Former Preston North End manager Craig Brown sadly passed away on Monday. The last man to take Scotland into a World Cup was 82 years old and there has been nothing but kind words said about the man since the news filtered through.
Craig will be best remembered for his spell as Scotland manager for the best part of a decade. He led the Tartan Army into Euro 96 and World Cup 98 with some memorable games against England and Brazil in that time. Before leading Scotland’s senior team he had taken the Under-16 side to the Under-16 World Cup final in 1989.
However after his spell with the national side, he arrived at Deepdale in 2002. Preston North End had recently enjoyed great success with another Scot; David Moyes who had taken them to within 90 minutes of the Premier League. Moyes had been poached by Everton, and Preston were looking for someone to carry on his good work.
After Kelham O’Hanlon had taken over for the last few games of the 2001/2002, Brown came into town looking to make his mark on the squad.
His first signing would go down in Preston North End folklore. Jamaican Ricardo Fuller joined from Tivoli Gardens after impressing whilst on loan at Hearts in Scotland.
Fuller scored on his debut and went on to dazzle many defences whilst wearing the Lilywhite shirt. Though his time at the club was disrupted by knee injuries he scored 31 goals in just 63 games including a memorable hat-trick at home to Burnley.
Along with Fuller, Craig Brown brought in another Jamaican a year later. Claude Davis went on to become a crucial part of the Preston defence over the next few years. It was obvious Brown had a keen eye for players.
Eddie Lewis and Brian O’Neil were two others that would become fan favourites and help set the foundations for future promotion pushes after Brown’s tenure. George Koumantarakis was another that came in, a South African striker signed from Basel in Switzerland.
With Preston fans having watched two promotion pushes in Division One since returning to that level under Moyes, expectations were fairly high under Brown. He lost just one of his first nine league games in charge but there were too many draws throughout his first season.
There weren’t many dull games though with 138 goals seen in North End’s 46 league games that season as they finished 12th.
In the next season there were 140 goals in Preston’s games (compared to just 104 in the season just gone under Ryan Lowe). Brown could only manage a 15th place finish in the 2003/04 season with compatriots Craig Burley and Scott Gemmill brought in towards the end of the season.
Craig Brown would last five games of the next season when he was sacked shortly after a 1-0 away defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion.
Billy Davies had been brought in as his assistant earlier in his tenure and the former Motherwell manager was handed the reins on a caretaker basis. After three wins from five he was given the job permanently.
“I fell out with the Preston chairman but before I packed my bags I told him the best thing he could do was to give Billy the gig,” Brown recalled. “That was about the only thing he listened to me on and just as well.”
Davies was able to fine tune the squad Brown had built and took Preston to successive play-off finishes. The rest is painful history but many of Brown’s signings continued to shine for the club and many are highly thought of still to this day.
Whilst Brown didn’t take Preston to high finishes in the second tier he certainly steadied what could have been an unstable ship after the departure of David Moyes.
The Scotsman was always happy to chat to fans around the city and I remember meeting him at what is now UCLAN Sports Arena. A lovely guy respected throughout the game.
After leaving Preston and having five years out of the game he went on to have more success in Scotland with Motherwell and Aberdeen winning the manager of the month award four times during that time. The fact he was still managing in the Scottish top flight at the age of 72 says a lot.
A feat admired by his close friend Sir Alex Ferguson who retired just a few months after Brown did.
There will be countless stories and tales about Craig Brown told from many different journalists, coaches and players lucky to have come in contact with him during his career.
Ewan Murray’s piece in The Guardian was touching and I’m sure it will be a poignant moment when Preston North End pay tribute to Craig Brown at the next opportunity at Deepdale. The pre-season friendly against one his former clubs Aberdeen on 22nd July seems like an ideal time.