Geoff Brown reflects on 25 years at St Johnstone

Nov 11 2011 by Gordon Bannerman, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

HIS passion for St Johnstone stretches back to the dim and distant days when he rattled the pipe band collection can on the terraces at Muirton Park.

And in an extraordinary 25-year reign as chairman of his beloved local football club, Geoff Brown has lapped-up the highs with Perth fans and shared their despair when on-field results have gone against them.

His enduring legacy may be McDiarmid Park but the fact that the Fair City still has a professional football club, currently perched in fourth place in Scotland’s pecking order, is testament to his entrepreneurial skills, bullish determination and ability to spot and exploit the talents of a succession of men who have stepped-up to the plate in boardrooms at the Dunkeld Road and Crieff Road grounds.

It was an emotional Brown who announced he was stepping out of the spotlight and handing the torch onto his oldest son Steve after unveiling Steve Lomas as the latest Saints manager.

And a week on from that momentous milestone in the century-plus history of the club, the self-made businessman was harbouring no doubts about the timing of the generation game.

“The groundwork had been done over many years, with Steve and Stan Harris coming on board eight years ago. They’ve been joined by local lawyer Charlie Fraser and if they aren’t ready now they never will be.

Upheaval

“St Johnstone will never survive on gate receipts alone so it is still all about generating off the park income to make the football as successful as possible.

“With Del McInnes leaving for Bristol and managing director Stewart Duff retiring with the club on the up, the time was right because it was always going to be a major upheaval. But Steve is older than I was when I first came in and he’s no greenhorn. I would hope fans and sponsors will recognise he has served his apprenticeship on SFA and SPL committees and he has a handle on the day-to-day running of the business.

“It was an emotional day for me after 25 years’ involvement but I was always fortunate my wife Joyce and the family were understanding. But the number of times they must have asked me if I was stupid being involved with the club probably runs into the thousands! I still don’t have an answer for them!

“At times it has been really, really tough but there will be a gaping void left, even if I had already stepped back from the nitty-gritty to give the directors their head. But I don’t plan to do much different. I will still enjoy winning and feel bad when the team loses, just like any other football supporter.”

Brown, who can still reel off the names of personnel from the Johnny Pattillo era, remembers tagging onto the pipe band providing match-day entertainment at Muirton as a kid growing-up in the Fair City.

“There is a picture floating around of me as a laddie on the terracing,” he said. “I couldn’t play the pipes or the drums but I could shake a can. The family couldn’t afford to send us to football matches so that was my entrepreneurial spirit beginning to show through.”

Always fiercely competitive, Brown dipped his toes in football with Perth Celtic, St Madoes Primary and, along with Bobby Hall and Ian Duff, his St Madoes U14 team reached the final of the Scottish Cup. Sadly, despite a string of semi-finals, Saints still haven’t emulated that feat, although he can reflect on four promotions and a League Cup final date.

A firm believer in the chiefs and Indians school, Brown was enticed to the Muirton boardroom in May of 1986, with 364 souls taking in the clash with Queen of the South.

Within months he had secured the future of an ailing club and the rest, as they say, is history.

“Four years earlier I’d have been honoured and privileged to be asked to be a director. But the truth was that by that time they needed me more than I needed them. Having said that the chairman Alex Lamond was never anything but courteous and helpful in our dealings.”

Brown and his directors went on to create the first all-seated stadium in the country, with work well advanced before the Hillsborough tragedy, and they cajoled superstore giants Asda to double-up on their opening gambit.

It still irks him to think that the initial plans were rejected by the local authority and it was a Tayside Regional Council verdict which paved the way to a new era.

And Brown, who should be lauded from the roof of the City Chambers for his and the club’s role as flag flyers for Perth and Kinross, firmly believes that the politicians could be doing much more to work hand-in-hand with St Johnstone.

Promotion

“Saints must be the only recreational outlet that isn’t heavily subsidised. Look at the theatre and Horsecross, and the swimming pool. I feel strongly that the council could use St Johnstone and the name much more for the benefit of us all. Maybe that is an avenue the next generation can explore.”

If engineering the move to McDiarmid rewarded countless hours put in by the directors, Brown reels off a string of footballing highlights from the past quarter of a century – by a long way the most successful period in the club’s history.

“We came close to being shut down two weeks after taking over and we were 38th in the two leagues so that first promotion with Alex Totten as manager was very rewarding. We spent heavily at the time but Alex did exceptionally well, no arguments about it. I was fortunate to go on and get many very good managers, although one that deserved a fairer crack of the whip was Billy Stark. He was unfortunate coming in as I was laid-up with prostate cancer and I couldn’t give him the support he deserved.

“I have been lucky to have had some really super guys as managers here. Even while the John McClelland appointment didn’t work out, he actually called up Paul Sturrock to sound him out as his potential successor!

“The promotion season when we moved into McDiarmid was probably the most enjoyable, and guys like Roddy Grant, Steve Maskrey and Allan Moore constantly remind me of the flamboyant football we played and the sun always seemed to shine on the big games. Finishing third to get into Europe was also quite an achievement.”

The all-time low wasn’t being pipped by Gretna to the title but being dumped out of the top flight at Motherwell in earlier last day drama.

Brown (67), talking in his GS Brown Construction office in St Madoes – the walls lined by mementoes highlighting passions including football, horses, golf and Perth, admitted this term’s current success had been bought at a price.

Business instincts were eclipsed by the desire for success in an SPL frequented by a string of economic basket cases and he laughed: “I let Del off the leash to bring in too many players and that was my fault. I will let Steve and the lads sort it out! But hopefully his successor, Steve Lomas, will prove to be another successful appointment.”