It gave him the best of times and the worst of times but Billy Brown will be forever indebted to the Scottish Cup.
The chairman of the Scottish Managers and Coaches Association might be 72 now – three years younger than Roy Hodgson he says with a twinkle in his eye – but his passion for football remains as strong as it was when he left Musselburgh for Hull City more than half a century ago. Brown the player had a decent career with Motherwell and Raith but it was as half of a managerial partnership with Jim Jefferies at Berwick, Falkirk, Hearts, Bradford and Kilmarnock that he made his name as a coach.
And never was that reputation more enhanced than a quarter of a century ago when the duo led the Jambos to their first trophy success in 36 years, beating Rangers in the Scottish Cup Final. The 25th anniversary of that success will be celebrated next week and Brown admits it didn’t get any better than that in coaching and management.
