Born in Hillingdon, London, Brown joined Hayes from local football as a 19-year-old and made his debut against Enfield Town in April 1971.

[1] Either side of a short spell with Sutton United in 1974,[2] Brown played for Slough Town from 1973 to 1977,[3] before rejoining Hayes, where he stayed until October 1979.

He managed to take the Middlesex side from the brink of relegation from the Isthmian League Premier Division to third in the Football Conference, just six points behind champions Cheltenham Town.

But with a diminishing budget and his best players sold to make ends meet, Brown saw his side slip into a relegation dogfight.

[citation needed] However, his team went down to another penalty-shoot-out defeat, this time to Carlisle United, despite leading 3–1 at one point in spot kicks.

[citation needed] After two consecutive play-off losses, the eventual 13th-place finish in the 2005–06 season was seen as an underachievement by all and forced Brown to almost completely restructure his entire squad in the summer of 2006.

On 15 May 2007, Brown was announced as the new manager of AFC Wimbledon,[4] following the resignation of Dave Anderson after the Dons' second successive play-off semi-final defeat in the Isthmian League.

In the close season Brown rebuilt his squad with a younger fresher look to it, as the club had decided to go full-time for the first time in its eight-year history.

On 21 May 2011, Brown led AFC Wimbledon to the Football League for the first time in the club's history, beating Luton Town 4–3 on penalties after a 0–0 draw in the Conference play-off final.