Steve Brown (footballer, born 1972)

For other people named Steve Brown, see Steve Brown (disambiguation).

Steve Brown

Personal information
Full name	Steven Byron Brown
Date of birth	(1972-05-13) 13 May 1972 (age 52)
Place of birth	Brighton, England
Position(s)	Defender
Youth career
1987–1988	Whitehawk
1988–1990	Charlton Athletic
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1987–1988	Whitehawk	4	(0)
1990–2002	Charlton Athletic	242	(9)
2002–2005	Reading	40	(1)
Total		286	(10)
Managerial career
2013–2014	Ebbsfleet United
2015	Lewes
2018–2019	Margate
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Steven Byron "Steve" Brown (born 13 May 1972) is an English former football player and most recently the manager of Margate.

Career

Born in Brighton, Brown played youth football with Whitehawk, where his father Gary Brown was first team coach. He made his first team debut as a 15-year old in 1988 before being spotted playing for Brighton Boys by Charlton Athletic. ^[1]

He began with Charlton Athletic in 1988-89 as a 16-year old, before turning professional at the club where he spent most of his career as a defender. Brown's spell at Charlton saw the club twice gain promotion to the Premier League, once as champions and the other in their dramatic win over Sunderland in the 1998 play-off final, winning 7–6 on penalties after a 4–4 draw, with Brown scoring one of the penalties. An extremely popular player with supporters, he also acquired the reputation of a versatile player; indeed, he played in goal four times for Charlton without conceding. This memorably happened in the Premier League against Aston Villa when Andy Petterson was sent off. ^[2] He also captained the side on numerous occasions and played in the team that equalled the league record of 12 straight wins whilst in the First Division (now Championship). He was an integral part of the squad that retained Premier League status in 2001 and he helped Charlton secure their highest-ever finish in the Premier League before his departure in December 2002. ^[3]

After over twelve years with Charlton, he was signed by former Charlton teammate Alan Pardew for Reading in late 2002. ^[3] After two and a half years, scoring once against Crystal Palace, ^[4] he retired from the game with a recurrence of an anterior cruciate ligament injury which had ruptured earlier in his career.

After football

Brown became a youth coach at Charlton Athletic before moving to West Ham United (by then managed by Pardew) to become reserve-team coach. He ended his role in July 2007 after Alan Pardew's dismissal led to changes in the back room staff. ^[5] Brown then worked as head of football at Ardingly College whilst attaining his UEFA A Licence and led the school's first XI to the quarter-finals of the national cup. Whilst at Ardingly, Brown scouted for Charlton Athletic and was often heard commentating on the radio for BBC London.

After attaining his UEFA A Licence in 2008, Brown agreed to become the Brighton youth team manager. During his spell at Brighton his team finished second and fifth in the league and progressed through to the fourth and third rounds of the FA Youth Cup. In his two-year spell at Brighton, 11 youth players signed professional contracts, five of which made first-team appearances.

In 2011 Brown became Nicky Forster's assistant at Dover Athletic in the Conference South. Dover made the play off final in their second year in charge narrowly losing to Salisbury.

On 3 June 2013, Brown was appointed manager of Ebbsfleet United, succeeding Liam Daish. He appointed former Charlton player Steve Gritt as his assistant.

On 26 November 2014, Ebbsfleet United announced Brown's departure from the club, Brown left with a 52% win ratio and the club sat in fourth position in the league. The previous season saw Ebbsfleet win the Kent senior cup and make the playoff final in his first year as a manager. ^[6]

On 4 March 2015, Brown was announced as the new interim manager of Isthmian Premier Division side Lewes until the end of this season. ^[7] After ensuring the Sussex club's survival from relegation after winning 5 of the last 11 games, Brown was appointed Lewes manager on a permanent basis ahead of the 2015–16 season. ^[8] On 24 September 2015, Brown's resignation was accepted by the Lewes board after a poor start to the season, Brown cited a 33% budget cut as the reason for his resignation. ^[9]

Brown was manager of Margate FC from November 2016 to February 2019. ^[10] He is head coach for the 1st Eleven at Lancing College, an independent school in West Sussex. Brown is also a regional scout for Stoke City's Academy and summarises for BBC London, a job he's held since 2004.

References

1. Whitehawk v Hailsham Town match day programme, 19 April 1988
2. "Charlton boost hopes in thriller". BBC. 8 May 1999. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
3. "Royals swoop for Brown". BBC Sport. 19 December 2002. Retrieved 15 February 2008.
4. "Reading 2-1 C Palace". BBC. 15 March 2003. Retrieved 20 November 2009.
5. "New additions to backroom staff". West Ham United F.C. 2 July 2007. Retrieved 15 February 2008.
6. Miller, Ed (26 November 2014). "Club statement". The Fleet Online. Ebbsfleet United Football Club. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
7. "Lewes name former Albion under-18s boss as interim manager". The Argus (Brighton). Newsquest. 4 March 2015. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
8. "Lewes announce Management line up for next season". Lewes F.C. 23 May 2015. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
9. "Club announcement regarding Steve Brown –". www.lewesfc.com. Archived from the original on 1 January 2016. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
10. Margate part company with manager Steve Brown, thenonleaguefootballpaper.com, 7 February 2019

External links

• Steve Brown at Soccerbase