Forgotten Heroes - Eddy Brown
Wednesday, 15th Dec 2010 22:03 by Forgotten Heroes

A look at a player who was one of the most prolific scorers in the Club's history.

There wont be many out there who will have heard the name of Eddy Brown and probably even less that actually saw him play given that his last appearance in a Saints shirt came almost 61 years ago, but his scoring record for Saints was oustanding and if he had stayed more than 16 months then he surely would have become a legend.

Legend was the word however to describe the man that Eddy arrived at the Dell to replace, Charlie Wayman is still revered today amongst Saints supporters and even those that never saw him play have heard tales of his exploits, Charlie's wife sadly could not settle in the South and after the club failed to get promotion in 1950, he was reluctantly allowed to go to Preston for a fee of £10,000 and Eddy Brown. Saints fans were not that excited, 6 goals in 36 appearances for Preston hadnt quite set the world alight.

Now Eddy was preston born and bred and arrived at Deepdale fresh from a couple of years in a religious school where he had trained with aview to taking holy orders , luckily Eddy was an extrovert by nature and it was certainly a daunting task to head South and replace Charlie in the hearts of the Saints support, the City was in mourning for his loss when he arrived at the Dell in September 1950 and initially Saints looked like they might just finally get promotion to the top flight as they started brightly, however in the final third of the season they faded badly and even with their new centre forward hitting 20 goals in only 36 league games it couldnt stop a slump that saw Saints top of the division on Xmas day, but shockingly only winning 3 more games out of the remaining 19 to miss out on promotion by nine points.

Saints fans were perhaps a little miffed that the champions were Preston who with Wayman up front romped to the title, Charlie hitting two in a 3-2 win for Preston at Deepdale and another in a 3-3 draw at the Dell.

Known for his pace Eddy had gone some way to turning the fans around, sadly however he was also finding it a struggle to settle in the South and in 51/52 season with Saintys struggling and clearly going to get nowhere near a promotion chase he was allowed to go to Coventry in January 1952, being sorely missed having already scored 12 in just 21 league games to give a grand total of 57 league appearances and 32 goals, plus 2 games and 2 goals in the FA Cup a truly remarkable record.

At Coventry he hit 50 in 80 games before going to Birmingham where 74 goals in 158 games was perhaps a little less than his previous scoring ratios, but he did get an FA Cup winners medal in 1956, he then finished his professional career with Orient finally retiring age 35, his career perhaps extended more tha most due to his late arrival in Professional football being 22 before he made his league bow.

He was as mentioned an extrovert who was known for his goal celebrations at a time when a brief handshake was the norm, Eddy would often shake the hand of the corner flag or if there was a policeman standing behind the goal give him a hug.

On retiring from football Eddy returned to Preston and worked in the family carpet business, whilst teaching part time, he also was manager of Lancashire club Broughton and continues to help out around the club to this day despite being in his 80's.

Despite his shorrt time at the Dell Eddy was held in high regard by all at the Club and supporters alike, in return he always maintained a deep affection for Saints, speaking fondly in a video of the clubs history in the late 80's and also attending dinners for Ted Bates in both 1993 & 1998.

Sadly the name Eddy Brown doesnt trip off the tongue of many Saints fans under the age of 70 nowadays, which is a shame as it really should.

Photo: Action Images

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