Scoring Two On Debut - Ally Brown's Filbert Street Memories

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Scoring Two On Debut - Ally Brown's Filbert Street Memories

Alistair Brown played a total of 376 league and cup games for Leicester City and West Bromwich Albion between 1969 and 1983, scoring 120 goals.

2026-03-31T15:00+01:00

by John Hutchinson

Published

31 Mar, 2026

Scoring Two On Debut - Ally Brown's Filbert Street Memories

Alistair Brown played a total of 376 league and cup games for Leicester City and West Bromwich Albion between 1969 and 1983, scoring 120 goals.

John Hutchinson

2026-03-31T15:00+01:00

Scoring Two On Debut - Ally Brown's Filbert Street Memories

Alistair Brown played a total of 376 league and cup games for Leicester City and West Bromwich Albion between 1969 and 1983, scoring 120 goals.

John Hutchinson

2026-03-31T15:00+01:00

Scoring Two On Debut - Ally Brown's Filbert Street Memories

Alistair Brown played a total of 376 league and cup games for Leicester City and West Bromwich Albion between 1969 and 1983, scoring 120 goals.

John Hutchinson

2026-03-31T15:00+01:00

Scoring Two On Debut - Ally Brown's Filbert Street Memories

Alistair Brown played a total of 376 league and cup games for Leicester City and West Bromwich Albion between 1969 and 1983, scoring 120 goals.

John Hutchinson

2026-03-31T15:00+01:00

In conversation with Club Historian John Hutchinson, Ally spoke about his spell at Filbert Street and playing for Portland Timbers in the NASL, West Bromwich Albion, Crystal Palace, Walsall and Port Vale.

Ally was born in Musselburgh, Midlothian in 1951. He became a City apprentice in October 1966.

Ally recalled: “I was spotted by a Scottish-based Leicester City scout. I was only 15 when I went to Filbert Street. I had a two-week trial. Matt Gillies, who was a Scot, was the Manager. Bert Johnson was his coach. Other Scots at the Club when I arrived included Davie Gibson, Bobby Roberts, John Sjoberg, Jackie Sinclair, Jimmy Goodfellow, Tom Sweenie and Bill McDerment.”

Ally won a Scottish youth cap and signed professional forms at Leicester on his 17th birthday. During that season, Gillies left Filbert Street in November 1968. He was replaced by Frank O’Farrell, who took City to their third FA Cup Final in nine years.

After losing 1-0 to Manchester City, the Foxes had to play five games in just over three weeks in order to avoid relegation from the top flight, where they had played for the previous 12 seasons. This was when Ally burst onto the First Team scene.

He added: “One of these five games was a midweek match against Sunderland. Filbert Street was absolutely packed. It was my debut, and I scored two goals. I can remember that game vividly. The first goal was a header early in the game, from a Peter Rodrigues cross. The second came late in the game when I drove in a cross from Allan Clarke. I was surprised to be in the side.

“The night before, I’d been at the pub, not expecting to play. When I found out the next morning that I was playing, I thought that I’d better tell the Manager that I’d had a couple of pints the previous night, but then I thought he might not pick me, so I didn’t say anything! I scored twice. I also played the next game, a 1-1 draw against Everton in front of a Filbert Street crowd of over 41,000.”

Unfortunately, City were relegated, losing the last match of the season 3-2 to Manchester United at Old Trafford, after taking the lead in a game they had to win.

Ally was a cultured inside forward. He was a good finisher who could hold the ball up well.

“I was never really a good header of the ball,” Ally reflected. “I wasn’t big and dominant. I tended to play off a centre-forward. For example, when I went to West Brom from Leicester, I played off Jeff Astle at first and then off Cyrille Regis. I preferred to be a No.8 rather than a No.9.”

In Leicester’s first season back in the old Second Division, in 69/70, Ally established himself in the side, playing alongside the likes of Andy Lochhead and Rodney Fern. Other players in the side included Peter Shilton, Peter Rodrigues, David Nish, John Sjoberg, Graham Cross, Bobby Roberts and Len Glover. We missed promotion by two points.

The following season, 70/71, Leicester were promoted back to the top division as old Second Division champions. Ally was the top scorer with 15 goals.

“I remember scoring in a 1-0 victory at Bristol City to clinch promotion in the last but one game of the season,” he said. “I also scored in the 2-1 win at Fratton Park in the last game of the season when the trophy was presented.”

Back in the top division the next year, Jimmy Bloomfield was now the Manager following the departure of O’Farrell to Manchester United. As a curtain-raiser to the season, Ally was in the team which won the Charity (Community) Shield by defeating Bill Shankly’s Liverpool. He then set a Football League record by scoring only 45 seconds into the new campaign during a 2-2 draw at Huddersfield Town, for whom future Leicester star Frank Worthington scored.

Ali continued: “That season, Jon Sammels, Keith Weller and Alan Birchenall arrived from Arsenal, Chelsea and Crystal Palace. We were a bit concerned because they were all cockneys, as was the Manager!

“Later that year, although I had played in 34 games, I went to West Brom (in March 1972), who were managed by Don Howe, a West Brom legend. With the new faces arriving at Leicester, I felt that I might be wasting my time there. I had happy days at Filbert Street though. I remember the speedy wingers, John Farrington and Lenny Glover.

“I had good times under Frank O’Farrell there. When Jimmy Bloomfield was in charge, Bury, in the old Fourth Division, wanted to sign me, but I wanted to play in a higher league than that. I told him that I didn’t want to go there. So he said: ‘You’ve made a bad decision because you will never play for me again’. Those were his words to me. I thought that was strange and it wasn’t much longer before I was on my way.

“West Brom, who were in the top flight, came in about a week later. I didn’t know much about them and didn’t know anybody there, but it seemed like a good move. I had a good time there. I was there for about 12 years.”

When he left Filbert Street, Ally had played 121 games for Leicester City, scoring 35 goals.

“I had several managers at West Brom,” he explained. “One of them was Johnny Giles. We had a good team under him and, after getting relegated in 1973, we got promoted back to the old First Division in 1976, when I was top scorer. He had a few of his Irish lads with him, like Mick Martin and Paddy Mulligan. Giles was as hard as nails. You didn’t mess about with him!

“Our best time was when Ron Atkinson was our manager. We had Cyrille Regis, Laurie Cunningham, Brendon Batson, Bryan Robson and Remi Moses. That was a good team. We should have won the league, in 78/79, when we finished third. It was a bad winter that year and we missed a few weeks. It seemed to knock us off our stride.

“Laurie Cunningham, who went on to Real Madrid (and who briefly played for Leicester in 85/86), sadly died very young in a car crash in Spain. He was probably the best player in our team that season, although Cyrille and I were scoring goals and Bryan Robson was just coming through then as well and he would have walked into any team. Remi Moses was also there. He was a little terrier.

“I also partnered Tony Brown at West Brom. He was a one-off. He wasn’t a centre-forward and he wasn’t a midfield player. He was just a great finisher. He would score goals from anything. He had played up front as a No.8 alongside Jeff Astle but, in our team, he was more of a midfield player who had license to go forward to score all his goals.

“We had a couple of runs in Europe in the UEFA Cup, reaching the quarter-finals in 78/79 when we lost to Red Star Belgrade.”

In May 1981, Ally went on loan to Portland Timbers in the NASL in the USA.

“That was always only going to be a temporary move for the summer for about 15 weeks,” Ally said. “I enjoyed it. I’d never been to America, and I had the chance to visit places I’d seen on the television like New York and Los Angeles.”

By the time Ally left West Bromwich Albion in March 1983, he had played 255 games for the Baggies, scoring 85 goals. After a brief spell at Second Division Crystal Palace, he moved back to the West Midlands and joined Walsall in August 1983. He was then at Port Vale for a couple of years, before retiring in May 1986.

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