Reece Brown (footballer, born 1996)

Reece Brown

Personal information
Full name	Reece Brown
Date of birth	(1996-03-03) 3 March 1996
Place of birth	Dudley, England
Height
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Birmingham City
Number	18
Youth career
–	Sedgley White Lions
2006–2013	Birmingham City
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2013–	Birmingham City	8	(0)
2014	→ Notts County (loan)	3	(0)
International career‡
2011–2012	England U16	5	(0)
2012	England U17	5	(1)
2014	England U18	3	(0)
2015–	England U20	6	(2)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 15:47, 5 January 2016 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 15:47, 5 January 2016 (UTC)

Reece Brown (born 3 March 1996) is an English footballer who plays for Birmingham City. A midfielder, he made his senior debut for Birmingham in the Football League in September 2013, and spent a month on loan at League One club Notts County in September 2014. He has represented England at under-16, under-17, under-18 and under-20 level.

Club career

Early life and club career

Brown was born in Dudley, West Midlands, where he attended Jesson's Primary School and then Dormston School in the Sedgley area. As a boy, he played football for Sedgley White Lions, and he joined Birmingham City at the age of ten. After leaving school, he took up a scholarship with the club in July 2012. His goal against West Bromwich Albion's youth team helped Birmingham reach the last 16 of the FA Youth Cup; they lost to Norwich City's youngsters in that round. His fellow first-year scholar Liam Truslove was given a professional contract at the end of the 2012–13 season, but Brown was not. Academy manager Kristjaan Speakman suggested there were parts of his game that needed improvement: "Over the last few years, he has always been regarded as a ball-playing midfielder, very comfortable in possession and able to retain it. What the manager wants from his midfield players is the ability to affect the game out of possession as well." In a July 2013 interview, Brown concurred: he rated his best quality as "what I can do on the ball", and felt he needed to improve his mental strength.

First-team football

After impressing in training ahead of the new season, Brown produced two goals and set up another for Reece Hales in a development squad pre-season friendly against Solihull Moors. This earned him inclusion in the first-team training group, and he was given a squad number and played the last few minutes of the senior friendly against Hull City. He was named among the substitutes for Birmingham's Championship defeat at Queens Park Rangers in September, ahead of the likes of Scott Allan and Matt Green, and according to manager Lee Clark, "he was very close to getting on the pitch". He did get on the pitch in the next match, away at Burnley on 17 September, replacing Darren Ambrose in the 51st minute, just after Birmingham went 2–0 down; the match ended 3–0. In a poor team performance, Clark suggested that Brown was "the only player who has probably enhanced his reputation from the night. He came on and showed his ability, showed no nerves and was competitive".

On his first league start, on 18 January 2014, Brown was man of the match, albeit in a losing cause at home to Yeovil Town, and he impressed a week later in the FA Cup defeat to Premier League club Swansea City. Between those two matches, he signed his first professional contract with Birmingham, a two-and-a-half-year deal to run until 2016.

Notts County loan

After playing in just one of Birmingham's first six games of the 2014–15 season, Brown joined League One club Notts County on a youth loan, initially for a month. He went straight into the starting eleven and played the first 64 minutes of the weekend's match against Bristol City, which Notts lost to a stoppage-time penalty. Two days later, in the Football League Trophy against League Two opponents Mansfield Town, he was used as a playmaker. According to the Nottingham Post, he "revelled in his role as number ten and played with real maturity. Was a real threat whenever he received the ball and came close to scoring with a header", and was named man of the match by both newspaper and club. He made four starts in all before his loan was cut short because of injury.

Return to Birmingham

Gary Rowett, who replaced Clark as manager soon after Brown's return to Birmingham, included the player among the substitutes for his first match in charge, though he remained unused. In February 2015, while praising Brown's technical skill and ability with the ball, Rowett felt he needed to improve off the ball, especially because of the physical nature of Championship football, and to prove himself in training. He selected him once more that season, in the absence of midfielders Stephen Gleeson and Diego Fabbrini and in recognition of his improvement in training, again on the bench for a 4–2 defeat at AFC Bournemouth in April. By November, Brown had played just six minutes of first-team football, in the League Cup second round, and Rowett had spoken publicly of his lack of professionalism in matters such as punctuality. His application improved, and on 21 November, he made his first appearance in the Championship for more than a year, as a 72nd-minute substitute with Birmingham 1–0 down at home to Charlton Athletic.

Having had no more first-team involvement, Brown joined Premier League club West Ham United on trial in January 2016, and made a promising appearance in a development squad match against Brighton & Hove Albion. He also spent time with AFC Bournemouth and was reported to have attracted interest from Manchester City. In March, Birmingham City suspended Brown pending the outcome of an internal investigation into his "conduct and levels of professionalism." He returned to the development squad and, according to Rowett, he was working harder. At the end of April, the club offered him another year on his contract, which was due to expire.

International career

Brown made his first appearance for England's under-16 team on 25 November 2011, as a second-half substitute as England beat Scotland under-16s in the Victory Shield. He played in three matches in the 2012 Montaigu Tournament, as England lost on penalties to Russia in the semi-final, but then beat France in the third-place playoff match. He scored on his under-17 debut, against Turkey on 31 August 2012, a 4–1 victory that he chose in 2013 as his most memorable match; according to the Football Association's website, "he broke through the heart of midfield with his electric pace, unleashing a thunderous shot into the bottom left hand corner leaving Akdag with no chance. It was a magnificent goal by the young speedster who produced a fantastic display all evening." He played on the winning side in all three matches of England's qualifying group for the 2013 European Championships.

He was called up for an England under-18s training camp in November 2013, and made his debut at that level on 3 March 2014, as a second-half substitute in a 2–1 defeat to their Croatian counterparts in the first match of a double-header.

Together with Birmingham teammate Demarai Gray, Brown was called up for the England under-20s' first matches of the 2015–16 season, a double-header against the Czech Republic. In the first game, both Gray and Brown scored as England won 5–0; in the second, Brown made a brief substitute appearance in a 1–0 defeat. Both retained their place in the squad for the Mercedes-Benz Elite Cup, a quadrangular tournament played in Germany in October. Although injury forced Gray's withdrawal, Brown started England's first game of the tournament and scored in the eighth minute, the first goal of a 3–1 win against the Netherlands.

Career statistics

As of match played 22 November 2015

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Birmingham City	2013–14	Championship	6	0	2	0	0	0	—		8	0
	2014–15	Championship	1	0	0	0	0	0	—		1	0
	2015–16	Championship	1	0	0	0	1	0	—		2	0
	Total		8	0	2	0	1	0	—		11	0
Notts County	2014–15	League One	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	4	0
Career total			11	0	2	0	1	0	1	0	15	0

External links

• Reece Brown career statistics at Soccerbase