Mark Brown (footballer, born 1981)

Mark Brown (born 28 February 1981) is a Scottish former professional footballer, who played as a goalkeeper.

Mark Brown
Personal information
Date of birth (1981-02-28) 28 February 1981
Place of birth Motherwell, Scotland
Playing position(s) Goalkeeper
Youth career
1997–1999 Rangers
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1999–2001 Rangers 4 (0)
2001–2002 Motherwell 19 (0)
2002–2007 Inverness CT 170 (0)
2007–2010 Celtic 13 (0)
2009–2010 → Kilmarnock (loan) 14 (0)
2010–2012 Hibernian 33 (0)
2012–2015 Ross County 63 (0)
2015–2017 Dumbarton 22 (0)
Total 338 (0)
National team
2005–2006 Scotland B 2 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Brown played for both Old Firm clubs, Rangers and Celtic, and also played for Motherwell, Inverness CT, Kilmarnock, Hibernian, Ross County and Dumbarton. Brown represented Scotland B twice, during his time with Inverness.

Club career

Early career

Brown, a goalkeeper, started his career with Rangers, where he made just five first team appearances as a young player, before moving on to Motherwell. Brown made 19 appearances with Motherwell before the club's financial difficulties forced them into administration; Brown was one of 19 players released by the club to lessen its wage bill.[1]

Inverness CT

Brown earned a contract with Inverness CT in the summer of 2002 after impressing then-manager Steve Paterson, and quickly became an indispensable member of the first team squad. Brown also played international football for Scotland B.

After joining Inverness, Brown's reputation as a talented goalkeeper grew, helped by his performances for the club in the Scottish First Division, the Scottish Cup and the SPL. The highlights of his career include a Scottish Cup Player of the Round award in March 2003, after his performance in goal helped Inverness to a 1–0 quarter-final win against Celtic.

Celtic

With Brown's contract due to expire in the summer of 2007, Inverness CT accepted an undisclosed "six figure" transfer fee from Celtic for the goalkeeper's services in January, rather than risk him leaving on a free transfer at the end of the season.[2] The player joins the list of players to have crossed the Old Firm divide and play for both teams. Brown largely served Celtic as a back-up to Artur Boruc, making only 13 league appearances for the club. The signings of Dominic Cervi and Łukasz Załuska pushed Brown down Celtic's selection order.

Hibernian expressed interest in signing Brown during the summer of 2009, but Celtic rejected this approach as they wanted a transfer fee for his services.[3] Brown was then loaned instead to fellow SPL side Kilmarnock in September 2009, until January 2010.[4] Kilmarnock required cover for the injured Alan Combe;[4] Brown played in 14 league matches for the Ayrshire side.

Hibernian

Celtic released Brown in January 2010, which allowed him to sign for Hibernian.[5] Brown competed with Graeme Smith and Graham Stack for the Hibernian goalkeeping position, an area which manager John Hughes said had caused him "concern".[5] Brown did not play for Hibs during the rest of the 2009–10 season, partly due to injury.[6] He had to wait until a 3–0 defeat by Rangers on 22 August to make his debut for Hibs, 204 days after he signed for the club.[7]

Brown kept his place in the Hibs team until January 2011, when new manager Colin Calderwood decided to give opportunities to his other goalkeepers under a rotation policy.[8] Brown played less often during the 2011–12 season, featuring only in Scottish League Cup ties during the early part of the season.[9] He played in four games during January after Stack was injured, but he was dropped after a 4–0 defeat against Rangers.[9] Stack was then injured during the Scottish Cup semi-final victory against Aberdeen, allowing Brown to play for the rest of the season.[9]

Despite a poor performance in the 2012 Scottish Cup Final defeat by Hearts, his agent Kevin Drinkell said that Hibs wanted to agree a new contract with Brown.[10] Later in the close season, however, Hibs signed Ben Williams as first choice goalkeeper and gave a new contract to Calum Antell.[11] Brown then went on trial with Southend United.[12]

Ross County

Brown signed for Ross County in August 2012 [13][14] and made his debut the same month in a Scottish League Cup 4–1 defeat to Raith Rovers.[13][14] He signed a new contract with Ross County in June 2013.[15] After playing 30 times during the 2013–14 season, Brown signed a new one-year contract on 19 May 2014, the new deal also including taking up the position of the club's goalkeeping coach.[16] At the end of the 2014–15 season, Brown was released by Ross County.[17]

Dumbarton

In June 2015, after leaving Ross County the previous month, Brown signed a two-year deal with Scottish Championship side Dumbarton.[18] He left the club and retired from the game in March 2017 after making 32 appearances over almost two seasons, to take up a role with the Police.[19]

Career statistics
As of 7 January 2017[20]
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Europe Other[note 1] Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Rangers 1999–2000 100010000020
2000–01 300000000030
Total 400010000050
Motherwell 2001–02 19000100000200
Inverness 2002–03 36040300010440
2003–04 36050100050470
2004–05 38020200000420
2005–06 37040300000440
2006–07 23010200000260
Total 170016011000602030
Celtic 2006–07 100000000010
2007–08 800000100090
2008–09 400000000040
Total 13000001000140
Kilmarnock (loan) 2009–10 14000100000150
Hibernian 2010–11 26010100000280
2011–12 7030300000130
Total 33040400000410
Ross County 2012–13 13020100000160
2013–14 28010100000300
2014–15 22010200000250
Total 63040400000710
Dumbarton 2015–16 21030100020270
2016–17 100040000050
Total 22030500020320
Career total 338027027010804010

International career

Brown's impressive form for Inverness Caledonian Thistle earned him a call-up to the Scotland "B" squad, where he played part of the second half in a friendly against Austria in April 2005 and the first half against Turkey in March 2006.[21]

Honours

Inverness CT

Celtic

Notes
  1. Includes other competitive competitions, including the Scottish Challenge Cup.
gollark: no.
gollark: CommonMark, while useful, is PURE SUFFERING to implement.
gollark: CommonMark compliance?
gollark: https://github.com/raphlinus/pulldown-cmark/blob/master/src/parse.rs
gollark: * 3000

See also

References
  1. Nisbet, John (1 May 2002). "Motherwell players angry at being cast adrift". The Independent. Retrieved 30 January 2010.
  2. "Celtic sign up goalkeeper Brown". BBC Sport website. 18 January 2007.
  3. McLauchlin, Brian (8 July 2009). "Hibs switch goalkeeping targets". BBC Sport. Retrieved 1 February 2010.
  4. "Mark Brown joins Kilmarnock on loan". Celtic FC. 1 September 2009. Archived from the original on 4 September 2009.
  5. "Hibs bring in Brown". Sky Sports. 30 January 2010. Retrieved 30 January 2010.
  6. Bathgate, Stuart (8 May 2010). "John Hughes claims Rob Jones would have prevented Hibs' 6–6 'defeat'". The Scotsman. Retrieved 9 May 2010.
  7. Hardie, David (24 August 2010). "Hibs keeper Mark Brown not disillusioned despite conceding three on debut". Edinburgh Evening News. Retrieved 24 August 2010.
  8. Hardie, David (19 February 2011). "Hibs: I will be No.1 for keeps – Stack". Edinburgh Evening News. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
  9. Hardie, David (19 April 2012). "Hibs: Pat Fenlon backs stand-in keeper Mark Brown to shine in final games". Edinburgh Evening News. Johnston Press. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  10. "Tribunal to judge Fenlon gesture". The Scotsman. Johnston Press. 30 May 2012. Retrieved 30 May 2012.
  11. "Antell extends deal at Hibernian". BBC Sport. BBC. 21 July 2012. Retrieved 21 July 2012.
  12. Hardie, David (21 July 2012). "Leigh Griffiths returns to Hibs on loan". sport.scotsman.com. Johnston Press. Retrieved 21 July 2012.
  13. "Ross County snap up former Hibs keeper Mark Brown". Daily Record. Trinity Mirror. 28 August 2012. Archived from the original on 29 August 2012. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
  14. Chalk, Paul (28 August 2012). "Adams captures keeper Brown". Highland News. Scottish Provincial Press. Archived from the original on 28 May 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
  15. "Goalkeeper Mark Brown extends stay at Ross County". BBC Sport. BBC. 8 June 2013. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
  16. "Ross County duo sign new deals while Evangelos Oikonomou departs". STV Sport. 19 May 2014. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
  17. "Ross County to release 14 players at end of season". BBC Sport. 20 May 2015. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
  18. Findlay, Alan (17 June 2015). "SIGNING NEWS : GOALIE MAKES MOVE TO DUMBARTON". Dumbarton F.C. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
  19. Findlay, Alan. "MARK BROWN". Dumbarton Football Club. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  20. Mark Brown at Soccerbase
  21. "Austria B 2–1 Scotland B". BBC Sport website. 19 April 2005.
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