Margate unveil Terry Brown as their new boss

Friday 13th December 2013

MARGATE are delighted to announce the appointment of former AFC Wimbledon and Aldershot Town manager Terry Brown and his assistant Stuart Cash.

The pair arrived at Hartsdown Park yesterday, following the decision to part company with Simon Osborn on Monday.

Brown, who needs no introduction to non-league football followers, has been out of the game since he left AFC Wimbledon in September 2012.

Born in Hillingdon, west London, Brown joined Hayes from local football as a 19 year-old and made his debut against Enfield Town in April 1971.

He became a regular during the next season, and got a taste for the big occasion as a member of the team which first defeated Football League opposition in Bristol Rovers.

He caught the attention of scouts from Fulham and Millwall, and was selected for the FA Amateur XI.

After two seasons, he joined Sutton United briefly and then moved to Slough Town, before rejoining Hayes in August 1977, where he stayed until October 1979. In both spells he made a total of 148 appearances, and scored 45 goals. He left for Wokingham Town, where he played well into the 1980s.

He was in charge of Hayes for nine years between 1993 and 2002. He had managed to take the Middlesex side from the brink of relegation from the Isthmian League Premier Division to third in the Football Conference, just six points behind champions Cheltenham Town.

But with a diminishing budget and his best players sold to make ends meet, Brown saw his side slip into a relegation dogfight. Frustrated, he applied for the Aldershot Town job and was selected for the job ahead of 50 other candidates.

Brown was appointed as Aldershot manager on 25 March 2002, the 10th anniversary of the town's old club Aldershot being wound up in the High Court.

After winning the Hampshire Senior Cup in his first month in charge, he began to assemble what he hoped would be a squad capable of achieving the club promotion in his first full season in charge. The team managed to win the league by a clear 13 points from nearest rivals Canvey Island.

Brown and his part-time players had an impressive first Conference National season, upstaging expectations by qualifying for the end of season play-offs. Aldershot beat favourites Hereford United on penalties before finally succumbing to Shrewsbury Town in the final.

Having taken Aldershot to two play-off finals Brown resigned after a 1-0 victory over Weymouth in March 2007.

On 15 May 2007, Brown was announced as the new manager of AFC Wimbledon following the resignation of Dave Anderson after the Dons' second successive play-off semi-final defeat in the Isthmian League.

He was joined at Wimbledon by Stuart Cash, who had been his assistant at Aldershot, and who joined the Dons directly from Lewes, where he was assistant to Steve King. In his first season, they were promoted to the Conference South after a 2–1 play-off final win against Staines Town.

In the summer of 2008, Brown released eight of the promotion winning side. He said he wanted to build a more youthful side that could compete for promotion out of the Conference South. He led the team to the Conference South title, meaning they won promotion to the Conference National.

After their first season in the Conference National Wimbledon finished 8th and in the close season Terry Brown went about rebuilding his squad with a younger fresher look to it. This was because the club had decided to go full-time for the first time in its 8 year history.

On 21 May 2011 he led AFC Wimbledon to the Football League for the first time in the club's history, beating Luton Town 4-3 on penalties after a 0-0 draw in the Conference play-off final. Brown lead them to safety in their first year in the football league. He parted company with the club in September 2012.

Brown's first game in charge of Margate will be when the club travel to league leaders AFC Hornchurch tomorrow.

Meanwhile, goalkeeper Craig Holloway has pledged his future to Margate Football Club by signing a contract that will see him play his football at Hartsdown Park until the end of the 2014/15 season.

The former Arsenal keeper joined Margate in June 2012 from Welling United and has been the regular goalkeeper over the last two campaigns.

Despite stepping down as manager last month the 29 year old is adamant that Hartsdown is the place to be.

"I enjoy playing for Margate very much indeed. I love the family feel and there are some great people behind the scenes and on the terraces that I have a lot of time for,” Holloway told www.margate-fc.com.

“I am extremely settled here and when you are enjoying what you do you tend to give more and i hope that is reflected in my recent performances.

“I am here to win things and i think that we still have a strong chance of making the play-offs this season. If you look back at this stage last season nobody would have given Concord a chance and they went on to win the final and that is what we as a squad will be aiming to achieve ourselves."

Holloway, despite standing down as manager only a few weeks ago, still has aspirations of management in the future.

He said: "Management is something I liked doing and something I will definitely go back to but at the moment it’s out of my head. I want to concentrate on playing and winning trophies with Margate and putting all my other time and dedication into learning the knowledge."

Visit Margate’s website: www.margatefc-com