Wayne Brown

Wayne Lawrence Brown (born 20 August 1977) is an English football coach and former player who was most recently manager of Colchester United.

Brown began his playing career with Ipswich Town where he progressed through the club's Academy.

Born in Barking, London, Brown joined the Ipswich Town Academy in March 1993.

He made his professional debut on loan at Colchester United in 1997, going on to make 40 league appearances for Ipswich.

He progressed through the youth team, eventually making his professional debut on 18 October 1997 while on a month-long loan with Third Division side Colchester United.

He made two substitute appearances for Colchester, before he made his Ipswich debut on 17 January 1998 in their 1–1 First Division draw with Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium.

He made just one first-team appearance for Ipswich in the 1998–99 season as a late substitute in their 2–1 win over Sheffield United at Bramall Lane.

Brown began to establish himself in the Town first-team during their 1999–2000 promotion-winning season.

He made 30 appearances in all competitions, including both play-off legs against Bolton Wanderers, though he was an unused substitute in the final.

He was the first player to receive the John Kerridge Memorial Trophy which recognised him as the most improved Ipswich player for the season.

Brown made just four substitute appearances in the Premiership during the 2000–01 season, and was instead loaned out to First Division Queens Park Rangers until the end of the season in March 2001.

He made two appearances for QPR before returning to Ipswich.

Wimbledon signed Brown on a three-month loan deal in September 2001, during which time he scored his first professional goal.

He opened the scoring in a 4–0 win for the Dons over Crewe Alexandra on 18 September.

He also had loan spells with Queens Park Rangers, Wimbledon and Watford, before permanently moving to the latter in 2002.

He made 25 league appearances for Watford in two years with the club, failing to establish himself in the first team.

He made 17 league appearances for Wimbledon, before returning to Ipswich for their FA Cup third round 4–1 win over Dagenham & Redbridge on 5 January 2002, which was to be his only appearance for his parent club during the course of the campaign.

Before the end of January, Brown was on the move again, on this occasion on loan to Watford.

In his eleven games for Watford, Brown scored three times; once in a 1–1 draw with West Bromwich Albion on 5 March 2002, and his second and third during a comprehensive 3–0 win over Coventry City eleven days later in his last appearance of his loan for the club.

Brown scored his first and only goal of his Ipswich Town career on 29 August 2002 in their 8–1 UEFA Cup win against Avenir Beggen.

Brown featured regularly in the early stages of the 2002–03 season, but would make his final Ipswich appearance on 3 November 2002 as Town fell to a 2–1 defeat to Crystal Palace at Portman Road.

Brown made 52 appearances for Ipswich.

Brown signed for Watford on a free transfer on 18 December 2002, signing a three-and-a-half year deal with the Hornets.

Owing to Watford's financial difficulties, a member of the Watford board had agreed to pay Brown's wages for the first six months of his contract.

He made his debut against his former club Wimbledon on Boxing Day in a goalless draw.

Brown was again loaned out to Gillingham in 2003, and once more to Colchester in 2004.

He sealed a move to Colchester following his loan, where he made over 120 league appearances and helped guide the club to the Championship for the first time in their history in 2006.

He was also named the club's Player of the Year for his efforts.

After one season in the Championship with Colchester, Brown moved to Hull City for £450,000, spending two years with the side.

However, he failed to make a mark in the first-team, making 42 league appearances, though he did help the club to promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs in 2008.

He was twice loaned out by the club, to Preston North End, and Leicester City.

During his loan period with Leicester, Brown was a member of the League One title-winning team.

He joined Leicester permanently in the summer of 2009, but spent just one season with the club as they reached the Championship play-off places.

Brown rejoined Preston in 2010 after leaving Leicester by mutual consent.

He could only manage 13 league appearances in the 2010–11 season.

After being deemed surplus to requirements, Brown finally wound down his playing career with local side Bury Town in 2011.

Brown returned to Colchester United in 2012 in a coaching role, assisting John McGreal in managing the under-16 side, before later being appointed joint-manager of the under-18 side alongside McGreal.

Brown spent three matches as caretaker manager of Colchester in December 2015, although he returned to his under-18s coaching role following the appointment of Kevin Keen as manager.

He has since managed the Colchester United under-23 side and was then appointed manager at Maldon & Tiptree.

During the 2020–21 Isthmian League season, with the season suspended due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Brown was again named interim manager at Colchester United following the exit of Steve Ball from the role.