Clyde FC fans tribute to Craig Brown
- 11 months ago
Clyde FC Statement.
All at the club were deeply saddened to learn of the passing of former Clyde manager and Hall of Fame inductee Craig Brown earlier this morning.
Craig took over the reins at Shawfield in 1977 and guided Clyde to the Second Division title in his first season, and again in 1981-82. He was in charge of the club for 409 games.
He left The Bully Wee in 1986 to take a coaching position with the Scotland national team and led the country to Euro 96 and the World Cup in 1998.
Club Historian Gordon Sydney has penned the following tribute to Craig:-
When Craig Brown moved from Assistant Manager to Willie McLean at Motherwell to become Clyde Manager in August 1977 – incidentally on the recommendation of Billy McNeill – the question on many lips was “Craig who….”. After less than a season with Clyde, that question was never required again!
Craig inherited an unsuccessful Clyde squad that had finished 7th in Division Two the previous season, but immediately set about rebuilding it into a Second Division Championship winning squad, playing a flamboyant, cavalier style of football that will go down in my memory as the best, most entertaining Clyde team I have been privileged to watch.
So promotion to Division One was achieved in Craig’s first season as manager, his first honour as a manager, and for the first few months of the following season the impossible – back-to-back promotions to the Premier League – seemed possible. Sadly it all slipped away, the season after that we were relegated, and season 80/81 was spent languishing back in Division Two.
But Craig had lived and learned, and the squad he built for 1981/82 almost cantered to the Second Division title, this time playing a more measured and controlled game, but were still a “class” outfit.
Clyde FC squad with the 1981/82 Second Division Championship
CRAIG BROWN AND THE 1981-82 SQUAD
After this success, Clyde became an established side in Division One under Craig’s guidance, and perhaps one of the accolades that could be attributed to the club around this time would be that of “best part-time team in Scotland”.
Over those nine years with Clyde, Craig’s ability to spot a player, nurture that player and get the best out of that player brought the club around £500k in transfer fees, an achievement that I know he was rightly proud of. And yet the club continued to progress, despite the loss of many great players.
He also arranged the club’s very first jersey sponsorship, only narrowly beaten to the title of “first team in Scotland to have their first team jerseys sponsored” by Hibs. But Craig never liked to be beaten, thus Clyde were the first team in Scotland to have their reserve team jerseys sponsored!
Towards the end of his tenure at Clyde Craig was rewarded with a position on the Board of Directors, however in April 1986 the lure of working with the national team proved irresistible for Craig, and he departed for pasture new.
All at the club were deeply saddened to learn of the passing of former Clyde manager and Hall of Fame inductee Craig Brown earlier this morning.
Craig took over the reins at Shawfield in 1977 and guided Clyde to the Second Division title in his first season, and again in 1981-82. He was in charge of the club for 409 games.
He left The Bully Wee in 1986 to take a coaching position with the Scotland national team and led the country to Euro 96 and the World Cup in 1998.
Club Historian Gordon Sydney has penned the following tribute to Craig:-
When Craig Brown moved from Assistant Manager to Willie McLean at Motherwell to become Clyde Manager in August 1977 – incidentally on the recommendation of Billy McNeill – the question on many lips was “Craig who….”. After less than a season with Clyde, that question was never required again!
Craig inherited an unsuccessful Clyde squad that had finished 7th in Division Two the previous season, but immediately set about rebuilding it into a Second Division Championship winning squad, playing a flamboyant, cavalier style of football that will go down in my memory as the best, most entertaining Clyde team I have been privileged to watch.
So promotion to Division One was achieved in Craig’s first season as manager, his first honour as a manager, and for the first few months of the following season the impossible – back-to-back promotions to the Premier League – seemed possible. Sadly it all slipped away, the season after that we were relegated, and season 80/81 was spent languishing back in Division Two.
But Craig had lived and learned, and the squad he built for 1981/82 almost cantered to the Second Division title, this time playing a more measured and controlled game, but were still a “class” outfit.
Clyde FC squad with the 1981/82 Second Division Championship
CRAIG BROWN AND THE 1981-82 SQUAD
After this success, Clyde became an established side in Division One under Craig’s guidance, and perhaps one of the accolades that could be attributed to the club around this time would be that of “best part-time team in Scotland”.
Over those nine years with Clyde, Craig’s ability to spot a player, nurture that player and get the best out of that player brought the club around £500k in transfer fees, an achievement that I know he was rightly proud of. And yet the club continued to progress, despite the loss of many great players.
He also arranged the club’s very first jersey sponsorship, only narrowly beaten to the title of “first team in Scotland to have their first team jerseys sponsored” by Hibs. But Craig never liked to be beaten, thus Clyde were the first team in Scotland to have their reserve team jerseys sponsored!
Towards the end of his tenure at Clyde Craig was rewarded with a position on the Board of Directors, however in April 1986 the lure of working with the national team proved irresistible for Craig, and he departed for pasture new.