 Brown atUpton Park, 2010 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1934-02-16)16 February 1934 (age 91) | ||
| Place of birth | Forest Gate,London, England | ||
| Position | Centre-half | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Neville United | |||
| 1951–1953 | West Ham United | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1953–1967 | West Ham United | 386 | (4) |
| 1967–1969 | Torquay United | 42 | (1) |
| 1969–1970 | Hereford United | ||
| Total | 428 | (5) | |
| International career | |||
| 1959 | England | 1 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1980–1987 | Norwich City | ||
| 1987 | Shrewsbury Town | ||
| 1988–1990 | Plymouth Argyle | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Kenneth Brown (born 16 February 1934)[1] is an English formerfootball player and manager. As player, he made more than 400 appearances inthe Football League representingWest Ham United, where he spent the majority of his career,[2] andTorquay United, and wascapped once for theEngland national team.[3] As manager, he took charge ofNorwich City,Shrewsbury Town andPlymouth Argyle.[4]
Brown was playing for localDagenham side Neville United when he signed professional forWest Ham United on 16 October 1951. He quickly made his way into the reserve side, but first team football was much harder to come by, his debut eventually coming in February 1953 againstRotherham United as a replacement forMalcolm Allison. His first five years as a professional saw him only make occasional appearances for the Hammers, althoughnational service between 1952 and 1954 did not help.
Brown started the 1957–58 season as first-choice in the centre of the West Ham defence, and remained there, missing only one game as West Ham won theSecond Division title.[2] On 18 November 1959, Brown made his only appearance forEngland, a 2–1 victory overNorthern Ireland at Wembley.[1] He was a member of the 1964FA Cup winning side, and the following year was back at Wembley as part of theEuropean Cup Winners' Cup winning side, playing alongsideBobby Moore.[2]
In May 1967, after receiving a testimonial from West Ham, he followed his friendJohn Bond toTorquay United for a fee of £4000. He had played 386 league games and scored 4 goals. He played 42 league games for Torquay, scoring once, before moving toSouthern LeagueHereford United, then managed by Welsh legendJohn Charles, in May 1969 for one final season as a player.
When John Bond was appointed manager ofBournemouth & Boscombe Athletic in 1970, Brown was appointed as his trainer (although many sources have later described him as assistant manager which was Reg Tyrrell), and in November 1973, Brown followed Bond toNorwich City, becoming assistant manager. In October 1980, Bond left to manageManchester City and Brown took over the reins at Norwich, though was unable to stop them being relegated. The following season Norwich were promoted back toDivision One at the first attempt. They won theLeague Cup in 1985, but were relegated at the end of the season, only to bounce back at the first attempt again the following season as Second Division champions.
Their next season back in the top flight saw Brown lead his side to fifth place, then Norwich's highest ever final position. They even topped the league during the first half of the season, and proved to be the hardest side to beat in the First Division alongside championsEverton.
The following season, Norwich started badly and by Christmas, Brown had been sacked. In addition to his success on the pitch at Norwich, he had displayed a great ability for spotting talent at lower league clubs and in the reserve sides of other top flight clubs. The likes ofDave Watson,Steve Bruce,Ian Crook,Mike Phelan andBryan Gunn were all brought to the club by Brown in this fashion. Watson went on to enjoy league title andFA Cup glory at being sold toEverton in 1986. Bruce was sold toManchester United immediately after Brown's sacking, and went on to lift a succession of trophies atOld Trafford. Phelan followed Bruce to Old Trafford and collected winner's medals in the league and cup competitions during the first four of his five seasons there. Crook spent a total of 11 seasons atCarrow Road and played a part in some of Norwich's great successes, while also enduring a relegation in 1995. Gunn, who was signed fromAberdeen a year before Brown's sacking, remained at Carrow Road until the end of his playing career in 1999, and would spend a total of 23 years at the club as a player, member of the coaching staff and finally serving a brief spell as manager.
In December 1987, Brown took charge ofShrewsbury Town for one match in the Second Division, but decided against taking the job permanently and took time out of football instead. In July 1988 he was appointed manager ofPlymouth Argyle, where one of his signings was his sonKenny Junior from Norwich City, who would later be sold toWest Ham United for £170,000. Brown was controversially sacked as Plymouth manager in February 1990, and decided to once more take time away from football. His spell in charge of Plymouth would prove to be his last managerial appointment.
In 1994, he was approached by England managerTerry Venables to work part-time as a scout, a duty he has since also performed forGlenn Hoddle andKevin Keegan, whilst maintaining his business interest in the Lakenham Leisure Centre inNorwich.
In February 2004 he was guest of honour atCarrow Road for the home game againstWest Ham to celebrate the opening of a new stand, when a special presentation was made to Brown to commemorate his 70th birthday.
Ken is the father ofKenny Brown, also a footballer and manager, as well asAmanda Brown, a former tennis international and twice winner of theAustralian Open Girls' singles championships.[5] In April 2015 during a burglary at his home inBlofield near Norwich,[6] Brown's medals from the 1964 FA Cup Final, the 1965 European Cup Winners' Cup Final and the 1985 League Cup Final were stolen.[7] In May, West Ham United football club offered a reward of £5,000 to anyone providing information leading to the arrest and the conviction of those responsible for the break-in.[8] As of 2025, Brown is the oldest living former player of West Ham United.[9]
West Ham United
Norwich City
