Blues and a White

Edwin "Eddy" Brown was born on 28 February 1926 in Jutland Street, Preston and attended St Ignatius primary school. At the age of twelve began to attend the De la Salle Catholic college in Guernsey a view to taking Holy Orders. He studied at the college for eight years, during which time the boys were evacuated to the mainland when the Germans invaded, a disruption which did not prevent Brown achieving four A levels (in English, French, Latin and History) and laying the foundations for his lifelong love of Shakespeare

However, after the war he returned to Preston and in August 1948 was persuaded to defer his calling by a football mad clergyman. He presented himself at Deepdale and said "I am a centre forward." Preston took him at his word and he scored a hat-trick on his debut for the "A" team which secured him a professional contract.

Brown made his league debut in a 0-0 draw at Sunderland on 20 November 1948. His first goal came almost a month later in the 3-1 defeat at Portsmouth. After a three month absence he returned to the team to sore in the 2-2 draw at Manchester United on 23 April 1949. Brown had made 7 appearances during the season which saw Preston relegated from Division One.

Brown become the top scorer in the 1949/50 season with 12 league goals from 24 appearances including a brace in home victories against Sheffield United on Boxing Day and Bradford Park Avenue on 15 April 1950.

Brown started the first 5 matches of 1950/51, scoring twice in the matches against Bury, before Preston manager Will Scott paid Second Division Southampton £10,000 plus the services of Brown to bring goalscorer Charlie Wayman, whose family had been unable to settle in the south, back nearer home in the north of England.

His last appearance for Preston was in the 1-1 draw at Deepdale against Cardiff on 2 September 1950, he had scored 16 goals in 36 league appearances.

When Brown joined Southampton, he found it difficult to replace Wayman who had become a cult-hero with Southampton. Nonetheless, Brown was able to overcome this difficult start and, helped by his pace and deadly right foot, he came close to emulating his predecessor's scoring achievements. In the1950/51 season he scored 20 goals in 36 league games, but Southampton's defence leaked too many goals in 73 compared to scoring 66 goals and they finished in mid-table.

The 1951/52 season started in similar vein, and Brown maintained his scoring ratio with 12 goals in 21 games, until injury meant his season and his Saints career came to an end in January 1952.

Brown had failed to settle at Southampton, despite scored 32 goals in 57 starts and in March 1952 he was granted a transfer to Division Two side Coventry. But his 3 goals in 9 starts could not help them avoid relegation.

The 1952/53 season saw Brown the top scorer for Coventry with 18 goals from 31 appearances. He achieved this again in 1953/54 with 20 goals from 33 appearances with the second highest scorer not reaching double figures.

In October 1954, following a run of five games without a win, Coventry sold him to Birmingham of the Second Division for £9,000, a decision which provoked the resignation of Coventry's manager Jack Fairbrother, Brown had netted 50 goals from 85 league appearances.

Brown's career at Birmingham coincided with probably the best period in the club's history. In that first part-season scored 14 goals in 28 League games, including a hat-trick in a 9-1 demolition of Liverpool which remains their record defeat on 11 December 1954. His goals helped Birmingham to the 1954/55 Second Division championship.

The following season, 1955/56, they achieved their highest ever finishing position, sixth in the First Division with Brown as top scorer with 21 League goals in 38 matches. He scored another seven in the run which included a third round hat-trick win the 7-1 win against Torquay and took the club to their second ever FA Cup Final , only to lose 3-1 to Manchester City, a final best remembered for Man City's goalkeeper Bert Trautmann breaking a bone in his neck and still finishing the game.

In 1956/57 Brown scored 16 goals in 38 matches in all competitions and played in the semi-final of the FA Cup, losing to Manchester United's Busby Babes. He was also part of the Birmingham side which reached the semi-final of the Inter-Cities Fairs which ran for three years between 1955-58, where he scored two goals in the 4-3 home leg win over Barcelona before Birmingham eventually lost out in a replay. His last full season at Birmingham, 1957/58, produced another 15 League goals from 37 appearances

After scoring 74 goals in 158 matches Brown joined Second Division Leyton orient in December 1958, where despite arriving half way through the season he still finished joint leading scorer with 10 goals in 16 matches.

After 28 goals in 63 appearances Brown joined Scarborough, Brown moved to then in the Northern Counties League, as player manager; aged 36 during 1961/62 when he again was his club's top scorer.

The next season he led the club to the championship of the re-formed North Eastern League, the North Eastern League Cup, and the first round proper of the FA Cup, where they only lost by the odd goal in a replay against Crewe. The 1963/64 season, still as player-manager, he led them to runners-up spot in the Midland League. Brown also joined Stourbridge, became Bedworth Town player-manager and assisted at Wigan Athletic before retiring in 1964.

Brown was noted for his goal celebrations, many years before they became commonplace; his trademark celebration was to shake hands with the corner flag, though he was also known to cuddle a policeman behind the goal or to remove a press photographer's hat and throw it into the crowd.

He was also fond of quoting Shakespeare, whether at press conferences or in the dressing-room, and while at Birmingham wrote a weekly column in the Birmingham Evening Mail.

After leaving professional football, Brown returned home to Preston and worked in the family carpet firm as a sales representative. While a Birmingham player, he had worked as a part-time teacher at a private school in Wolverhampton. His ambition was to become a teacher once his playing days were over and went on to teach games at Preston Catholic College; one of his pupils was Mark Lawrenson. When it became obligatory for teachers to be qualified, Brown enrolled at Durham University at the age of 54 where he acquired his teaching certificate and taught French until his retirement.

In his spare time he became involved with a local amateur football club, Broughton Amateurs, where he was appointed first team manager in the 1978/79 season. Two years later he managed the club to a "double" of the Lancashire Amateur League Premier Division, which they won for the first time, and the Lancashire Amateur Cup, the first time Broughton had even reached the final

His influence extended throughout the club, from acting as "front man" for club functions to looking after the pitches. At the age of 70 he was running the club's third team, and, as is still on the committee today.