Blackpool - Allan Brown - Nottingham Forest Webjam

Many Forest fans affinity with the club began during the reign of Brian Clough as manager and can easily name all of his successors however the history of Nottingham Forest B.C (Before Clough) is not as well known.

Clough’s predecessor as manager was Allan Brown and this period is not the most memorable one in the clubs history after the successful side built by Johnny Carey in the mid-sixties had been broken up and Carey was replaced for a disasterous spell in charge by Matt Gillies which saw the side slip from the First Division to the lower reaches of the Second.

Brown began his career at East Fife in 1944 after joining from local side Kennoway. During his time at East Fife he played 62 games and scored 20 goals and also in April 1950 won his first Scotland cap.

In December 1950 the Inside Forward moved south and joined Blackpool for what was then a record fee received by a Scottish club of £ 26,500. It would be mainly a successful time at Blackpool as they reached two F.A.Cup finals but Brown was always jinxed to miss both through injury. In 1951 he injured his knee 10 days before the final and in 1953 he broke his leg scoring the 88^th minute winner in the Quarter Final victory over Arsenal and therefore missed out on playing in the famous “Matthews Final”.

During his time at Bloomfield Road he continued to represent his country and would play for his country in the 1954 World Cup Finals held in Sweden and so highly was he thought of Blackpool that he was inducted into their Hall of Fame.

In February 1957 Brown left Blackpool and joined Luton Town for a fee of £ 8,000 where he would have another successful period of his career. The highlight being the 1959 F.A.Cup run where Brown scored five goals during the campaign including the winner in the sixth round victory over former club Blackpool. These goals helped his side to the Final and at last Brown was able to play in a Wembley final although Luton lost on the day 2-1 to Nottingham Forest.

After leaving Luton in March 1961 Brown finished his league career at Portsmouth before deciding to embark on a managerial career with his first port of call being the then non-league side Wigan Athletic whom he joined as player/manager in August 1963. He remained at Wigan until July 1966 and a few months later in November he returned to one of his former clubs Luton Town who had fallen on hard times and were now languishing in the Fourth Division. Brown began to turn the clubs fortunes round and won the Fourth Division title in 1968. The good form continued into the next season but in December 1968 Brown was sacked after it was discovered he had applied for the vacant job at Leicester City after Matt Gillies had left for Nottingham Forest.

Even though he was unsuccessful in his application for Leicester Brown was not out of work for long as in January 1969 he was appointed manager of Torquay United. Torquay would finish in a respectable 6^th, 13^th and 10^th during his spell at the club but a bad start to the 1971/72 season saw Brown sacked in October.

His next club was Bury whom he joined in June 1972. In his first season in charge the club finished mid-table in 12^th place in the Fourth Division but the following season a good start saw the club chasing promotion.

Meanwhile in the East Midlands the managerial merry-go-round was about to take another twist. Brian Clough and Peter Taylor had walked out of Derby County after a dispute with chairman Sam Longson and with players threatening to go on strike in support of the management team. Longson desperate to appease the players appointed the popular former captain Dave Mackay as their new manager. Mackay had been manager of neighbours Nottingham Forest so a vacancy had arisen at the City Ground.

Clough and Taylor were considered as a replacement by Forest for Mackay but with the committee unable to come to a decision the pair moved to Brighton and with other potential candidates including Lawrie McMenemy rejecting the role Forest would be managerless for a month until a decision was finally made and Allan Brown was appointed the new manager.

Brown’s appointment disappointed a number of Forest fans who had been hoping for a big name appointment. Upon Brown’s arrival he found a team that was beginning to show signs of improvement after a number of barren years that had seen the club relegated from the First Division. Forest were threatening to launch a promotion bid upon Brown’s arrival and even though the eventual finish of 6^th place was a disappointment it was hoped that Forest were heading in the right direction. The major highlight of the season was the F.A.Cup run where Forest eventually lost a controversial match to Newcastle United.

Forest star player during the season had been forward Duncan McKenzie who had scored 28 goals during the season but in the summer of 1973/74 McKenzie was out of contract and although a contract renewal was expected to take place talks dragged on during the summer. After numerous negociations with Brown and Forest chairman Jim Willmer McKenzie grew increasingly frustrated and eventually refused to play for the club and demanded to leave.

On the brink of the start of the season the saga was eventually sorted with McKenzie sold to Leeds in a £ 240,000 deal. Fans now hoped that the funds would be used to strengthen the team as they tried to replace McKenzie’s goals. But for some reason Brown was not able to spend the McKenzie money barring the low key signings of David Jones and Barry Butlin and with Forest getting off to a poor start to the new season fans soon began to stay away from the City Ground. A game shortly before Christmas saw only 8,480 watch a 0-0 draw with Blackpool and with a home defeat 7 days later against neighbours Notts County the writing was on the wall for Brown. With Clough available again after his short stay at Leeds Brown was sacked.

Brown would be out of work for 12 months before joing Southport in 1976 leading them from the bottom of Division Four before getting a call with a job offer he could not refuse. His former club Blackpool came calling and he became their manager in May 1976. He came close to getting the club promoted in his first full season in charge narrowly missing out on promotion by finishing 1 point behind the third place team which was ironically Forest. The following season Blackpool again challenged for promotion but an argument with chairman Billy Cartmell saw Brown sacked. After Brown’s departure Blackpool won only one more game and instead of challenging for promotion they found themselves relegated after not having been in the bottom three all season until the final games had been played.

After leaving Blackpool, Brown had a short spell in charge of Kuwaiti side Quadsia before coming home to Southport and then returning for another spell at Blackpool in March 1981. He would last until May 1982 in what would be his final managerial role.

Sadly in recent years he has been suffering from alzheimers and currently resides in a nursing home in Lancashire.

Brown whilst held in high regard with Blackpool for his playing feats but always seemed to find bad luck at the worst possible time and his managerial career threatened to be better than what he actually achieved and his spell in charge of Forest has been virtually wiped from fans memories due to what success almost immediately followed his departure.

CAREER STATS

LEAGUE CAREER

East Fife 1946/47 to 1950/51 62 (20)

Blackpool 1950/51 to 1956/57 157 (68)

Luton Town 1956/57 to 1960/61 151 (51)

Portsmouth 1960/61 to 1961/62 69 (8)

Wigan Athletic (Non League) 1964/65 to 1966/67 67 (22)

INTERNATIONAL CAREER

Scotland (Full) 1950 to 1954 13 (5)

MANAGERIAL CAREER

Wigan Athletic (Player/Manager) 01/08/1963 to 31/07/1966

Luton Town 01/11/1966 to 01/12/1968

Torquay United 01/01/1969 to 01/10/1971

Bury 01/04/1972 to 01/11/1972

NOTTINGHAM FOREST 19/11/1973 to 03/01/1975

Southport 02/01/1976 to 05/05/1976

Blackpool 05/05/1976 to 06/02/1978

Quadsia (Kuwait) 1979/80

Southport 1980/81

Blackpool 01/03/1981 to 31/05/1982

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