Craig Brown (footballer, born 1940)

James Craig Brown (1 July 1940 – 26 June 2023) was a Scottish professional football player and manager.

Brown was born on 1 July 1940 in Corkerhill, Glasgow, but brought up with two younger brothers in Troon, Rutherglen and Hamilton, moving with his father's career as a physical education teacher, later a senior advisor on the subject.

He was a keen golfer as well as watching Queen's Park and Hamilton Academical matches.

Educated at the former Hamilton Academy, Brown played for the school in Scottish schools competitions and in youth international teams, before joining Rangers in 1957, being considered a top prospect.

Brown was initially farmed out to Coltness United to gain experience, and was selected for the Scotland Junior squad.

He failed to find a regular first team place at Rangers, with his progress halted by a knee injury and the arrival of Jim Baxter who played in the same position, and moved to Dundee on loan in October 1960.

Brown was the first signing of Dundee manager Bob Shankly.

Although knee surgery meant he barely played for the first team during his loan, the move was made permanent in the summer of 1961.

Brown always travelled with the Dundee first team squad but this was before substitutes were commonly used.

Thus he did not make a competitive appearance until November 1961, then waited until February 1962 for his league debut when captain Bobby Cox was injured.

Brown played in nine consecutive league games before becoming injured himself on 31 March in a 3–2 win against bottom placed Stirling Albion.

Dundee won the Scottish league title that season and Brown's nine appearances entitled him to a medal.

Brown stayed at Dundee for four and a half injury-affected years, making 16 total appearances for the Dark Blues but playing no active part in the club's European Cup run, or the 1964 Scottish Cup Final which they lost to Rangers.

During that time he also completed a course in physical education and primary teaching at Jordanhill College, and was also a member of the pop music group Hammy and the Hamsters formed by six Dundee players.

Brown signed for Falkirk in 1965 on a part-time basis and went on to make 42 total appearances at Brockville.

He was released in 1967 and signed for Stranraer, but his injured knee almost immediately required him to call time on his playing career, and he returned the signing-on fee he had received from the club.

Brown quickly showed a keen interest in being involved in the coaching side of football and he became assistant manager of Motherwell in 1974.

After his playing career with Rangers, Dundee and Falkirk was curtailed by a series of knee injuries, Brown entered management with Clyde in 1977.

He got his first managerial job as part-time manager of Clyde in 1977, where he spent ten seasons – winning the Second Division championship in his first season – whilst also working as a primary school head teacher then a lecturer in primary education at Craigie College, Ayr.

Brown was in charge of Scotland's youth teams.

Brown was assistant manager to Alex Ferguson for the Scotland senior team's campaign at the 1986 FIFA World Cup (the appointment he said 'changed his life' as it enabled him to move from being a part-time manager and teacher to a full member of the national coaching setup), and served the same role under Andy Roxburgh at the 1990 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 1992.

In 1989, he coached Scotland's Under-16s to the final of the 1989 FIFA U-16 World Championship and three years later coached the under-21s to the semi-finals of the 1992 UEFA Under-21 Championship.

He then coached various Scotland youth teams until he was appointed Scotland manager in 1993.

He succeeded Roxburgh initially on an interim basis, after the team failed to qualify for the 1994 FIFA World Cup; his debut was a 3–1 loss away to Italy.

Brown took Scotland to Euro 96, as the team only conceded three goals in 10 qualifying matches as they finished second in Group 8.

An Ally McCoist goal against Greece, scored with his first touch as a substitute after a long period out of international football due to a broken leg, proved key to securing qualification.

Scotland were drawn in the finals with the Netherlands, England (the host nation) and Switzerland.

The opening game against the Netherlands ended in a goalless draw, then the match against England hinged on two moments late in the second half.

With the score standing at 1–0 to England, Gary McAllister had a penalty kick saved by David Seaman and almost straight away Paul Gascoigne scored a brilliant goal to secure a 2–0 England win.

This left Scotland needing an unlikely combination of results from the final games to qualify, but for a while this was happening as another McCoist goal gave them a 1–0 lead against Switzerland while the Netherlands were losing 4–0 to England.

The Scots were unable to add to their lead, however, and a goal by Patrick Kluivert narrowed the Dutch defeat to 4–1, which meant that they progressed on goals scored.

Scotland also qualified for the 1998 World Cup under Brown, again only conceding three goals in their 10 qualifying matches as they finished second in UEFA Group 4.

A notable incident during that qualifying phase was when Estonia refused to turn up for a match in Tallinn against Scotland.

Brown had complained about the poor standard of floodlighting at the Kadriorg Stadium, which prompted FIFA to bring forward the kick-off time on the morning of the game.

This decision upset the Estonians, who had their preparations disrupted and stood to lose some television revenue.

Brown thought the Estonians would just protest the kick-off change and turn up at the last minute, but they did not and Scotland were left to kick-off without any opposition.

The FIFA delegate at the match believed Scotland would be awarded a walkover win, but instead a committee ordered the game to be replayed at a neutral site.

He held this position until 2001, the longest tenure for a Scotland manager, and they qualified for the UEFA Euro 1996 and 1998 FIFA World Cup tournaments.

He later managed Preston North End, Motherwell and Aberdeen.

He retired from management in 2013 and was appointed a non-executive director of Aberdeen.