CRAIG BROWN INTERVIEW

CRAIG BROWN

As we welcome Clyde today on their first visit to the Balmoral Stadium, we felt it was appropriate to turn the spotlight on one of their legends - and great friend of Cove Rangers - Craig Brown.

Former Scotland, Aberdeen, Preston North End and Motherwell manager Craig began his illustrious coaching career with the Bully Wee away back in the 1970s.

Now an ambassador for Aberdeen FC, Craig looks back on his successful spell in charge of this afternoon’s League One opponents, which included leading Clyde to two Second Division titles.

CRAIG BROWN

Glory day: Craig led Clyde to the Second Division title in his first season in charge.

What are your thoughts on Cove Rangers and Clyde clashing for the first team at league level?

It’s an exciting prospect. Let’s not forget Cove were still playing in the amateur leagues as recently as the 1980s. They have come a very long way in a short space of time. That only happened because of the hard work and dedication shown by a lot of people at Cove. I’ve witnessed that first hard in recent years when I’ve been fortunate enough to be invited along as a guest to some of their games.

There’s a lot of really good people working at Cove, on the football front as well as behind the scenes. Getting the opportunity to play clubs like Clyde, who are amongst Scotland’s oldest clubs and have such a rich history, on a regular basis is their reward for the effort put in.

I’m also excited by the chance to see two of the country’s best young managers - Paul Hartley and Danny Lennon - locking horns. I have tremendous admiration for both men because I know they are hard workers who have set very high standards for themselves as well as their clubs.

I know from my own experiences that managing a part-time club is a testing process. Paul and Danny have instilled a fulltime mentality and that should ensure today’s game is highly competitive and very high quality.

You managed Clyde from 1977 to 1986, tell us a bit about how that came about?

I have my great friend Billy McNeill to thank for that. We played together for Scottish Schoolboys and had always been good pals, so when Billy left Clyde to become the manager of Aberdeen he recommended me for his old job.

I was working as part-time assistant manager to Willie McLean at Motherwell at the time, so was delighted to be given the opportunity to take charge in my own right, especially at a club like Clyde, who, as I said, have a great history and have always been highly respected.

Dons man: Craig as Aberdeen Manger with assistant Archie Knox.

The Bully Wee: Craig Brown with his Clyde squad. Their board of directors, including chairman Tom Clark - whose son Bobby is the legendary former Aberdeen goalkeeper Bobby - had a reputation for fairness and integrity.

I had been forced to retire from playing at the age of 27, so was very inexperienced and I appreciated the Clyde directors showing faith in me. Managing part-time fitted perfectly with my other job in teaching, so everyone was happy.

That was also Clyde’s centenary season and you celebrated by leading them to the second division title, how did you feel about that?

Tremendously proud because I knew it meant a lot everyone at Clyde for us to enjoy success in that year of all years.

We did it with a record number of points, which was particularly pleasing. It took us up into the second tier of Scottish football at that time (The structure in 1978 was Premier Division, First Division, Second Division), and it gave the whole community a lift.

You did it despite having to sell one of your star players - Steve Archibald - midway through that season. How did that transfer come about?

Now there’s a story! Clyde prided themselves that they had always been able to balance the books by making profits from transfers. When Mr Clark told me I had to sell a couple of players to ensure that continued I accepted it was part of my duties.

I contacted every club in Scotland’s top division to let them know we were willing to listen to offers for Steve and Joe Wark, who were our best players at that time. I used to wind Dundee United’s Jim McLean up for saying he wasn’t interested in Steve because he didn’t think he was good enough to make it at a higher level.

Billy obviously knew him from his time in charge of Clyde so came back and said he was keen to sign Steve - as a possible replacement for Willie Miller. Billy said there had been interest from Rangers and clubs in England for Willie.

Steve was a midfielder at Clyde but Billy had also played him at sweeper and was convinced he could be a success playing there for Aberdeen. We couldn’t agree on the fee though, which allowed Ayr United to come in with an offer of £10,000 plus Jim McSherry for Steve ...which we accepted!

We will never know if Steve would still have had the career he did if he had ended up at Somerset Park.

Unfortunately, Jim decided he didn’t want to come to Clyde so the deal fell through. Willie also chose to remain at Aberdeen but we were happy when Billy came back in with an offer of £25,000, which we accepted.

Unfortunately, there was no such thing as sell-on clauses in those days or agents, deals were done manager to manager and chairman to chairman. It meant Clyde missed out on a share of the £900,000 the Dons got from selling Steve to Spurs — and the £1.2 million they received from his transfer to Barcelona!

But we were happy with the deal we did at that time and that we were still able to go on and win the league title.

Photos left-to-right: Craig Brown, Aberdeen manager Billy McNeill are with Steve Archibald and his wife on the day the striker signed for the Dons; Football first: Brian Ahern in his BOC sponsored Clyde shirt; Star find: Craig signed future Chelsea and Scotland star Pat Nevin from the amateur ranks.

You were inducted into Clyde’s hall of fame and their tribute makes mention of how good you were at making money from transfers - more than £500,000 from just 11 deals. What do have to say about that?

It’s extremely kind of them to say that because it’s something I’m very proud of. As I said, it was a crucial part of my job. We had a great scouting network and picked up some real gems.

Pat Nevin, who went on to play for Chelsea and Scotland, and Tommy McQueen, who was a league winner with Aberdeen, were both spotted playing for amateur sides. We got £95,000 for Pat and £60,000 for Tommy, a great return for players who cost us nothing.

I got lucky a few times too, like when Alex Ferguson called me and said I should have a look at a young midfielder from East Kilbride that he was about to release from Aberdeen. Alex said he felt the lad lacked aggression - but he came to us and proved to be a sensational signing. His name is Ian Ferguson, who went on to win the Scottish Cup and star for Rangers!

It’s comforting for us mere mortal managers to know even the best in the business make the odd mistake here and there. We received £60,000 when Ian went to St Mirren so it was another great deal for the club.

We were fortune to have a good few others, Gerry McCabe, Brian Ahern and Joe Ward, who gave us good service before we received £90,000 from his transfer to Aston Villa.

I was particularly pleased by the deal for McCabe, a former Hibs youth player. He cost us a signing on fee of just £100 when we got him from Toronto Italia FC and we then got £60,000 when he moved to Clydebank.

Trophy Day: Craig Brown presents Mitch Megginson with his man of the match award at Balmoral Stadium last season.

Clyde’s tribute also mentions the huge part you played in securing the club’s first shirt sponsorship deal ...Tell us more about that please.

Now that’s a funny one! Hibs got the credit for securing the first shirt sponsorship in Scotland, but they cheated a little because all they did was make the logo of their shirt suppliers bigger.

We had the proper first sponsorship - from British Oxygen Company. It came about because I was driving to Shawfield Stadium one day and got caught up in a huge traffic jam. It was because there had been a gas explosion at the BOC factory, which was close to the ground.

The locals were up in arms demanding it be shut down because they felt it was unsafe. I thought to myself ‘now there is a company that could do with some good publicity!’.So I went to their offices and suggested the best way to do that would be to sponsor the local teamc Their managing director agreed then asked how much we wanted which caught me out a wee bit because I had never actually discussed any of it with the Clyde directors. “£10,000?” I replied - to which he also said yes.

But when I told the Clyde directors I had secured a sponsor our president, William Dunn, was having none of it and said ‘Our shirts are sacrosanct, they have been worn by Scottish Cup winners, we shall never put the name of a sponsor on them!’ It was at that point one of the other directors asked me how much BOC were offering, to which I replied “£10,000.”

Mr Dunn then said ‘£10,000? I would have BOC printed on to my bare torso for £10,000 - well done manager!’ ...and shook my hand! Clyde also suffered relegation during your time before winning the title again in, season 81-82. What do you remember about that period?

Mainly about how much I appreciated the continued support of the directors, as I said they were men with great integrity. They accepted selling our best players and the age of some of the others made it difficult to compete and I needed time to rebuild.

They also understood the challenges we faced because we were a part-time side competing in a full-time division.

It’s something some directors involved today could learn from, there are occasions when you need to take a step back to start going forward again.

The summer before winning the league for the second time was when we managed to bring in the likes of Nevin and McQueen. We set more points (59) and win records (24) while winning the title that season too, which was very pleasing.

I looked on that as the reward to the directors for never wavering when it would have been easy to make a change. It ensured I can always look back on my nine years at Clyde with affection.

I also do so with gratitude because the lessons learned there served me well throughout the rest of my career in football management.

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