Football: Brown remembers class of ‘76
IT’S been 35 years since Jimmy Brown led Carrick Rangers to an unforgettable win over Linfield in the final of the Irish Cup.
Two well-documented Gary Prenter goals were enough for the ‘B’ Division minnows to shock Roy Coyle’s Blues at the Oval in 1976. It was a remarkable highlight of a remarkable season; a campaign which is still fondly remembered and extolled on the terraces at Taylor’s Avenue.
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Hide AdBeating Linfield was the pinnacle of an incredible first year in management for Brown and it’s an achievement he insists will never, ever be repeated by a second-tier team.
Brown was installed as Rangers boss in 1975. He was 24 years old. His arrival at Taylor’s Avenue came hot on the heels of a spell with senior club Ballymena United where, he admits, he fell out with the manager. He wanted out of the Showgrounds and was keen to sign for Ards.
Locked into a semi-professional contract and the only way for Brown to leave United and join Billy Humphries’ team was to get out of the senior league for a year.
“I wasn’t getting on particularly well with the Ballymena boss at that time and I was looking a move. Ards were the team to beat in and around the ‘73-’74 season; they had won four trophies,” recalled Brown in the comfortable surrounds of the Prom Cafe in Larne.
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Hide Ad“I had a disagreement with Ballymena, I went on holiday and when I came back my father told me Carrick Rangers were looking for a player-manager. I applied for it and go it.”
Read Jimmy Brown’s full interview in this week’s Carrick Times