Reece Brown

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.

Reece Glen Brown (born 3 March 1996) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Forest Green Rovers.

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."

Brown made his senior debut for Birmingham City in the Football League in September 2013, and spent time on loan at League One clubs Notts County in September 2014 and Chesterfield in early 2017.

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.

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 away to 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".

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.

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.

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 away to 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.

Between those two matches, he signed his first professional contract with Birmingham, a two-and-a-half-year deal to run until 2016.

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; he signed the extension in June.

Brown was not included in the first-team training camp in Spain, reportedly because Rowett "wanted him to work for his opportunities", but his pre-season performances earned him a place on the bench for the opening fixture of the new Championship season, at home to Cardiff City.

He replaced David Cotterill after 71 minutes, and came close to creating a winning goal when he cut the ball back for debutant Jack Storer who narrowly failed to touch it past the goalkeeper; the match finished goalless.

In September, Brown made his first start for Birmingham in two-and-a-half years, in a 2–2 draw away to Preston North End.

He took his appearance total for the season to eight before Rowett was replaced as manager by Gianfranco Zola; thereafter, his only outing was as a second-half substitute in a losing cause away to Newcastle United in the FA Cup.

Zola agreed to let Brown go out on loan, at the player's request, because he thought it could "be good for his maturity to go and play in a real difficult situation where he is going to be pushed to improve. Not only as a footballer but his character and temperament as well."

He was released by Birmingham in 2017 and joined Forest Green Rovers, where he spent two seasons before signing for Huddersfield Town.

He did get on the pitch in the next match, away to 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".

He spent the second half of the 2019–20 season on loan at Peterborough United, rejoined the club, also on loan, for the following season, and for a third time in January 2022.

Released by Huddersfield in 2022, he rejoined Forest Green Rovers.

He has represented England at under-16, under-17, under-18 and under-20 level.

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.