He's done an interview with the Scotsman........
'Well suited for Euro Date: 11 July 2010
By Moira Gordon
THERE IS a tale Craig Brown tells on the after-dinner circuit of himself as a youngster on Rangers books.
According to the story he was taking part in one of his first training sessions when he overheard one of the old guard. "He must have won a competition to train with the first team," they sneered sarcastically. He shrugs. "People usually have a laugh
at that one," the Motherwell manager says, chuckling away to himself.
But the truth is that while he never made the breakthrough as a player at Ibrox (the fact that a certain Jim Baxter played in the same position proved the biggest hindrance), that barb was not directed at him and was actually overheard more recently about a current player. But it says much about Brown that he refuses to heap embarrassment on that individual in public, preferring instead to poke fun at himself. It's just another example of the humour he revels in and the tangential nature of his conversations. Chatting for well over an hour about everything and anything, there are two things the veteran manager doesn't skimp on, details and self-deprecation.
The purpose of the chat was primarily the up coming foray into European competition. For someone whose age and veteran status envelopes him like a well-worn coat, there is a notable omission on the curriculum vitae. When the Fir Park side play host to Icelandic side Breiðablik in the second round of the Europa League qualifiers on Thursday it will be the first time Brown has managed a club side in one of the major European competitions.
There have been friendlies against the likes of Ajax when he was assistant manager at Motherwell in the mid-70s and, of course, 70 matches at the helm as Scotland gaffer between 1993 and 2002, including participation in the 1996 European Championships and 1998 World Cup, but club football on such a level has thus far eluded him.
No-one should be foolish enough to imagine that leaves him under-prepared, though. Alongside him, he cites, as a way of underlining that fact, is his assistant Archie Knox. Fulfilling a similar role at Aberdeen, Rangers and Manchester United, he saw them all feature prominently in European competition rendering Knox very well-versed, insists Brown, shooing away the idea that they are some kind of clueless European virgins.
By the time they face the team from Kópavogur the Motherwell players will have three games and 22 training sessions under their belts, they will know the minutiae of the opposition's set pieces and even the relative height of their No 19. "I have always done my preparation," he admits, "it's just the methods that have changed. I used to be a pencil and rubber man.
I'd use flip-charts in the dressing room but now there is all this computer analysis which we use."
Some old-school methods prevail, though. He shuffles through two thick dossiers already compiled on the previously little-known Icelandic side. Jocky Scott has watched them on a couple of occasions and reported back and that information will be put to good use. In a piece of remarkable re-enactment, the U-19s will this week play the part of the opposition in a bounce game at Fir Park and attention has been paid to detail. Not only will they wear the squad numbers which correspond with the men Motherwell will face on Thursday so each and every man can get used to who they should be marking at set pieces but the stand-ins will be hand-picked to reflect the build and strengths of the Icelandic team.
"For example, if their No.19 is a tall lad, I will choose a tall lad from our U-19s to wear that shirt and play in that position." It is almost Churchillian preparation, computerised men being moved around the laptop screen rather than soldiers and tanks being pushed across large table-top maps. It is also representative of how Brown approaches life. A former teacher, he recognises the worth of homework, he values nurturing and discipline equally and regards an unwillingness to keep on learning as negligent. He opens his desk drawer and more paper is pulled out. Every SPL team has it's own file. Other managers are thorough but few can be more thorough than Brown.
But there is more to Brown than his age or his fastidiousness. There is an eagerness to please. "I have nothing to prove," he says while discussing why he has chosen to subject himself to the trials and tribulations of club football at this stage of his life. "I don't need the job but I want it because I want to do well by the people of Motherwell. If we lose they say the weekend is wasted. I don't want them to have wasted weekends."
Then there's a sizeable dollop of the part-mischievious, part-acerbic humour that underpins most football banter. His joy in being able to bat it about on a daily basis again perhaps explains why he currently looks younger than he has in years. Just back from a short pre-season trip to Brechin and Forfar, he says there was a wedding going on in the team hotel. "I was sitting around with some of the players and someone asked if we were going to go. 'Och, I'm too old for gate-crashing weddings,' I replied just as a waitress was going by and she said 'you're no old, you're a recycled teenager!' I liked that one. A recycled teenager! That's the best compliment I've had in a while. I know people talk about me and Archie being old but we don't feel that way and I hope we don't behave that way.
We have standards and that's maybe seen as old school, but young managers have standards as well and insist on good behaviour and courtesy."
Regardless of age, the 70-year-old is getting a response from a squad that is largely comprised of players in their very early 20s. Since taking over in December he ensured the club qualified for European football and only just missed out on a fourth-place finish. "When I was asked to take the job I phoned Archie and asked if he wanted to come and his response was 'we're doing nothing anyway, Broon!' But we are loving it. The lads are great to work with. John Sutton's wife has just had twins and I think she had a difficult time of it but he still travelled up and down every day while we were at Brechin and Forfar. And Stephen Craigan, I told him he could have a few extra days off because he played international football for Northern Ireland when the rest of them were already enjoying the close season, but who was one of the first ones there on the first day of training? Stephen, and, as captain, that sets a great example. That's why we are loving working with these players."
A little extra money for new players wouldn't go amiss, however. "When you want a player they put a spreadsheet up and when you put in a notional wage you just see it flashing red at the bottom of the column! That's the job's one debit. The financial constraints are incredible and recruitment is frustrating." But Europe offers him not only a fresh experience but hope. If they make the group stage the player budget will be boosted.
When he got the job in December there were plenty sniggers and jibes. People joked that it must have been Help the Aged week. But, the fact is, his reputation earned him the opportunity, his results allowed him to extend his stay. Craig Brown didn't win a competition to manage an SPL team although, one day, in an after-dinner speech he may claim someone thought he had.
