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Phil Brown on the way to restoring reputation at Southend

| 14.08.2013

The bizarre press conferences, the on-pitch half-time team talks, the post-match singing, the tan. It is safe to say that Phil Brown is famous amongst football fans for many things, but results aren’t near the top of the list.

But perhaps that is unfair though.

Brown did lead Hull City to promotion to the Premier League in 2008 after all, and they impressed at times during that debut campaign.

However, struggles in the following season eventually led to his dismissal, and that coupled with a poor year at Preston North End saw his managerial reputation plummet.

Now though, having joined League Two’s Southend last March the first attempts raising his stock might be underway.

Brown has led the Shrimpers to two 1-0 wins from their first two league matches of the season, victories which have seen them move in to 20/1 shots for the League Two title.

Those results against Plymouth and Hartlepool – the latter of which they achieved with just 10 men for the entire second half – showcased a solid, determined attitude in Brown’s players, as did the narrow but spirited 1-0 loss to Championship side Yeovil Town, after which Brown was extremely complimentary of his side’s performance.

Regardless of that loss, Southend are still one of four fourth tier sides to have won both of their league matches this season, and given that they next host a Northampton team who have won just three in 18 matches away from their Sixfields home they’ll be confident of making it three out of three.

Brown’s boys are 6/5 to achieve that on Saturday at Roots Hall, where a win could see their promotion odds of 5/1 shortened too.

The manager will hope that’s the start of a trend which sees his reputation rise, and the club benefit as a result.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publication

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Author

Mark Jones