Ex Factor: Michael Brown on debut red card, City relegation and promotion, working with Warnock and cursed squad number | OneFootball

We caught up with former City and Leeds midfielder Michael Brown this week to chat about his career in football with the Blues and the Whites.

Talk to us about your start to life at City – because it was a rapid rise?

I joined when I was approaching 14. When you get to that age, it starts to get a bit more serious. I went down to City and it was just somewhere I liked straight away and they were very straight with me, wanted to sign me quite quickly and I signed up to a couple of years pro and it was ‘here we go’, straight into it and the journey started.

Then as you go on that journey, you’re trying to find your feet and ultimately, I got in quite quickly.

It was Alan Ball’s first season, it was a couple of months in. I hadn’t even played a reserve game!

I was in the youth team doing alright. Neil McNab was the coach who’d obviously played for City. He was pushing to Alan Ball ‘this kid should be getting closer to you’.

And I hadn’t even trained with the first team and I got a call saying ‘you’re going to travel with the first team tomorrow.’ And I was like ‘what?’ It was just to go and get the experience. I was just soaking it all up in the dressing room at QPR.  And then I was on the bench. It was crazy.

Then 68 minutes in, I got on and 10 minutes into my debut I got sent off for pulling a shirt. And then you think your career has come and then you think your career is over. It was unbelievable.

Alan Ball rang me in my digs the next day. I thought I’m going to get told off here. He said ‘listen you had a right go and you’re playing at Everton on Tuesday, that’s when your career really starts’. So technically, I didn’t train before my debut and trained once before my full debut.

Who looked out for you in those early days at City?

Someone who took care of the younger players was Niall Quinn. He’d come round and see you, trying to help you which was something quite unheard of at the time. That tells you the kind of man he is.

Keith Curle was behind me on the pitch. Garry Flitcroft was in and around me, great leaders the two of them who wanted to help. That was as I set off.

Then you had the wonderful ability of Georgi Kinkladze who you were in awe of playing next to. It was the first time we saw something like a David Silva. He had a style that would have been suited to today.

What were your memories of Alan Ball?

He was a complete legend.

We knew that for what he’d done in his career and what he’d won.

He came in with big expectations and he had a big personality.

The one thing I would say about his managerial career is I think he went in quite strong on a couple of senior players. There was a clash quite quickly.

We certainly had a struggling season and we know how it finished getting relegated on the final day against Liverpool!

Talk to us about that Liverpool game?

We went down on goal difference, which is crazy, really, when you look at the games we could have got something from.

We thought we had a great chance of staying up. You’re thinking a draw is enough, there’s wrong information and then all of a sudden we’ve got to chase it and couldn’t score at the end.

It was a very sad day and it took some time for the club to recover.

I learnt a lot quite early in my career. There was a lot of adversity, plenty of ups and downs, highs and lows so it prepared me for what was to come.

It was very tough times with another relegation but then promotion against Gillingham in the Play-Off Final at Wembley? What were your memories of that?

It was an amazing game - and amazing end.

I know full well that Joe Royle didn’t really want to play me.

The fans were pushing for me when it wasn’t going so well for Joe and the team and he had to put me in.

It was bittersweet for me. I knew by going up, it’d be the end for me at City. But it was a joyful end.

But it was amazing to be involved in and amazing to watch the journey of the club.

Fast forward, you joined Leeds in 2011 what did you make of the size and stature of the club when you arrived?

We had a pre-season game and I’d heard about the support and it was in Norway and there were like 3,000 there for preseason training and games. You were you like ‘wow, here we go’.

And everywhere you went, you got full houses, very passionate fans.

It was in transition in the Championship, which wasn’t easy, ownership issues with Ken Bates, where they wanted him gone. Simon Grayson was the manager, still relatively inexperienced and found it tough. But I enjoyed it for my three and a half years.

We had different managers. Neil Warnock came in who I’d had before at Sheffield United.

But I think I did quite well. It’s a shame I didn’t go earlier in my career to Leeds rather than between 34 and 37. But I gave my all, I think I earned the respect of the fans and certainly whenever I go back they’re very kind to me.

As you said, Neil Warnock arrived to replace Simon Grayson, someone you worked with at Sheffield United – what was he like as he’s a bit of a cult figure in football?

His career has been sensational.

When I first met him at Sheffield United, he had something to prove, desperate to succeed, a real fighter.

He was good with you, day to day, lots of fun and the dressing room environment was great, you had a great time and a great laugh. He built a tough, hard-working side.

To get him second time around at Leeds was brilliant. We just didn’t make it. I feel if he’d been there a little bit longer, he would most certainly have delivered promotion to Leeds.

Two stories...Did you once hit Martin Keown in the face with the ball when he was a pundit on Arsenal v Leeds?

Yes we were going for Robbie Savage!

It was Alex Bruce and I for Leeds. It was a cup game at Arsenal. We clipped the ball and it hit Martin in the face live on ESPN.

I’ve done games with him since with Jake Humphrey. And in fact, at Portsmouth, the board next to us said ‘Beware of Flying Balls’ which was quite amusing when Jake pointed it out to Martin.

So we’re good now. It was a little bit frosty at the start. I think he was after me for a while.

But it was a funny moment. My phone just melted and shut down when I got back on the bus after the game! Now I’m a pundit myself, I’ve got the fear that it’s going to happen to me.

Is it true that Leeds retired your No.17 shirt claiming it was an unlucky number?

Yes. I was thinking I might be getting a new deal and then I realised I was number 17 – I’ve got no chance!

It was the then owner. He was having nothing to do with number 17 because he thought it was unlucky.

That was the number I started my career at with City. I was never getting a new contract was I!

Finally, what do you think of City v Leeds this afternoon?

It’s great when it’s your two old clubs facing each other. It gives you plenty to talk about – but there are plenty of talking points anyway.

For City, it’s about bouncing back from the defeats to Newcastle and Leverkusen and finding their stride again. For Leeds, they have shown lots of promise in the Premier League. They have a strong, powerful, dynamic set-up but are obviously finding it tough in the Premier League, as any team does as a newly-promoted side.

It doesn’t get any harder than going to City when they are looking for a reaction.

But it’s great to see Leeds in the Premier League, 100% where they belong. They’re finding it difficult at present. But hopefully they can start navigating some good results soon.

City v Leeds app coverage

Our official Man City app allows you to follow all of the action in one place.

Minute-by-minute text updates will begin in our Matchday Centre two hours before kick-off, while our Matchday Live show will begin at around 13:45 (UK).

Shaun Goater will join Cel Spellman, with Natalie Pike, Fabian Delph and Nedum Onouha tuning in from Korea, as the former players offer their expert insight before, during and after the action.

During the game you can also listen to live audio commentary from Alistair Mann and Nicky Weaver, while our text commentary continues.

Make sure to have push notifications turned on, so you can be alerted to key moments in the action, including goals, red cards and the team news.

A quick-hit 2-minute highlights package will be available from 19:00 (UK) while you can sign-in to watch a free 8-minute edit from midnight.

Meanwhile on CITY+, from midnight there’ll be our popular full-match replay as well as our new extended highlights reel showing the best 20 minutes of action from the game.

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