Phil Brown

Philip Brown (born 30 May 1959) is an English former professional footballer and coach who is currently manager of Kidderminster Harriers.

As a player, Brown was a right-back who made over six hundred league appearances in an eighteen-year career, but never made it to the top flight.

As a professional, Brown played at full back for many years with Hartlepool United, followed by a spell at Halifax Town (with fellow north-easterner Billy Ayre at both clubs and under him at the latter), In 1988, he moved to Bolton Wanderers, winning the Associate Members Cup in 1989.

Brown joined Blackpool in 1994, playing under Sam Allardyce until 1996 while also being his assistant manager.

Brown's first coaching role was as assistant to Sam Allardyce at Blackpool.

He returned to Bolton Wanderers after his playing career ended and served as assistant manager to Colin Todd.

Following Todd's departure in 1999, he took charge of the team as caretaker manager, winning four games out of five, until the appointment of Sam Allardyce.

He then served as Allardyce's assistant for six years, before deciding to forge his own career as a manager.

Brown's first full-time senior management position was at Derby County, where he succeeded George Burley in June 2005.

His time at Derby County proved to be unsuccessful and he was sacked just seven months into his tenure in January 2006, after a 6–1 league defeat against Coventry City, followed by a 3–1 defeat to Colchester in the FA Cup fourth round.

Brown was appointed as first-team coach at Hull City on 27 October 2006 under Phil Parkinson, and took over as joint caretaker manager alongside Colin Murphy on 4 December after Parkinson's sacking, with Hull in 22nd place in the Football League Championship.

After taking Hull out of the relegation zone with three wins and a draw in the six matches as caretaker manager, he was appointed as the permanent manager of the club on 4 January 2007, while Murphy continued as his assistant.

However, as a manager, he became the first to lead Hull City to the top division in their 104-year history, winning the Championship play-offs in 2008 after a 1–0 win against Bristol City at Wembley Stadium.

Brown went on to lead The Tigers to Championship safety and the following season won promotion to the top level of English football for the first time in the club's 104-year history, by beating Bristol City at Wembley in the Championship play-off final on 24 May 2008.

Brown described this as "the best day of my life, without a shadow of a doubt".

Brown was rewarded with a new three-year contract, which he signed on the weekend of Hull City's first ever top-flight match, a 2–1 victory over Fulham on 16 August 2008.

On 28 September Brown managed Hull to a 2–1 victory at Arsenal.

It was only Arsenal's second defeat at the Emirates Stadium and was described by the Hull press as the greatest victory in the club's history.

After a 1–0 victory at bottom of the table Tottenham Hotspur the following weekend, and a 3–0 away victory at the also newly promoted West Bromwich Albion, he was awarded the Manager-of-the-Month award for Hull's performances in September.

The first nine games Hull spent as a top division club resulted in six wins as they occupied third place in the Premier League and were only being kept off the top by Liverpool and Arsenal having superior goal difference.

The remainder of the season was not so easy for Brown, as the team struggled to pick up the remaining points necessary to avoid relegation, and he was involved in several controversial incidents.

In November 2008 he was fined £1,000 and warned about his future conduct by the FA after he admitted a charge of improper conduct.

The charge related to a game against Wigan in August which Hull lost 5–0.

On 26 December 2008, following a poor first half performance that saw Hull 4–0 down in a league match at Manchester City, Brown conducted his half-time team-talk on the pitch, in full view of the crowd and at the end of the pitch where the Hull supporters were sitting.

He explained, "I thought it was nice and cold and I thought I would keep the boys alive because they looked as if they were dead. Our 4,000 travelling fans deserved some kind of explanation for the first-half performance and it was difficult for me to do that from the confines of a changing room. We owed them an apology for the first-half performance."

Hull lost the match 5–1 and Brown was widely mocked for the incident.

Brown was again charged with misconduct for his behaviour in an FA Cup tie against Newcastle United in January.

During the match Brown and Newcastle manager Joe Kinnear were both sent to the stands after a confrontation in which Brown verbally abused Newcastle's assistant manager Chris Hughton.

Brown admitted the charge and was subsequently fined £2,500 and warned as to his future conduct by the Football Association.

On 17 March 2009, Brown claimed that he saw Arsenal midfielder and captain Cesc Fàbregas spit at the feet of his assistant manager Brian Horton following Hull's 2–1 FA Cup defeat and elimination at the Emirates Stadium.

Fabregas was cleared of the accusation on 22 May 2009.

After the game Brown also falsely claimed that Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger had refused to shake his hand at one of their two previous meetings that season.

Brown faced his third improper conduct charge of the season in relation to comments he made about referee Mike Riley after the Arsenal match.

He denied the offence but was found guilty in a June hearing and once again fined £2,500 and warned about his future conduct.

On 24 May 2009, despite suffering a 1–0 loss to a second-string Manchester United side, Brown led Hull City to survival in the Premier League due to Newcastle United losing to Aston Villa.

Since 2011, Brown has appeared as a match summariser on BBC Radio 5 Live.

Born in South Shields, County Durham, and educated in the North East, Brown started his career playing Sunday league football for South Shields side Red Duster in the South Shields Business Houses League, in the same team as Ray Dunbar and Bobby Davison, who went on to play for Derby County and Leeds United.

He also guided Southend United to promotion from League Two to League One in 2014–15.

Hull finished in 17th place, one point above Newcastle, who also lost.

Derby were in 19th place when Brown departed.