Junior Brown (footballer)

Junior Brown

Brown training with Fleetwood Town in 2013
Personal information
Full name	Junior Brown [1]
Date of birth	(1989-05-07) 7 May 1989 (age 36)
Place of birth	Crewe, England
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s)	Left-back, midfielder
Youth career
0000–2007	Crewe Alexandra
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2007–2008	Crewe Alexandra	1	(0)
2007–2008	→ Kidsgrove Athletic (loan)
2008–2009	FC Halifax Town	33	(8)
2009–2010	Northwich Victoria	32	(3)
2010–2014	Fleetwood Town	106	(13)
2014	→ Tranmere Rovers (loan)	9	(1)
2014–2015	Oxford United	11	(0)
2014–2015	→ Mansfield Town (loan)	5	(1)
2015	Mansfield Town	19	(1)
2015–2018	Shrewsbury Town	89	(6)
2018–2020	Coventry City	22	(0)
2019–2020	→ Scunthorpe United (loan)	20	(0)
2020–2021	Scunthorpe United	0	(0)
2021–2022	Bristol Rovers	6	(0)
2022–2024	Whitchurch Alport
2024	Hednesford Town	2	(0)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 19:29, 13 March 2025 (UTC)

Junior Brown (born 7 May 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a left back.

Career

Crewe Alexandra

Brown began his career at hometown club Crewe Alexandra, for whom he made a solitary appearance as substitute in a league match with Brighton on 2 February 2008. ^[2]

Non-league

After leaving Crewe, Brown dropped into non-league football with spells at the newly formed F.C. Halifax Town, ^[3] and then Northwich Victoria. ^[4]

Fleetwood Town

After the Vics' problems off the field he signed for Fleetwood Town. ^[5] He was part of the squad that saw Fleetwood promoted into the Football League for the first time in their history, and was hailed for his good form on his personal return to league football. ^[6]

Brown joined League One side Tranmere Rovers on loan until the end of the 2013–14 season on 6 March 2014. ^[7]

Oxford United

On 31 July 2014 Brown terminated his contract with Fleetwood and agreed to join League Two side Oxford United on a 12-month contract. ^[8]

Mansfield Town

Brown joined Mansfield Town on a permanent transfer in January 2015 having been on loan at the club since November 2014. ^[9]

Shrewsbury Town

Brown joined Shrewsbury Town in League One on a free transfer in June 2015, re-uniting with his former manager at Fleetwood, Micky Mellon. ^[10] Establishing himself as first choice left-back at the club, he made forty appearances in all competitions during the 2015–16 season, before picking up a knee ligament injury in April 2016. ^[11] This injury caused him to miss most of the season. ^[12]

Brown signed a two-year contract extension in June 2016, keeping him at the club until summer 2018. ^[13] Having found some goalscoring form during his second season, Brown's fifth goal of the campaign, the matchwinner in a 1−0 home victory over Southend United in April 2017, notably all-but sealed Shrewsbury's League One status at the expense of local rivals Port Vale. ^[14]

He was offered a new contract by Shrewsbury at the end of the 2017–18 season. ^[15] Brown joined Coventry City on 1 July 2018 on a 2-year deal. ^[16]

Scunthorpe United

On 29 August 2019, Brown joined League Two side Scunthorpe United on loan until January where he was given the 28 shirt. ^[17] He later signed permanently, and was one of 17 players released by Scunthorpe at the end of the 2020–21 season. ^[18]

Bristol Rovers

On 31 August 2021, Brown joined recently relegated League Two club Bristol Rovers on a one-year deal. ^[19] Brown made his debut on 11 September 2021, coming off of the bench in a 1–0 defeat at Hartlepool United. ^[20] Brown picked up a thigh injury in a 1–0 victory over Harrogate Town that would prove to keep him out for a number of months. ^[21] In January 2022, manager Joey Barton revealed that Brown would be allowed to move on from the club with the defender struggling to return to full fitness having not played since the thigh injury in October. ^[22] Having been unable to find a move in the January transfer window, Brown was released by the club at the end of the season. ^[23]

Whitchurch Alport

Following his release from Bristol Rovers, Brown signed for Midland Football League Premier Division club Whitchurch Alport, scoring his first goal in over four years with the last minute winner in an FA Cup victory over Ossett United. ^[24]

Hednesford Town

On 27 March 2024, Brown joined Northern Premier League Division One West club Hednesford Town. ^[25]

Style of play

Brown can play anywhere on the left-hand side of the pitch either as a winger, wing-back or full-back. ^[26]

Personal life

Following retirement from professional football, Brown began work as a consultant in fire engineering, studying a Master's degree at University of Central Lancashire. ^[27]

Career statistics

As of end of 2023–24 season ^{[28] [29]}

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Crewe Alexandra	2007–08	Football League One	1	0	0	0	0	0	—		1	0
FC Halifax Town	2008–09	NPL Division One North	33	8	0	0	0	0	—		33	8
Northwich Victoria	2009–10	Conference North	32	3	1	0	—				33	3
Fleetwood Town	2010–11	Football Conference	21	2	0	0	—		2 [a]	0	23	2
	2011–12		21	0	2	0	—				23	0
	2012–13	Football League Two	43	10	2	1	0	0	—		45	11
	2013–14		21	1	3	0	1	0	6 [b]	0	31	1
	Total		106	13	7	1	1	0	8	0	122	15
Tranmere Rovers	2013–14	Football League One	9	1	0	0	0	0	—		9	1
Oxford United	2014–15	Football League Two	11	0	1	0	2	0	1 [b]	0	15	0
Mansfield Town (loan)	2014–15	Football League Two	5	1	0	0	0	0	—		5	1
Mansfield Town	2014–15	Football League Two	19	1	0	0	0	0	—		19	1
Shrewsbury Town	2015–16	Football League One	31	0	5	0	2	0	2 [b]	1	40	1
	2016–17	EFL League One	43	5	3	0	2	0	3 [b]	0	51	5
	2017–18		15	1	0	0	1	0	1 [b]	0	17	1
	Total		89	6	8	0	5	0	6	1	108	7
Coventry City	2018–19	League One	22	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	23	0
Scunthorpe United	2019–20 (loan)	League Two	20	0	1	0	0	0	3 [b]	0	24	0
	2020–21	League Two	14	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	15	0
	Total		34	0	2	0	0	0	3	0	39	0
Bristol Rovers	2021–22 [30]	League Two	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	0
Hednesford Town	2023–24 [31]	NPL Division One West	2	0	0	0	—		1 [c]	0	3	0
Career totals			349	33	19	1	9	0	19	1	396	35

1. Appearances in Conference play-offs
2. Appearance(s) in the Football League Trophy
3. Appearance(s) in Walsall Senior Cup

References

1. "Professional retain lists & free transfers 2012/13" (PDF). The Football League. May 2013. p. 62. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2014. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
2. "Brighton 3–0 Crewe". BBC Sport. 2 February 2008. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
3. "FC Halifax Town Clockwatch". Halifax Courier. Archived from the original on 26 June 2015. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
4. "Vics helped me earn Fleetwood move, says Brown". Northwich Guardian. 18 June 2010. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
5. "Fleetwood Town sign Junior Brown from Northwich". BBC Sport. 18 June 2010.
6. "Fleetwood: Micky Mellon hails 'blossoming' Junior Brown". BBC Sport. 4 October 2012.
7. "Junior Brown: Tranmere Rovers sign Fleetwood winger on loan". BBC Sport. 6 March 2014. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
8. "Oxford United: Junior Brown joins from Fleetwood Town". BBC Sport. 31 July 2014. Retrieved 9 August 2014.
9. "Ricky Ravenhill & Junior Brown join Mansfield Town". BBC Sport. 7 January 2015. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
10. "Junior Brown: Shrewsbury Town sign left winger on one-year deal". BBC Sport. 24 June 2015. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
11. "Shrewsbury's Junior Brown ruled out for rest of season". Shropshire Star. 6 April 2016. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
12. "Junior Brown: Coventry sign Shrewsbury Town defender on two-year deal". BBC Sport. 6 June 2018. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
13. "Junior Brown on new deal". Shrewsweb. 9 June 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
14. "Junior Brown: I predicted my Shrewsbury Town special moment". Shropshire Star. 22 April 2017. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
15. "Shrewsbury Town: Joe Riley, Shaun Rowley and AJ Leitch-Smith to be released". BBC Sport. 31 May 2018. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
16. Hatfield, Luke (6 June 2018). "Shrewsbury Town defender Junior Brown to join Coventry". www.shropshirestar.com. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
17. "Iron sign Junior Brown on loan". Scunthorpe United F.C. 29 August 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
18. "Scunthorpe United release 17 players including several key men". Grimsbylive. 13 May 2021 – via www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk.
19. "Rovers Sign Brown, Clarke and Evans!". www.bristolrovers.co.uk. 31 August 2021. Archived from the original on 31 August 2021. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
20. "Hartlepool United 1–0 Bristol Rovers". BBC Sport. 11 September 2021. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
21. Frost, Sam (31 October 2021). "Joey Barton on Pitman and Brown injuries and good news for Bristol Rovers midfielder". Bristol Post. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
22. Frost, Sam (21 January 2022). "Exit nears for Bristol Rovers defender with Joey Barton set to hold talks on Friday". Bristol Post. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
23. "Club Announces Released List". www.bristolrovers.co.uk. 19 May 2022. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
24. "OSSETT UNITED 1 WHITCHURCH ALPORT 2 MATCH REPORT". Whitchurch Alport. 21 August 2022. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
25. "BARNES-HOMER AND BROWN SIGN BEFORE DEADLINE". www.hednesfordtownfc.com. 27 March 2024. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
26. "Boss influence swung it for Junior Brown". Shropshire Star. 10 June 2016. Archived from the original on 14 September 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
27. "Junior Brown". mazefire.com. Retrieved 13 February 2025.
28. Junior Brown at Soccerway . Retrieved 6 June 2018.
29. Junior Brown at Soccerbase
30. "Games played by Junior Brown in 2021/2022". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
31. "Hednesford Town – Appearances – Junior Brown – 2023-2024". www.footballwebpages.co.uk. Retrieved 13 March 2025.

External links

• Junior Brown at Soccerbase
• Junior Brown at Soccerway