Kevan Barry Brown (born 2 January 1966) is an English retired professional

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 at full back in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

for

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...

and

Aldershot Aldershot ( ) is a town in the Rushmoor district, Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme north-east corner of the county, south-west of London. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Farnborough/Aldershot built-up are ...

in the 1980s and 1990s, before a career in

non-League football 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 ...

Football career

Brown was born in

Andover, Hampshire Andover ( ) is a town in the Test Valley district of Hampshire, England. The town is on the River Anton, a major tributary of the River Test, Test, and lies alongside the major A303 road, A303 trunk road at the eastern end of Salisbury Plain, ...

, the son of Peter Brown, the former

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

forward, and his wife, June. Brown joined Southampton as a trainee in 1982 after signing Associate School Boy Forms in 1979. He then signed as a professional in July 1984. He remained at The Dell until the spring of 1987, without breaking into the first team, although he made over 120 appearances for the reserves. In February 1987, he went on loan to

Brighton and Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gro ...

, with the deal being made permanent the following month with Brighton and Hibe Albion paying £10000 for his signature. After a two seasons at Brighton and helping them to promotion back to the then 2nd Division in November 1988 he transferred to

, where he was to remain for four seasons, making 175 senior appearances. Described as "a talented right back", Brown made his debut for Aldershot in a 1–0 victory over

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

. Brown then joined

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...

in the

Football Conference The National League of English Football Clubs is a professional Association football, football league in England that consists of 72 teams, divided equally between the National League (division), National League North and National League South ...

whom he helped win the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

and

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

. In 1996–97, he formed a defensive partnership with

Steve Foster Stephen Brian Foster (born 24 September 1957) is an English former footballer. Football career Born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, Foster was an associate schoolboy with Southampton, but was not offered a professional contract. He started his prof ...

which was described as "impeccable". In February 1997, Woking played

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

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 ...

with the first match at

Highfield Road Highfield Road was a football stadium in the city of Coventry, England. It was the home ground for Coventry City for 106 years. History It was built in 1899 in the Hillfields district, close to the city centre, and staged its final game on 30 ...

being drawn 1–1. In the replay at the

Kingfield Stadium Kingfield Stadium, currently known as The Laithwaite Community Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a Association football, football stadium in the Kingfield area of Woking, Surrey, and is the home of Woking F.C., Woking Football Club which has a ...

, an

own goal An own goal occurs in sports when a player performs actions that result in scoring points for the opposition, such as when a Association football, footballer puts a ball into their own net. In some parts of the world, the term has become a met ...

by Steve Foster handed the match to Coventry. On 16 May 1997, Woking won the

defeating

Dagenham & Redbridge Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club (), often known simply as Dagenham and abbreviated when written to Dag & Red, is a professional association football club based in Dagenham, Greater London, England that play in the , the sixth level of the En ...

1–0 in

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

. Brown left Woking in March 1998, having achieved much success winning and captaining the team to three FA Trophy wins at Wembley, finishing runner-up twice in the Conference and playing for England 5 times before joining

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil, a town in Somerset, England, with a council named Yeovil Town * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town W.F.C., an English women's football team affiliated with Yeovil T ...

with Steve Thompson for a fee of £7,500. In August 1998, Woking arranged a

testimonial match A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...

for Brown against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

. Brown remained at

Huish Park Huish Park is a Association football, football stadium located in Yeovil, Somerset, England. The stadium has been home to Yeovil Town F.C. since its completion in 1990, following their relocation from Huish Athletic Ground, Huish. Huish Park has ...

until March 2000 when he was released by new manager David Webb. He returned to Woking, to help the club avoid relegation from the Football Conference.

Later career

In 2007, Brown was appointed Director of Sport at St. Francis School in

Pewsey Pewsey is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish at the centre of the Vale of Pewsey in Wiltshire, about south of Marlborough, Wiltshire, Marlborough and west of London. It is within reach of the M4 motorway and the A303 and i ...

, Wiltshire.

Honours

Woking *

winners: 1994, 1995, 1997

References

External links

*
Interview with Kevan Brown, 9 January 2000
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Kevan 1966 births Living people Sportspeople from Andover, Hampshire English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Southampton F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Aldershot F.C. players Woking F.C. players Yeovil Town F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players England men's semi-pro international footballers Footballers from Hampshire