The Mickey Brown interview: His time at Preston North End, playing with Ryan Lowe and more

Mickey Brown promoting a charity game in 2015

Mickey Brown is a Shrewsbury Town club legend – and still the record league appearance holder at the club and the man who kept them in the football league in May 2000. But in between two of his three spells in Shropshire, he spent three years at Preston North End.

Here, The Nose Bag (TNB) speaks with Mickey Brown (MB) about his time at Deepdale, his injury problems, the culture at Preston North End in the 90s and even playing alongside former manager Ryan Lowe.

TNB: Mickey, firstly a huge cheers for taking these questions. You were born in Birmingham in 1968. How did a lad from Birmingham get into football and on to the radar of Shrewsbury Town?

MB: I started playing football at a very young age, probably five or six. A family of five children, I was the only lad and that meant I spent hours out the way with a football practising my skills every day and night in Smethwick. I made the school team which then progressed to the West Midlands team.

I played Sunday League football so all my weekends were taken up playing football especially for Newton Albion. The manager Harry Mainny was the chief scout at Chelsea and then later on at Shrewsbury Town. I signed the contract at 16, I was on a two-year apprenticeship for Shrewsbury Town dreaming of being a professional football player.

One year later I was playing in the first team in a charity match against Liverpool.

TNB: With so many options down in Birmingham, who were you supporting as a kid?

MB: West Bromwich Albion was my favourite team as a boy. I only live down the road from the ground. I could hear the crowd roar whenever a goal was scored. The Three Degrees, Brendon Batson, Laurie Cunningham and Regis were three black players I could relate to.

TNB: You’d just won promotion with Shrewsbury Town and would appear to be part of the furniture at Gay Meadow. How did you hear of the interest from Preston North End and what made signing for Gary Peters an attractive proposition?

MB: It came out of the blue, my contract was up and I’d been having negotiations with Shrewsbury. After my success I was really hoping for a decent rise and through a friend of a friend of a friend, I’d employed Wayne Rooney’s agent Paul Stretford as my own agent. I was 26 at the time and when I heard that PNE were willing to tick all the boxes, I decided it was the big move I’d been waiting for – the rest was history.

TNB: There’s nothing more difficult than trying to break into a successful side. How frustrating did you find it as a player who was more than capable not being able to stake a claim on a first 11 shirt?

MB: It didn’t matter. The atmosphere was magnificent. Just because someone wasn’t in the first eleven didn’t matter a bean. It was one for all, all for one. You take on one player, you take on the lot of us. I had moved up and Terry Fleming had opened his house up for me to stay with while I got sorted. There were great nights out which no one would refuse, everyone wanted to be a part of it. So even though I wasn’t playing, the squad would bring you in and make you feel as though you were offering something, even if only moral support.

TNB: Our Town End is a sacred place, it’s every North Enders dream to score a goal in front of it and that is exactly what you did. New Years Days, 1996, Cardiff at home, Barrick whips in a cross and you come in around the back and a header back across the goal to a rapturous Town End. Did you get the vibes of how special the Town End was especially scoring in a 5-0 win? Also how cold was it that day, coldest I’ve ever been!

MB: I remember it vividly! It was my first touch, in fairness the cross was precision, I remember thinking if I get up early for this, I’m in. I was and in the net it went. The noise and passion of the crowd was ferocious, the feeling emulated off the crowd. It’s amazing what reaction a crowd can give to a team, we always felt like we were going to win, crowds can give you belief and that’s exactly what a full Town End could do.

TNB: You were a member of our Division Three Championship side, a side that is forever embedded in PNE folklore. What was your favourite moment playing for Preston North End?

MB: You know, it was the being around the lads. That’s what made Preston North End such a great club. I was playing for the same position as Lee Cartwright, he was a fantastic lad but it didn’t matter.

One story that always sticks in my memory was I’d suffered a ligament injury and it was a case of three months non-weight bearing, three months getting used to weight bearing then it was time to start kicking a ball. All the lads were off on an end of season bender as we’d been crowned champions. I decided to turn the invitation down as I was too focused on my rehabilitation. In the words of Gary Peters, it was “f*** off, you’re coming”.

While I did go, in the end I regretted it as I felt in hindsight I’d have been better with my original plan. But that was the sort of team it was.

TNB: And for good measure, maybe a moment you’d rather we move quickly on from?

MB: I had two injuries, one of which sucked a year from my PNE career and probably prevented me showing what I was capable of.

TNB: To be in a Championship winning dressing room, there must be some good camaraderie going on. Who were the big characters in there and are there any stories you care to divulge?

MB: The two names that came to my mind were Kevin Magee, a Scottish winger, and a left back – Raymond Sharp. Both funny, funny guys. We were lucky that there was no social media back then. Preston had great nightlife and we were always on it, everyone would turn up to these nights, subs, the youth, the lot!

It wasn’t so much a drinking culture but there wasn’t much nutrition going in either. The team spirit was just unbelievable, you forget until you get interviewed just how good it really was.

I remember one away day which included a member of the management team’s wife chasing the team bus in handcuffs. It just wouldn’t happen today.

TNB: Did you have any superstitions as a player?

MB: I’d try anything until it stopped working, but no particular superstition – apart from no sex the night before a game. Preserve the energy.

TNB: Pre match meal and music?

MB: Drum and Bass with chicken, beans and toast, lots of protein.

TNB: On an away day stopover, who would you room with? Did they have any annoying habits?

MB: Me and Terry Fleming. The club knew it was always trouble and tried to keep us apart but we always managed to fuse together.

TNB: Do you keep in contact with players from that era?

MB: Not really. I kept a loose contact with Terry Fleming but that was about three years ago.

TNB: Your last time pulling on a Lilywhite shirt would be in an Auto Windscreen game at Chesterfield just days before the huge Lancashire derby against Blackpool. You would return to what would feel like your spiritual home, Shrewsbury. Did you have any regrets about joining Preston North End? Was the move back to Shropshire a simple one to make?

MB: I have not one single regret. It felt like the right move at the time and that’s good enough for me. Preston was great to me, the people were lovely and so welcoming and it was great to be on the journey with the town.

Again, moving back to Shrewsbury felt right, things hadn’t turned out as I would have liked in Preston, but the experiences it afforded me gave me the real wealth of a man.

TNB: Could I possibly ask what the build up to the FA cup game versus Blackpool was like?

MB: It’s a huge derby, anyone worth their footballing salt will know this. I was fully aware of this huge game but in fairness I was contemplating the move back to Shrewsbury and so while it definitely didn’t pass me by, the severity of the occasion, I didn’t want to trample the toes of those who were to be involved.

TNB: In Shropshire, you are known simply as ‘Sir Mickey Brown’. It’s the final day of the season, you’re away at Exeter. At 4pm Salop are 2-1 down and are dropping out of the football league. 4.13pm ‘Sir Mickey Brown’ enters the field of play. What happened between entering the field of play at 4.13pm and leaving the field at 4.45pm hoisted on Shrewsbury shoulders?

MB: It was weird. I was rooming with a young lad by the name of Lee Tolley, who’d go on to have a decent career at Macclesfield etc.

I woke up on the morning of the game and instantly recalled the dream, it was so vivid. I’d woken up and missed the game and we’d been relegated and the fans were outraged. I turned to Jamie and said that is not happening today. I entered as a sub and the ball came across and I remember jumping with the keeper and the ball going in the net. Some say it was the keeper but I’m telling you here and now it was definitely my head, 100%.

It felt like everything was on fire, the heat, the fans, I was struggling to breathe, the pressure. We got a corner and it fizzed in, took a flick and before I knew it the ball was in the net. It went crazy, a pile on, I just froze. We had another 12 minutes to last which we did. Then came the fans, I was so overjoyed but the occasion was too much. I was trying to get to the tunnel to take stock.

TNB: With your heroics, you’d relegate rivals Chester City who you’d go onto play for later in your career, any awkward moments?

MB: I think there was a few tongue in cheek boos when I first came on to the pitch in a Chester shirt but it was fuelled by Shrewsbury chants of “Mickey Brown sent Chester down, Mickey Brown sent Chester down” and so it would go on. That Chester/Wrexham/Shrewsbury triangle is a triangle of pure hate.

TNB: You’d leave Shrewsbury with the club record of all time appearances. Your final farewell would be a substitution with no other than recent PNE gaffer Ryan Lowe, what was Lowey like to have in the Shrews side?

MB: You really have done your research. Ryan was very tenacious and knew where the goal was, a fox in the box. He was very driven and you knew he’d go on to have a decent career at some level.

A little mouthy but that helped him with confidence and unsettle other players.

I also had the chance to play with Mike Marsh. We were both trialling for Boston in about 2001. He was a top man and we were in the same hotel so of an evening we’d sometimes meet up to pass the time while stuck in the digs.

Mike was a beer monster and kept ordering rounds in and I was like “Mick f*** off with you, I’m on trial”. Mike just sat there grinning giving it “What? Wha?”.

TNB: What do you do to keep food on the Brown’s dinner table these days?

MB: I’m a freelance personal trainer at a big leisure centre in Shrewsbury. I concentrate on boot camps and high intensity training. I do fitness for people over Zoom as well which was a big thing during Covid. I’m 56 and still carrying a six-pack on my chest and not in an off licence bag. It’s all about discipline and sustainability.

I always say everything must be done over a year, forget this 28-day cr*p you see bandied about.

TNB: Do you still keep an eye on the Preston result and have you ever been back to Deepdale in a neutral capacity? I bet the stadiums changed a little.

MB: I haven’t actually found time to return. I always keep an eye on former clubs. I actually have someone very close to the top of Deepdale in a professional capacity working with me and let it be known, they are doing everything they can to get PNE promoted.

TNB: Sir Mickey Brown thank you so much for your time, finally is their anything you wish to say to the Preston faithful

MB: No grudges, no regrets and I’m still here to tell the tale.

Life’s fragile and we need to embrace life. Preston didn’t see the real deal and what I was capable of but it gave me a time in my life that, while things weren’t going right on the pitch, it showed how good humanity was off it.

No one gave me any bother and luckily it was a successful time [for the club] which probably gave me a bit of a free pass.

Just talking to you today has brought memories that I’d long forgotten and that, without being at Preston, would never have happened. So thank you for that.

The Nose Bag: This interview featured in the most recent edition of The Nose Bag, which was released in August 2024. You can take a subscription or buy issues from the archive here.

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