20 Years; 20 Players: No.13 Steve Brown
Back onto my series of naming 20 Players. Picked in no order, but are all people that I hold in high esteem to help salute me writing this Blog for 20 Years.
We are on lucky number 13, and my pick is Steve Brown, who never let us down.
Steve should really be no. 12 because that was his squad number for many seasons, which recognized his unflappable ability to step into any situation in any position. Brownie even played in goal four times for the Addicks, famously at Villa Park in May, 1999.
Steve spent almost 15 minutes in goal after coming on for Andy Petterson, who was sent off. In that time he got down to a shot and came for a couple of crosses, and a huge cheer rung out when socks rolled down he collected a corner. Of course up the other end in front of thousands of travelling Addicks Danny Mills scored the late winner.
Spotted by Charlton as a 15-year old playing for his local club Whitehawk in Brighton, Steve spent over 12 years playing in SE7.
Brownie witnessed more than most during his Addicks’ career from scoring a penalty in our shootout play-off win at Wembley, man-marking the Premier League’s very best, to being given a red card whilst on a stretcher against Leciester which resulted in hundreds of match day programmes being thrown onto the pitch.
He captained the side on many occasions and epitomized everything about what it means to give 110% in every single minute of every football match one plays in, whatever the level.
Affable and thought provoking he is now a regular on Charlton TV and BBC London dissecting every defensive calamity, of which there has been copious during recent Charlton years. He does not stop for breath but I value his insight and his love of the game and the Addicks is indisputable.
Appearances 242. Goals 9 (1990 – 2002).
At one point he was released before playing a game for the first XI, a month or so later the club changed their mind and he then had to overcome a serious knee injury in his teens.
He had a big part to play in the 90s and early noughties and clubs often need someone like Brown, a utility defender who could play right-back, centre-back, defensive midfield and occasionally in goal. Players like Brown tend to over-perform relative to their talent, they know that to make it they have to train and work hard and be club players and take their opportunities when they come. These sort of players can’t afford to be prima-donnas.
Curbs generally used him, in the premiership years at least, in short bursts, for a few games he was good but was prone to a mistake if he went too long in the starting XI and he generally got rotated in and out on a regular basis. For his part Brown I think understood that his role was to be a squad player/reserve.
I like his expertise on Charlton TV – he’s had a go at management and hated it so he tends not to put the boot into managers and he is pretty forensic in analysing mistakes. If you notice he always has a scrap book of notes in front of him, he always does his research on the teams we’re playing and I imagine he was just like that as a player.