BOBBY BROWN

Full Name: Robert Brown

Born: 19 March 1923

Came from: Queens Park   Went to: Queens Park

First game: 24 March 1945   Last game: 13 October 1945

Appearances: 9 (9/0)   Goals: 0

Although the Second World War was at an end, the Football League divided its competition into regional sections for the 1945-46 season because of the exceptional conditions at that time, with so many players still serving in the Armed Forces or employed on essential war work. Argyle played in the Football League South that season, against first-class opposition such as Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs, Aston Villa and Wolves. From week to week the club called on Armed Services players who were stationed in the area, guest players from other League clubs and local amateurs to supplement its registered playing staff.

Brown, a highly rated goalkeeper from Scotland, was one of 27 in the guest category. He was born in Dunipace, between Falkirk and Stirling, and went to Falkirk High School, where he was taught by Hugh Brown, the father of future Scotland manager Craig Brown. He began his career with Queens Park in 1939, making his debut as a 17-year-old against Celtic the following year and cementing his place as the club's number one across the next two seasons before war interrupted his career. He trained as a pilot in the Fleet Air Arm at Dartmouth Naval College, although it wasn't from here that he was drawn to Argyle's attention.

Brown, like many players of the day, was preparing for life after the game whilst with Queens Park, training to become a Physical Education Teacher. The First Lord of the Admiralty (the 1st Earl Alexander of Hillsborough) arranged for him to attend the Physical Training College at Portsmouth. Alexander was also a vice-president of Chelsea and it was when at college in Portsmouth that Brown guested for Chelsea and Portsmouth.

He transferred to Plymouth as a PT Instructor, where he met his wife-to-be, a Wren in the Signals regiment, who brought him his telegram when he was selected for his first Scotland match in a War ­Charities game in 1944. They married in Plymstock in July 1946.

Whilst based in Plymouth, Brown played many times for Argyle's A side at Millbay Park and three times for the first team when it re-formed for the 1945-46 season. He also played for Scotland in several wartime internationals and was rewarded with his first full international cap against Belgium in January 1946, becoming the last amateur to represent Scotland.

He left Queens Park at the end of the 1945-46 season and shunned signing for his old captain Matt Busby, by then in charge of Manchester United. Instead he went to Glasgow to join Rangers, where he spent the next decade combining football and life as a schoolteacher. He also appeared for a Scottish League XI eight times between 1949 and 1952. At Ibrox he went on to win five league titles, four Scottish Cups and add a further four full international caps to his tally of 296 appearances for the club. He then moved to Falkirk in 1956, where he played 23 times across two seasons before retiring.

Brown then achieved notable success as manager of St Johnstone and went on to become the first full-time manager of the Scotland national side in 1967. This appointment completed a remarkable pair for Argyle in the history of the Scottish national side, as former Home Park manager Andy Beattie had previously been appointed the first manager of Scotland in 1954, before which the national side had been selected by committee.

Brown's first match in charge of his country was a famous one: the 3-2 victory over reigning world champions England at Wembley in April 1967. He ended his links with the national side in 1971 to concentrate on business interests outside football, but remained involved in the game and in later years renewed his association with Argyle, this time as a scout.

Bobby Brown died in January 2020 at the age of 96. In his obituary, The Scotsman praised him as a landmark figure in the world of Scottish football, saying, "In the competitive and sometimes hard world of professional football he was always the complete gentleman of impeccable integrity, whose approachability, friendliness and sense of fellowship endeared him to all".