Robert Brown (19 March 1923 – 15 January 2020) was a Scottish international

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

player and manager. He played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...

for Queen's Park, Rangers and

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had ...

and made five international appearances 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 ...

. He managed St Johnstone at club level and the Scottish national team from 1967 to 1971. Brown was inducted into the

Scottish Football Hall of Fame The Scottish Football Hall of Fame is located at the Scottish Football Museum. Nominations are made each year by fans and a committee selects the inductees. The first inductions to the Hall of Fame were in November 2004 in a ceremony at Hampden Pa ...

in 2015.

Playing career

Club

Brown was born in Dunipace,

Stirlingshire Stirlingshire or the County of Stirling, gd, Siorrachd Sruighlea) is a historic county and registration countyRegisters of Scotland. Publications, leaflets, Land Register Counties. of Scotland. Its county town is Stirling. It borders Perth ...

. He made his debut as a goalkeeper for Queen's Park in 1939, when he was still attending school. After leaving school, Brown attended

Jordanhill College Jordanhill Campus is an historic estate within the boundaries of Jordanhill, Glasgow, Scotland, which developed as a country estate. It is best known and most recently used as the home to the Faculty of Education of the University of Strathcl ...

with the intention of becoming a

physical education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorat ...

teacher. 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 World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. Brown joined the

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wi ...

of the Royal Navy, and he initially trained to be a navigator on a

Fairey Swordfish The Fairey Swordfish is a biplane torpedo bomber, designed by the Fairey Aviation Company. Originating in the early 1930s, the Swordfish, nicknamed "Stringbag", was principally operated by the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy. It was also us ...

torpedo plane. He was then transferred to the Navy's physical training department, where he worked as an instructor. This posting allowed him to play as a guest in the

wartime league The Wartime League was a football league competition held in England during World War II, which replaced the suspended Football League. The exclusion of the FA Cup in these years saw the creation of the Football League War Cup and it was a friendly ...

s for

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 d ...

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

, Chelsea and

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park ...

. Brown considered himself fortunate, as five of the six Jordanhill students who had joined the Fleet Air Arm with him died during the war. He continued his teaching studies at Portsmouth College. In his last season with Queen's Park, in 1945–46, he shared the goalkeeper's jersey with another future Scottish international Ronnie Simpson. It was Brown who was selected to play as the club won a rare trophy, the

Glasgow Cup The Glasgow Cup is a football tournament open to teams from Glasgow, Scotland. Operated by the Glasgow Football Association, it was competed for annually by senior Glasgow clubs from 1887 until 1989. It is now (since the 2019–20 amended rule ...

, during that campaign. Due to the wartime conditions he made no official

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km sout ...

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Rangers, where he played for ten years. During his time at Ibrox he played on a part-time basis while working as a teacher. Brown won three

Scottish league championships The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km sout ...

, three Scottish Cups and two

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay 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 existe ...

s, including a domestic treble in 1948–49. He played in 296 matches in the three major competitions for Rangers, including 179 in succession, and also won the wartime 1946 Victory Cup and another two Glasgow Cups. Brown's status as a part-time player subsequently caused difficulty with the Rangers manager

Bill Struth William Struth (16 June 1875 – 21 September 1956) was a Scottish football manager. He was the second manager of Rangers Football Club, leading the club for 34 years between 1920 and 1954, as well as being the holder of a number of other posit ...

, who wanted Brown to leave teaching and play football full-time. He was replaced by

George Niven George Niven (11 June 1929 – 17 July 2008) was a Scottish footballer who played during the 1950s and 1960s as a goalkeeper for Rangers and Partick Thistle. Career Club Niven was signed to Rangers from junior side Coupar Angus in 1951 by manag ...

as first-choice goalkeeper in 1952, and only made a few appearances before leaving Rangers in 1956. Brown then moved to

, where he played for two years before he retired from playing.

International

Brown played in five wartime internationals for Scotland, with his first appearance coming at

Villa Park Villa Park is a football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, England, with a seating capacity of 42,682. It has been the home of Premier League side Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton and Aston railway station ...

in February 1945. His strong club form was rewarded with a full international call up and, in January 1946, he made his

debut in a

Victory International The term Victory International or Victory Internationals refers to two series of international football matches played by the national football teams of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales at the end of both the First and Second World Wars. The ...

friendly against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

; 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. He also appeared eight times for the

Scottish League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km sout ...

between 1949 and 1952 while with Rangers.

Managerial career

After retiring as a player and leaving his teaching job in 1958, Brown became manager of St Johnstone. The

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

club had finished 11th in the old Second Division in the 1957–58 season. Brown guided them to 6th place in his first season, and then promotion as champions in

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

. ''Saints'' were relegated in

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wor ...

, but Brown stayed on as manager and won promotion back to the top division in

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Co ...

before stabilising them as a top-division club, finishing in mid-table in the next few seasons. In total he managed 393 games for St Johnstone. Brown became the first full-time Scotland manager in 1967. 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 The Scottish Football Association (also known as the SFA and the Scottish FA; sco, Scots Fitba Association; Scottish Gaelic: ''Comann Ball-coise na h-Alba'') is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility f ...

committee. His first international match as manager was a 3–2 victory over the

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo ...

world champions

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 ...

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 north-west Londo ...

, which led to Scots declaring themselves as " unofficial world champions". 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. 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 The 1970 FIFA World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for men's senior national teams. Held from 31 May to 21 June in Mexico, it was the first World Cup tournament held outside ...

. Brown's only active involvement in football after leaving the Scotland job was to scout for

Later life

After finishing with Scotland in 1971 he turned to his business interests outside football. Brown and his wife Ruth settled in

Helensburgh Helensburgh (; gd, Baile Eilidh) is an affluent coastal town on the north side of the Firth of Clyde in Scotland, situated at the mouth of the Gareloch. Historically in Dunbartonshire, it became part of Argyll and Bute following local gove ...

, where they ran a gift and coffee shop. Ruth died in 1983, aged 59, due to blood cancer. In 2017 Brown was retired and still lived in Helensburgh. He was inducted into the Rangers FC Hall of Fame and into the

in 2015. Brown was featured in Episode 4 ''A Better World'' of the

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

documentary ''Britain's Greatest Generation'' broadcast in May 2015.Britain's Greatest Generation
Retrieved 2 June 2015 Brown died of natural causes on 15 January 2020 at the age of 96.Bobby Brown 1923–2020
Robert Boyle, Rangers FC, 15 January 2020 He was survived by three daughters, Carolyn, Alison and Gillian.

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* *
BBC Radio Scotland 35 minute interview with Bobby Brown
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Bobby 1923 births 2020 deaths Fleet Air Arm personnel of World War II Scottish footballers Scottish football managers Queen's Park F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. wartime guest players Chester City F.C. wartime guest players Chelsea F.C. wartime guest players Plymouth Argyle F.C. wartime guest players Rangers F.C. players Falkirk F.C. players St Johnstone F.C. managers Scotland international footballers Scotland national football team managers Association football goalkeepers Footballers from Falkirk (council area) Scottish Football League players Scottish Football League representative players Scottish Football League managers Scotland wartime international footballers Scottish Football Hall of Fame inductees Plymouth Argyle F.C. non-playing staff Association football scouts People from Denny, Falkirk