| Date: 08-05-25 “If Truth Be Known”. The 24-25 season in review By Harry Taylor |
Phil Brown left Kidderminster Harriers much as he arrived in an announcement that came as a shock despite the speculation.
As a charismatic wordsmith Brown will understand the importance of narrative so he’ll know the different ways his record will be remembered. Will it be one defeat in eight for a side that looked dead and buried in his first season, and the following year overseeing a campaign that saw Harriers going into the final day looking to be champions? Or will it be a relegation after 10 games without a win, and then collapsing at the final hurdles the following year when it looked easier to win the league than finish third?
Both are a symptom of how bipolar Brown’s management could be.
Harriers were either red hot, humbling play-off chasing Hereford FC 5-1 as his men seemingly raced towards promotion, or freezing cold – losing to relegation battlers Rushall Olympic 1-0 on New Year’s Day when sitting top of the table. Or crashing out against Southport with the league title within grasp. Brown felt like he had been readying himself for a post-season reckoning as he told BBC Hereford and Worcester’s Chris Williams, before the 2-1 Southport defeat that regardless of the result on Saturday, the season would have been a success.
For a manager never unknowingly unaware of the camera perhaps this was the opening salvo targeted at Richard Lane for their end of season discussions. Either way, it ended in Brown’s departure.
Brown had felt a throwback when he was appointed. As a manager in his mid-60s from the working class town of South Shields, he seemed to get the fanbase in an emotional (or as the common phrase is ‘vibes’) way that few managers had. There seemed to be an understanding of what supporters, whose club and town had seen better days, craved, a return to respectability. His twenty minute long interviews became humorous viewing, as he gave a freewheeling exhibition on how to give plenty of words but not much substance. “If truth be known” he knew when to drop the façade.
Within an hour of the defeat against Southport he gave a clear dissection of where Harriers had failed; the sharp blade hidden inside the velvet glove of bonhomie. The mutterings about his departure had started after Brown’s outburst following the defeat against Spennymoor Town. He seemed more strained, the eyes that had been so warm, now looking increasingly frenzied as he looked at his wits end.
He had increasingly been spotted travelling to games and training by train. With his Country Life touchline attire he could have become a challenger to Michael Portillo. Couple this with having a young family at home in Oxfordshire it made for an unenviable cocktail alongside managing a full-time club.
When he was appointed in January 2024 the Harriers were as low on confidence as they were on points, bottom of the league and seven points adrift under Russ Penn. Brown set to work immediately with a great run taking in a sensational 2-1 win against Oldham Athletic at a packed Boundary Park. But like a misfiring boiler, almost as quickly as the water had run hot, it had gone cold again. The loss of his captain Shane Byrne during a defeat against fellow strugglers Woking proved pivotal, as they could then only muster one win in ten, seeing them relegated, eight points adrift.
The summer saw him retain the majority of the side, indeed of Penn’s side, who had won the playoffs the season before. Byrne left in an all-too public manner with Brown and him claiming the other had offered a wage cut, or asked for too much money. Luke Summerfield joined to help run the midfield, the re-signing of Alex Penny felt crucial after the born-again centre back finished the relegation season strongly.
He kept faith in Amari Morgan-Smith and Ashley Hemmings up front. The result was a mixed bag; a bipolar six months where Harriers were knocked out of the FA Cup by lower league side Guiseley AFC, at home, led the table, got to the latter stages of the FA Trophy and then were comprehensively beaten 3-1 at home by Spennymoor, which led to Brown – in probably his most notable interview – accusing the players of downing tools.
Many thought Brown would have gone by the start of the following week. Just after the defeat, the news broke of the death of long-serving BBC Hereford and Worcester commentator Steve Miller. Immediately the mood shifted from anger towards sorrow. Meanwhile Brown brought in Dave Worrall and Kyle Morrison ahead of the game the following Tuesday against King’s Lynn Town.
What could have been an acidic atmosphere was far more generous. Harriers won 2-0, and then didn’t lose again until the final day, scoring thirty seven goals across fourteen games, ending with the Southport loss. A week later Harriers were beaten by Chester FC at home in the playoffs.
A few days after Brown was gone as suddenly as he arrived. His parting shot was unbecoming of a man who had lifted spirits. The same players he had accused of downing tools, who had responded with that sumptuous fourteen game run, were now criticised as not having enough bottle, as he hit out at Penn’s recruitment – sixteen months after the now Halesowen Town manager left, and after Brown kept the players.
For a manager who knew how to spin a line this was the thinnest excuse yet. A shame they’re the last words Harriers fans will hear from him. He will depart as a cult hero for many.
He could create momentum and get great results. This season, and last season, he rode the crest of a wave which felt like it could sweep any side away, but as he reflected on in one of his final interviews, timing is everything in football. The timing of the final defeats this season meant that third felt like a failure. If the Harriers had risen to finish third then it would have felt triumphant. Instead finishing third in a two-horse race was an abject failure.
Similarly last season, the run of one defeat in eight that kicked off his Harriers career was followed by one win in ten. Switch the two, and the taste left in the mouth is far less sour.
Brown will be recalled by fans with a smile on their faces but likewise there were enough signs he wasn’t the right man to get the Harriers up. There’s no point beating Brackley Town and Scunthorpe Utd if you can’t do the same against Alfreton Town, Rushall Olympic, Leamington FC, and Oxford City. Harriers fans will hope Lane will find a guy that can do both.
Photo © KHFC