Alan Brown was a central defender who barely made 150 appearances in his career, and a
manager who retired with no trophies and two relegations to his name.
That his name is largely forgotten now is, however, a tragedy, and a reminder that there
is more to football than silverware. Brown quite literally laid the foundations
for glory at both Burnley and Sunderland, introduced training methods favoured by some
of history’s greatest managers, and was one of the men who made Brian Clough.
“I’d have been nothing in management without him,” Clough said. “He taught me the values
of discipline and the need to control exactly what was happening at a club… He was my
mentor. “I remember him telling me when he first
met, ‘you’ve probably heard that I’m a bastard… well, I am’. Yet he restored
my faith in football after it had been sapped from me at Middlesbrough, and he taught me
the true meaning of the word professionalism”. Born in the Northumberland village of Corbridge
in 1914, Brown’s early playing career at Huddersfield Town never took off. Convinced
to join by cousin and captain Austen Brown, he became so disillusioned that he quit and
spent two years in the police. When he returned, it wasn’t long before football was interrupted
by the Second World War. After spending the war as a physical training
instructor, plenty were surprised when Burnley manager Cliff Britton decided to sign him
in 1946 – by then, Brown was in his 30s and had only a few dozen appearances to his
name. Nevertheless, Britton saw him as a born leader.
Installed as captain, Brown led Burnley to promotion from the Second Division and an
FA Cup final in 1946-47. The back five of Brown, Reg Attwell, George Bray, Arthur Woodruff
and Harold Mather became known as the ‘Iron Curtain’, conceding just 29 goals in 42
games. Their defensive resilience endured as Burnley
shot to third in their first season back in the First Division, with only champions Arsenal
conceding fewer. The 1948-49 season brought a surprise move to Notts County, Burnley recouping
a healthy £15,000 fee for the then 34-year-old, who retired soon after.
After some time away, Brown was convinced to return to football by FA Secretary Stanley
Rous, and he started coaching with Sheffield Wednesday in 1951. Three years later he returned
to Burnley as manager but the squad, aware of his reputation for evangelical morals and
strictness, weren’t happy. The reputation was a fair one. He was a wholly
straight-edge manager, a man with no interest in drinking, smoking or gambling and no desire
to relate to those who did. But he was also a progressive coach who favoured exciting
football, innovated with set pieces and committed himself to nurturing the region’s youngsters.
Chairman Bob Lord, called ‘the Khrushchev of Burnley’ after clashing with the press,
was taken by Brown’s vision and agreed to build a new training facility at Gawthorpe.
Brown helped dig the foundations himself and ‘volunteered’ star players like Jimmy
McIlroy and Jimmy Adamson to join him. Brown oversaw three consecutive top-half finishes
in the First Division but when boyhood club Sunderland came knocking in 1957, he couldn’t
resist. Nevertheless, Burnley were on the track to greatness. Three years later under
Harry Potts, they won the English title with an astonishingly young squad, many of whom
had made their debuts under Brown – most notably that season’s top scorer John Connolly,
who later made England’s 1966 World Cup squad.
While Burnley were profiting from the fruits of his labour, Brown was undertaking a rebuilding
job at Sunderland. The club had been rocked by financial scandals in the 1950s and, while
they immediately suffered their first-ever relegation under him, the former policeman
relished cleaning up the club’s act. He signed Clough in 1961, alongside eventual
Sunderland icon Charlie Hurley. Clough had scored 197 goals in 213 games for Middlesbrough
but, with dark clouds of corruption hanging heavily over Teesside as well, finally got
his wish to leave the club after submitting numerous transfer requests.
He had seen Boro boss Bob Dennison as too easy-going, describing the move to Sunderland
as “like moving from Butlins to the Kremlin” – but the straight-talking, no-nonsense
Brown was a man Clough greatly admired, even when he found himself in the firing line of
his fearsome temper. Clough had resented his Middlesbrough team-mates
for holding him back, and wasn’t surprised when three of them – Brian Phillips, Kenneth
Thomson, and Esmond Million – were found guilty of match fixing offences later in their
career. As at Burnley, Brown focused on developing
Sunderland’s youth system and honing his training techniques. He continued to innovate,
implementing ideas such as ‘shadow play’. His side would move the ball around the pitch
within allocated areas without any opposition, a positional exercise treasured by Arsene
Wenger, Antonio Conte and Pep Guardiola. His pass-and-move exercises were mimicked by the
likes of Malcolm Allison and Jose Mourinho, but there was madness to go with the method
– a heading drill using golf balls, for example, didn’t catch on.
Brown led Sunderland to promotion in 1964 without Clough, who had by then suffered the
injury that would eventually end his career. The punishing training regime he enforced
to try and get Clough fit didn’t help, nor did his invitation for the forward to join
the Moral Rearmament League – a spiritual movement which, when their manager joined,
left the Sunderland squad aghast and Clough falling asleep at their urge for prospective
members to purge themselves of their sins. A falling-out with Sunderland’s board saw
Brown surprisingly leave before their return to the First Division, and he was hired by
Sheffield Wednesday after they too were addled by corruption. Again, he realigned the club
from the ground up and led the Owls to the 1966 FA Cup final. After 33 trophyless years
in football, Brown had one of its biggest prizes within his grasp as his side took a
2-0 lead against Everton. With half an hour to see the game out, Wednesday froze, the
Toffees scoring three in 15 minutes to snatch the cup away.
Brown returned to Sunderland in 1969 but again, his tenure was overshadowed by the success
of the man who followed him. Brown once again had his players construct a new training base
where they could flourish. But this time, the results never came – Sunderland were
relegated in 1970, and Brown was sacked after two more disappointing seasons.
Within six months, Bob Stokoe’s Second Division side pulled off one of the FA Cup’s biggest
shocks, beating Don Revie’s Leeds to win the 1973 final. While Stokoe might not have
been so tactically astute, he was doubtless a more affable man-manager than Brown. It
was an upset they were unlikely to have been capable of under Brown, but it wouldn’t
have been possible without him. Of Sunderland’s eleven in the final, six had been given their
first starts under Brown, including legendary goalkeeper Jimmy Montgomery.
When Brown left in 1972, the Sunderland Echo commented: “His decision to part company
from Sunderland will be welcomed by his critics, of whom he has more than his fair share. But
those with the interests of the club at heart will be sorry to see him go.”
The history of football is full of Alan Browns. Laying foundations behind the scenes rarely
makes headlines, but successful teams rarely come from nowhere.