Derek Brownbill

Derek Brownbill

Personal information
Full name	Derek Anthony Brownbill
Date of birth	(1954-02-04) 4 February 1954
Place of birth	Liverpool, England
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Position(s)	Forward
Youth career
1970–1972	Liverpool
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1972–1974	Liverpool	1	(0)
1975–1978	Port Vale	92	(13)
1978	Cleveland Cobras	21	(5)
1978–1980	Wigan Athletic	48	(8)
1980–198?	Stafford Rangers
198?–1982	Oswestry Town
1982–?	Morecambe
	Witton Albion	0	(0)
	Warrington Town
Total		162+	(26+)
Managerial career
	Warrington Town
	Curzon Ashton
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Derek Anthony Brownbill (born 4 February 1954) is an English former footballer who played as a forward. He played in the Football League for Liverpool, Port Vale, and Wigan Athletic before spells with American side Cleveland Cobras and English non-League clubs Stafford Rangers, Oswestry Town, Morecambe, Witton Albion, and Warrington Town.

Playing career

Liverpool

Brownbill came through the youth ranks at Liverpool to turn professional at the age of 18; he featured in the 1972 FA Youth Cup final defeat to Aston Villa. He made his only appearance for the senior team on 15 September 1973, in a 1–1 draw with Birmingham City at St Andrew's.

Port Vale

Brownbill joined Port Vale for £5,000 in February 1975. Liverpool manager Bob Paisley rejected a bid of £20,000 from Bury because he had already made a verbal agreement with Vale coach Reg Berks. Brownbill scored his first senior goal in a 1–0 home win over Charlton Athletic on 3 March, when he headed in a free-kick from John Brodie. Brownbill finished the 1974–75 season with four goals in 16 Third Division appearances. He hit nine goals in 41 games in 1975–76, including five in the FA Cup. He scored the equalising goal in a 2–2 draw with Southern League side Grantham in which he had been standing offside. He then scored all four goals in the replay, a 4–1 win. He was named as Vale's clubman of the year.

He lost his first-team place in August 1976, and scored three goals in 23 games in 1976–77. Manager Roy Sproson was sacked in October 1977, however, Brownbill failed to re-establish himself in the first XI under new boss Bobby Smith; he went on to score three goals in 28 appearances in 1977–78. During his time at Vale Park the crowd used to barrack him for being big and clumsy, when in fact it was part of Roy Sproson's plan for Brownbill to shield the ball and allow attacking midfielders Brian Horton and Terry Bailey to get forward and score goals (Horton and Bailey got 27 goals between them in 1974–75 with Brownbill's support).

Later career

Handed a free transfer in May 1978, he emigrated to the US with the Cleveland Cobras of the American Soccer League, only to return to the UK with Wigan Athletic in September. He had 20 starts and 17 substitute appearances in 1978–79, scoring six goals for Ian McNeill's "Latics". Wigan finished the 1979–80 season in sixth place in the Fourth Division. He later moved on to various non-League clubs: Stafford Rangers, Oswestry Town, Morecambe and Witton Albion, before becoming the player-manager of Warrington Town.

Managerial career

After leaving his post at Warrington Town, he became the manager of Curzon Ashton. He was the Director of Football at Warrington Town until 2009.

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Liverpool	1973–74	First Division	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Port Vale	1974–75	Third Division	16	4	0	0	0	0	16	4
	1975–76	Third Division	36	4	3	5	2	0	41	9
	1976–77	Third Division	19	2	2	1	2	0	23	3
	1977–78	Third Division	21	3	4	0	3	0	28	3
	Total		92	13	9	6	7	0	108	19
Wigan Athletic	1978–79	Fourth Division	30	6	1	0	0	0	31	6
	1979–80	Fourth Division	18	2	3	1	2	0	23	3
	Total		48	8	4	1	2	0	54	9

Honours

Liverpool

• FA Youth Cup runner-up: 1972