Derek Anthony Brownbill (born 4 February 1954) is an English former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

. He played in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

for

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in , the third tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal ...

, 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 ...

before spells with American side Cleveland Cobras and English

non-League Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

clubs

Stafford Rangers Stafford Rangers Football Club is a semi-professional English football team from Stafford which plays in the Northern Premier League Division One West. The team wear black and white stripes with black shorts. Stafford Rangers' rivals include ...

, Oswestry Town,

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England, on Morecambe Bay, part of the Irish Sea. In 2011 the parish had a population of 34,768. Name The first use of the name was by John Whit ...

, Witton Albion, and Warrington Town.

Playing career

Liverpool

Brownbill came through the youth ranks at

to turn professional at the age of 18; he featured in the 1972

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

final defeat to

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

. He made his only appearance for the senior team on 15 September 1973, in a 1–1 draw with

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

at St Andrew's.

Port Vale

Brownbill joined

for £5,000 in February 1975. Liverpool

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 ...

Bob Paisley Robert Paisley (23 January 1919 – 14 February 1996) was an English professional football manager and player who played as a wing-half. He spent almost 50 years with Liverpool and is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time. ...

rejected a bid of £20,000 from Bury because he had already made a verbal agreement with Vale

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

Reg Berks. Brownbill scored his first senior goal in a 1–0 home win over

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

on 3 March, when he headed in a

free-kick A free kick is an action used in several codes of football to restart play with the kicking of a ball into the field of play. Association football In association football, the free kick is a method of restarting the game following an offenc ...

from

John Brodie John Riley Brodie (born August 14, 1935) is an American former professional American football, football player who was a quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons. He had a second career as a ...

. Brownbill finished the 1974–75 season with four goals in 16 Third Division appearances. He hit nine goals in 41 games in 1975–76, including five in the

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 ...

. He scored the equalising goal in a 2–2 draw with Southern League side

Grantham Grantham () is a market town and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road. It lies south of Lincoln, England ...

in which he had been standing offside. He then scored all four goals in the replay, a 4–1 win. He was named as Vale's clubman of the year. He lost his first-team place in August 1976, and scored three goals in 23 games in 1976–77. Manager

Roy Sproson Roy Sproson (23 September 1930 – 24 January 1997) was an English footballer and football manager for Port Vale. A one-club man, he holds the all-time appearance record for Vale, making 837 starts (and 5 substitute appearances) for Val ...

was sacked in October 1977, however, Brownbill failed to re-establish himself in the

first XI The First XI (or, less commonly, First 11) are the eleven primary players in an organisation's leading team, particularly a football or cricket team. A player who is considered a core part of the starting line-up in a First XI team is often the ...

under new boss Bobby Smith; he went on to score three goals in 28 appearances in 1977–78. During his time at

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in the area of Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, and it has been the home ground of Port Vale Football Club since its opening in 1950. It has a current capacity of 15,695, and was renovated durin ...

the crowd used to barrack him for being big and clumsy, when in fact it was part of Roy Sproson's plan for Brownbill to shield the ball and allow attacking midfielders

Brian Horton Brian "Nobby" Horton (born 4 February 1949) is an English former footballer and manager. He spent 16 years as a professional player and 22 years as a manager, making 689 appearances and managing 1,098 matches. In addition to this, he spent four ...

and

Terry Bailey Terence Bailey (born 18 December 1947) is an English former footballer who played as a midfielder. His son Mark Bailey also played professional football. After a brief association with Winsford United, he joined Stafford Rangers in 1968. He s ...

to get forward and score goals (Horton and Bailey got 27 goals between them in 1974–75 with Brownbill's support).

Later career

Handed a free transfer in May

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

, he emigrated to the US with the Cleveland Cobras of the American Soccer League, only to return to the UK with

in September. He had 20 starts and 17 substitute appearances in 1978–79, scoring six goals for

Ian McNeill John McKeand "Ian" McNeill (24 February 1932 – 6 October 2017) was a Scottish professional footballer and manager. Playing at inside forward, McNeill started his career at Aberdeen, making his first team debut in January 1951. McNeill moved t ...

's "Latics". Wigan finished the 1979–80 season in sixth place in the Fourth Division. He later moved on to various

clubs:

, Oswestry Town,

and Witton Albion, before becoming the

player-manager A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

of Warrington Town.

Managerial career

After leaving his post at Warrington Town, he became the manager of

Curzon Ashton Curzon Ashton Football Club is an association football club based in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, England. Founded in 1963 and nicknamed "The Nash", the club is affiliated to the Manchester Football Association and currently compete ...

. He was the Director of Football at Warrington Town until 2009.

Career statistics

Honours

Liverpool *

runner-up: 1972

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brownbill, Derek 1954 births Living people Footballers from Liverpool English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Liverpool F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players English expatriate men's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Cleveland Cobras players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Stafford Rangers F.C. players Oswestry Town F.C. players Morecambe F.C. players Witton Albion F.C. players Warrington Town F.C. players English Football League players American Soccer League (1933–1983) players Men's association football player-managers English football managers Warrington Town F.C. managers Association football technical directors 20th-century English sportsmen