A footballer who was equally outstanding in attack or at half back, Andy Brown is an early stalwart and legend of the club, giving 14 years of his cut short life playing for St Mirren between 1892 and 1896 before passing away in 1904 aged just 39 at home in Paisley from the dreaded “consumption”, or tuberculosis as it is commonly known now.

Brown is one of the best kept secrets of Saints early history, scoring over 100 goals for the club and appearing in enough matches to comfortably escalate him into the Tony Fitzpatrick/Hugh Murray category, but despite being capped twice by Scotland in the 1890’s, not a lot is known of Brown, nicknamed “Andra” by the Paisley public, either nationally or locally, in fact most Saints fans will never have heard of him.

Indeed such is the mystery surrounding the player, that even his age or place of birth are unconfirmed, and on the SFA website he is listed as being born in Kilmarnock in 1860 and passing away in 1930, which has been understandably taken as fact by many football sources and databases available today in 2024.

However after much research into this extraordinary player, I discovered in the 30^th September 1904 issue of the Scottish Referee newspaper, a short feature near the foot of page 2 that was dedicated to Brown following his death earlier that week, also confirming that he was an “ideal Seestuite” with “Seestu” being the Victorian nickname for Paisley. From here it is straightforward to confirm via any heritage website that Brown was actually born in Paisley on the 2^nd of September 1865, making him 5 years younger than thought and a Renfrewshire native as opposed to Ayrshire man.

What perhaps confused the issue about Brown’s birthplace and date is the fact that his father was also called Andrew and born in Kilmarnock, and in 1860 his wife Janet did have a son called Andrew, however the infant sadly passed in 1864. The parents decided however that their next born male child would inherit the name Andrew, and the following year future St Mirren and Scotland star Andrew Campbell Born was born into the world.

Brown was one of nine children the couple would have, however as was typical of the time four of them passed away; two before Andy was born and another two when he was 10 year old; sister Isabella who was 18, and Robert who was just 4 while the family resided at 28 New Sneddon in the town.

Despite this undoubted tragedy, Brown’s football skills continued to grow, and he was picked up by St Mirren feeder club Westmarch as a young teenager where he quickly progressed to a level where he was ready for the first team. Just after his 17^th birthday in 1882, Brown made his competitive debut for Saints at Cappielow during a Scottish Cup defeat to Morton on the 30th September, appearing as an inside forward.

This was the first of 386 known appearances Brown made for St Mirren, but with records unknown for a great number of fixtures in the first twenty years of the club, this figure is likely to be well over 400, as is his goal tally of 150 for the club undoubtedly going to be greater as Brown was a prolific scorer as a forward earlier in his career, and I would estimate this total at around 175 for the club.

The following season, 1883/84, Brown announced himself in spectacular fashion to the people of Paisley and beyond by scoring at least 38 times from 37 appearances, but as this was a season of moderate record keeping and reporting, it is likely that Brown scored closer to 45 times during the campaign as 22 Saints goals have an unknown scorer.

Despite wearing the number 6 jersey throughout that season, which was typically chosen for a half back, Saints captain John Paterson had decided to play a 2-2-6 formation and young Brown was utilised as a second centre forward to devastating effect as the heavily weighted attackers netted over 100 times. Of course, there was no league yet formed, and the season was spread between challenge matches, the Scottish Cup, Renfrewshire Cup and Paisley Charity Cup.

Although the local tournaments would be considered trivial now, these were well attended and important matches for many decades in Scotland, for example in the Renfrewshire Cup Final at the end of the 1883/84 season against Thornliebank, a total of 19,000 spectators attended the final and two replays, with the 2^nd replay bizarrely played outside of Renfrewshire and still attracting 4,000! It is therefore important in my opinion to highlight scoring records for players in these matches, and Brown in particular deserves plaudits for his 30 Renfrewshire Cup goals in 43 appearances helping the club win the trophy 5 times during a period the competition was fierce in the county, particularly from Port Glasgow Athletic and Abercorn.

These 38 goals in season 1883/84 included 3 hat-tricks, and an 8-goal haul against West End Athletic in the Paisley Charity Cup semi-final, a club record that stood for 77 years until Gerry Baker took apart Glasgow University in 1960 with 10 goals in a Scottish Cup match.

Record keeping was even poorer in 1884/85, with 31 Saints goals unaccounted for, but we do know Brown managed at least 16 of the credited 51 goals, meaning his actual total for that season is likely to be nearer 25. However, he did score at least 7 Scottish Cup goals that season, following on from the 5 he managed to net the previous campaign making up the bulk of a very tidy 20 goals in the national cup competition scored by Brown for Saints.

By now Brown was moving around the front line, appearing at outside right as well as centre forward as his versatility was utilised to the very maximum by the selection committee. Why a scorer of Brown’s ability would be sacrificed from centre forward for anyone is a mystery, but he would find what looked like a permanent place on the left wing from 1886 as his goal scoring continued to be outstanding for a wide player, notching his 100^th  known goal for the club on 21^st October 1888 against the “World Champions” Renton in front of 7,000 at Westmarch. Brown is the first known Saints player to score 100 goals for the club, and helps form a very exclusive club of 7 along with Sandy Wylie, Davie McCrae, Frank McGarvey, Robert Rankin, Jimmy Knox and Alex Linwood.

However, even this type of scoring couldn’t guarantee Brown a place on the left wing, and he was shifted to the right again following emergence in 1889 of arguably the finest two players to appear for the club in its first 40 years; Greenhill Road locals Jimmy Hill and James Dunlop, who formed the best left side of attack the club had before WWII, and arguably possibly ever, with Hill on the wing and Dunlop inside him in the no 10 shirt.

Off the field, 23-year-old Brown was still living with his parents in New Sneddon Street, with just his younger brother William remaining from his many siblings in the family home. Andy was employed as a “combing house clerk” meaning he worked in the office of a company that maintained thatched roofs in the area, but his football skills were well appreciated with talk of a Scotland cap or league cap frequent in the press, but Saints selection committee had a shock in store for the most prolific forward in Saints history at the point……….

With the formation of the Scottish Football League confirmed and the maiden season starting in the late summer of 1890, Saints had a very good side, undoubtedly one of the best in the country and had a league existed in the late 1880’s it would have been a distinct possibility that Saints would have been champions at some point, however the great form of the team had attracted interest from the professional English clubs and the team needed restructured slightly for the big kick off.

The club had also never replaced long term captain and outstanding half back John Paterson who had retired in 1889, and with young Eddie McBain already considered one of the finest in the country in that position, the selection committee took the bold move of pulling the prolific Brown from the attack and playing him in the vacant half back position within the team.

It proved to be a masterstroke however, and although the goals obviously dried up for Brown as his job was now to protect rather than score, he enjoyed arguably the best years of his career and was even capped twice by Scotland in his new position, a caps total branded most unfair by the written press who considered Brown the best half back in the country by a distance for several seasons.

Brown also has the claim of scoring the first ever known penalty for Saints, with 6 of his 150 St Mirren goals being verified as penalty kicks after they were introduced for the 1891/92 season, although he did miss one and net the rebound against Dumbarton in March 1895!

Following the loss of James Dunlop in early 1892, as the senior player at the club, Brown took over the captaincy of the team and for a period in the 1892/93 season it looked like Saints might well be champions as they sat top of the table having played most of their fixtures, however they had played more matches than Rangers and Celtic at this point and eventually landed up third once the Glasgow sides had caught up with their fixture backlog.

This would have been the perfect way for Brown to celebrate 10 years with the club, but he continued to play a major part Saints embraced professionalism and then moved to Love Street before playing his final season for St Mirren in 1895/96, with the last of his 150 goals coming for the club against Abercorn during a 4-2 win in the Renfrewshire Cup on the 14^th December 1895.

Andrew Brown played his last match for St Mirren on the 22^nd of February 1896 at Ibrox during a 3-3 draw, wearing his now familiar number 5 shirt which had become a permanent sight for fans throughout league football in Paisley after his move back from the attack. It was his 386^th known appearance for St Mirren, although today most of these have wiped from the record as only his 139 League and Scottish Cup matches are counted by historians, along with just 26 out of his 150 goals.

However, like so many heroes for St Mirren in the early days of the club, his “non-official” record should be regarded as important, as should his achievement in local cup matches as these helped build the foundations and reputation of the club, as local domination or silverware were undoubtedly recognised by the national press and even the Scotland selection committee.

After football, Brown met Ayrshire girl Kate Loy and they married on the 10^th June 1898 before settling down in the recently built Townhead Terrace towards the west of Paisley town centre, where they had 4 children; Mary who was born in 1899, Andrew in 1901, Janet in 1902 and John in 1904.

Tragically, Andy Brown died of tuberculosis at home on the 26^th September 1904 aged just 39 after a short and unexpected illness. St Mirren travelled to Ibrox a few days later with the players sporting black armbands in memory of their fallen former captain and recorded a fine 3-2 win, the most fitting tribute to the Saints great.

The grief for the Brown family unfortunately did not stop here. Kate passed away the following year also at the home in Townhead Terrace on the 15^th August at the age of only 31, leaving the four Brown children as orphans, with no definite trace of any of them apart from Mary who lived in Paisley until her death in 1977.