 Brown playing forBristol Rovers in 2016 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Lee James Brown[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1990-08-10)10 August 1990 (age 35) | ||
| Place of birth | Farnborough, England | ||
| Position | Left-back | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Queens Park Rangers | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2008–2011 | Queens Park Rangers | 1 | (0) |
| 2009 | →Salisbury City (loan) | 13 | (0) |
| 2010–2011 | →Hayes & Yeading United (loan) | 28 | (3) |
| 2011–2018 | Bristol Rovers | 287 | (22) |
| 2018–2022 | Portsmouth | 111 | (6) |
| 2022–2024 | AFC Wimbledon | 69 | (0) |
| Total | 509 | (31) | |
| International career | |||
| 2014–2015 | England C | 3 | (0) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 12:06, 7 March 2025 (UTC) | |||
Lee James Brown (born 10 August 1990) is an English former professionalfootballer who played as aleft-back.
Brown formerly played forQueens Park Rangers,Salisbury City,Hayes & Yeading United andBristol Rovers, spending seven seasons with the latter club and amassing 321 appearances before joiningPortsmouth and thenAFC Wimbledon.
He has played for theEngland C national team.
Brown worked his way through the youth team ofQueens Park Rangers, earning a professional contract in July 2008 having been part of theFootball League Youth Alliance winning side the previous season.[2]
He spent the first half of the2009–10 season on loan atadministration-strickenSalisbury City of theConference National, along with teammateJoe Oastler.[3] He made fourteen appearances for the club, including twelve starts, before returning toLoftus Road before the end of the calendar year. On 24 April 2010 he made his debut inthe Football League, replacingTamás Priskin as asubstitute in a 1–0 win overBarnsley atOakwell.[4]
At the end of the seasonNeil Warnock offered him a new one-year deal, which he duly signed.[5] "Lee Brown has emerged as an exciting prospect from the QPR youth system in recent years and was rewarded with a one-year deal at QPR in 2009. He, along with several youngsters were given the opportunity to train with the first team in the latter part of the 2008–09 season, after impressing in the reserves. The left-back played an important role in QPR's pre-season of 2009–10 and was subsequently given his first squad number in light of the lack of full-backs at the club. Brown, along with fellow defender Joe Oastler, was loaned out to Conference Premier side Salisbury City. His stay there was curtailed due to Salisbury being unable to renew their loan deals"
In September 2010, Brown joinedHayes & Yeading United on loan, initially for one month[6] before being extended for a second.[7] Brown returned to Church Road ontransfer deadline day in a loan deal until the end of the 2010–11 campaign, snubbing a similar move toLeague One sideLeyton Orient.[8]
Brown was released by QPR following the2010–11 season[9] and went on to sign a 2-year contract with recently relegatedLeague Two outfitBristol Rovers.[10]
On 6 August 2011, Brown made his Bristol Rovers debut in the opening game of the season, live onSky Sports, againstAFC Wimbledon. Rovers won the game 3–2.In his first season at Rovers he appeared in 42 league games and scored seven goals as the club turned around a difficult first half to the season, which resulted in the sacking of managerPaul Buckle who was replaced byMark McGhee, to finish in a comfortable, albeit disappointing, 13th place.
On 18 July 2012, Brown signed an extension to his Bristol Rovers contract to keep him at theMemorial Stadium until the summer of 2014.[11] He was again a regular for Rovers as he made 39 league appearances, scoring three times. For Rovers, the season was again a struggle in the first half, spending two different spells in the relegation zone leading to the dismissal ofMark McGhee. He was replaced by the returningJohn Ward who successfully guided Rovers to 14th inLeague Two.
Brown'sthird season at Bristol Rovers started with the club among the pre-season favourites for promotion. The season proved to be a disaster for Rovers as the club was relegated out of theFootball League for the first time since joining it in 1920. Brown made 41 appearances, scoring twice.
Despite attracting interest from fellow Football League sides, Brown signed a new contract with Rovers in July 2014.[12] Brown stated "I thought I had to give something back to [the fans]" and that managerDarrell Clarke, who had replaced John Ward toward the end of the previous season and had played alongside Brown atSalisbury City in 2009, "has got to take a lot of credit for me staying". On 14 October 2014, he made his international debut, representingEngland C in a 2–0 defeat toTurkey B inIstanbul.[13]
Brown achieved promotion to the Football league via a play-off victory in the2015 Conference Premier play-off final, the first club to gain an instant return since 2005. After a 1–1 draw withGrimsby Town, Rovers won 5–3 on penalties with Brown scoring Rovers' third.[14]
The2015–16 season was arguably his best season ever as a footballer as he played every minute of Rovers' games. He scored 6 goals over the course of the season after opening his tally in a 3–1 home win againstBarnet.[15] On 14 April 2016, Brown signed a new and improved deal with the club.[16] His last goal of the season proved to be the most important as his 92nd-minute winner in the last game of the season againstDagenham & Redbridge made Rovers aLeague One side once again.[17]
Brown scored his first goal of the2016–17 season in anFA Cup first round tie againstCrawley Town, striking a superb shot from 35 yards into the bottom left corner.[18]
Brown started on the opening day of the2017–18 season in a 1–0 defeat toCharlton Athletic.[19] He also played the following Tuesday in a 4–1EFL Cup victory overCambridge United in which he got two assists; a 40-yard pass toBilly Bodin for the first goal and a delightful cross toEllis Harrison for the third goal.[20] Following the 1–1 draw withWigan Athletic, it was confirmed that Brown would leave Rovers at the end of the season, having made over 321 appearances for the club, in order to be closer toLondon. ManagerDarrell Clarke confirmed his last game, the forthcoming home fixture withGillingham, would see Brown take thecaptain's armband.[21]
On 11 June 2018,Portsmouth announced they had signed Brown on a two-year deal from Bristol Rovers on a free transfer. He officially became a Pompey player on 1 July 2018 when his contract with Bristol Rovers expired.[22] In March 2019, he won his first piece of silverware when Portsmouth won the2018–19 EFL Trophy, defeating league rivalsSunderland5–4 on penalties following a 2–2 draw after extra time.[23]
On 3 August 2020, Brown signed a two-year contract extension.[24]
On 28 January 2022, Brown joined fellow League One sideAFC Wimbledon on a free transfer.[25] He was offered a new contract at the end of the2023–24 season.[26]
On 2 July 2024, AFC Wimbledon confirmed that Brown had departed the club following the expiration of his contract.[27]
Whilst living inBristol, Brown started B3 homes, a luxury property development company.[28]
In March 2025, Brown revealed that his retirement from football the previous summer had come following a breakdown in October 2023 having struggled to balance his football career with his successful property business.[29]
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Queens Park Rangers | 2009–10[30] | Championship | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2010–11[31] | Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Salisbury City (loan) | 2009–10[30] | Conference Premier | 13 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 14 | 0 | |
| Hayes & Yeading United | 2010–11[31] | Conference Premier | 28 | 3 | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 29 | 3 | |
| Total | 41 | 3 | 2 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 43 | 3 | |||
| Bristol Rovers | 2011–12[32] | League Two | 42 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1[a] | 0 | 48 | 7 |
| 2012–13[33] | League Two | 39 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1[a] | 0 | 42 | 3 | |
| 2013–14[34] | League Two | 41 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1[a] | 0 | 48 | 2 | |
| 2014–15[35] | Conference Premier | 46 | 2 | 1 | 0 | — | 3[b] | 0 | 50 | 2 | ||
| 2015–16[36] | League Two | 46 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2[a] | 0 | 50 | 6 | |
| 2016–17[37] | League One | 41 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2[c] | 0 | 47 | 1 | |
| 2017–18[38] | League One | 32 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 1 | |
| Total | 287 | 21 | 15 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 321 | 22 | ||
| Portsmouth | 2018–19[39] | League One | 44 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3[c] | 0 | 51 | 0 |
| 2019–20[40] | League One | 16 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2[c] | 0 | 21 | 1 | |
| 2020–21[41] | League One | 32 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1[c] | 0 | 35 | 2 | |
| 2021–22[42] | League One | 19 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3[c] | 0 | 24 | 3 | |
| Total | 111 | 6 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 131 | 6 | ||
| AFC Wimbledon | 2021–22[42] | League One | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 0 |
| 2022–23[43] | League Two | 31 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1[c] | 0 | 32 | 0 | |
| 2023–24[44] | League Two | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6[c] | 0 | 31 | 0 | |
| Total | 69 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 78 | 0 | ||
| Career total | 508 | 30 | 26 | 1 | 13 | 0 | 26 | 0 | 576 | 31 | ||
Bristol Rovers
Portsmouth
Individual
