- ^
Name: Brown, Robert
[
permanent dead link
]
, QPFC.com
- ^
a
b
Bobby Brown 1923?2020
, Robert Boyle, Rangers FC, 15 January 2020
- ^
(Rangers player Brown, Bobby
, FitbaStats
- ^
a
b
"[Scotland player, including unofficial matches] Robert Brown"
.
London Hearts Supporters' Club
. Retrieved
13 December
2020
.
- ^
"[SFL player] Bobby Brown"
.
London Hearts Supporters' Club
. Retrieved
2 June
2014
.
- ^
a
b
(St Johnstone manager) Brown, Bobby
, FitbaStats
- ^
Lappin, Danielle (27 July 2017).
"Eye on Millig: New book recalls Bobby Brown's great days"
.
Helensburgh Advertiser
. Retrieved
4 August
2017
.
- ^
"Bobby Brown"
. Archived from
the original
on 17 December 2013
. Retrieved
17 December
2013
.
- ^
Mullen, Scott (18 October 2015).
"Ally MacLeod one of five inducted into Scottish Football Hall of Fame"
.
Evening Times
. Herald & Times Group
. Retrieved
19 October
2015
.
- ^
Britain's Greatest Generation
Retrieved 2 June 2015
- ^
"Former Scotland players to be recognised with international caps including Sir Alex Ferguson"
.
www.scottishfa.co.uk
. Scottish Football Association. 9 October 2021
. Retrieved
12 October
2021
.
- ^
"Bobby Brown 1923-2020"
. Perth St Johnstone. 16 January 2020
. Retrieved
20 April
2022
.
External links
[
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]
Bobby Brown managerial positions
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2004
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2005
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2006
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2007
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2008
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2009
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2010
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2011
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2012
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2013
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2014
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2015
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2016
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2017
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2018
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2019
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