Robert Albert John "Sailor" Brown (7 November 1915 – 27 December 2008), also known as Albert Brown or Bert Brown, was an English 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 le ...

who played as an inside forward. He was given the nickname "Sailor" by teammates due to his " rolling gait and muscularly stocky build".

Career

Brown was born on 7 November 1915 in

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...

, Norfolk and was

educated Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Vari ...

at St Peter's and Priory School. He played for Great Yarmouth Town and Gorleston as a youth, before making a move to the Football League with Charlton Athletic in August 1934. His debut came against Birmingham City on 29 January 1938 and made 60 appearances and scored 24 goals in all competitions before leaving in January 1940 because of the Second World War. During the war, he served as a

sergeant Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...

in the Royal Air Force and was a member of the Greenwich auxiliary police. He played for

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

, West Ham United, Millwall, York City, Leicester City,

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

, Wolverhampton Wanderers and East Fife as a wartime player,. Brown also featured in six wartime and/or Victory internationals for England, scoring four goals. Following the war, Brown played for Charlton in the FA Cup Final on 27 April 1946, which was lost 4–1 to Derby County at Wembley Stadium. He joined Nottingham Forest for a fee of £6,750 in May 1946. He made 45 appearances and scored 17 goals for Forest before moving to

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

in October 1947 for a fee of £10,000, then the club's record highest fee paid. After making 30 appearances and scoring nine goals, he was appointed as Gorleston player-manager in August 1948. He left the club in May 1956 to retire from football and worked as a bookmaker and a timber merchant, while also

scouting Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpacking ...

for Villa, although he briefly returned as Gorleston manager in 1958 after Joe Jobling left the club.Previous managers
Gorleston F.C. He lived in Forres, Scotland in his later life and died on 27 December 2008, at the age of 93.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Sailor 1915 births 2008 deaths Military personnel from Norfolk Sportspeople from Great Yarmouth Royal Air Force airmen English men's footballers England men's wartime international footballers Men's association football midfielders Great Yarmouth Town F.C. players Gorleston F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players English Football League players Royal Air Force personnel of World War II West Ham United F.C. wartime guest players Millwall F.C. wartime guest players York City F.C. wartime guest players Manchester City F.C. wartime guest players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. wartime guest players English football managers Gorleston F.C. managers