Brown James Image 2 United States of America 1930

Description

In a remarkable football career, Kilmarnock, Ayshire born outside or inside right James or Jimmy Brown started his football career in the United States with New Jersey teams Plainfield, Bayonne Rovers and Newark Skeeters in the mid 1920’s, first playing for New York Nationals in the American Soccer League in 1927 having gone to the US to re-connect with his father. While there he played for a number of clubs, most notably The New York Giants in 1928, and the, New York Soccer Club in 1929-30, and as a result was invited to join the United States’ soccer team when it sailed from Hoboken to Uruguay for the inaugural 1930 World Cup, where he played 4 matches and scored in their semi final defeat to Argentina, becoming the only ascot ever to score in a World Cup semi final. These proved his only international caps for the United States.

On his return he played for Brooklyn Wanderers in 1930-31 and Newark Americans the following season. However with the onset of The Great Depression he returned to the United Kingdom in August 1932 and signed for Scott Duncan’s Manchester United, for whom he made his Football League debut the following month against Grimsby Town, scoring in a 1-1 draw. He scored 17 goals in 41 appearances during his two seasons at Old Trafford before a transfer to Brentford in May 1934 for “a substantial fee” believed to be around £300.

However in two seasons in West London he made only a single appearance for The Bees, in a defeat at Chelsea in November 1935 in front of 57,000 spectators, as Brentford enjoyed significant success that saw them promoted to the First Division for the first time in their history. He crossed London to join Second Division club Tottenham Hotspur in September 1936 for £1,000, but played only 4 matches that autumn in a single season at White Hart Lane before moving to Southern League club Guildford City.

At Guildford he enjoyed the most fruitful period of the English phase of his football career, and is considered somewhat of a club legend, scoring 38 and 42 goals respectively in the 1937-38 and 1938-39 seasons, as Guildford won and finished runners-up in The Southern League. The outbreak of The Second World War in September 1939 then effectively ended his career though he guested for both Brentford and Clydebank during the earlier stages of the wartime leagues, and after the War played for Connecticut side Greenport United before his eventual retirement.

He was inducted into the U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame in 1986.

His son George was also capped by the USA, appearing in a 1957 World Cup qualifying match against Mexico in Mexico City, and was an American Soccer League “All-Star” and leading goalscorer between 1953 and 1956.