News Articles > A big preseason ahead for forgotten Town man Reece Brown

A big preseason ahead for forgotten Town man Reece Brown

29/06/2021

It has been over two years since Huddersfield signed Reece Brown from Forest Green Rovers, in a deal that at the time looked like a real coup for the newly relegated side. Leeds United, Reading and Bristol City were all interested in the playmaker who scored 11 goals and provided 15 assists as Forest Green reached the League Two play-offs in 2019. He looked like a really exciting player who many fans had really high hopes for in Blue and White, but 24 months on, 18 months out on loan and 1 appearance for Town, will Brown finally be given a chance to showcase his early potential?

Ousted under Cowley

Things didn't get off to a great start at Town for the former Birmingham City scholar who made his debut under Lee Clark at St. Andrews at only 17. Brown impressed in pre-season, and made his first and only Town appearance in a 1-0 loss in the cup to Lincoln City. The sacking of Jan Siewert 4 games into the season caused the new management to reassess the squad and led to a few of the new summer signings being dropped to the U23s and then some players were dropped for a poor attitude. The 5-2 away loss to Bristol City was the nail in the coffin for 4 first team squad members: Terence Kongolo, Isaac Mbenza, Adama Diakhaby and Reece Brown who were all banished to the U23s for poor attitude with all four players not playing again under Cowley. At the time I agreed with the former Town boss, but it looks increasingly likely that Danny had never had to deal with players of this standard before, which in turn come with huge egos. I am sure that there were attitude problems, but if your manager comes out and lambasts you publically, it is hardly a surprise that there were issues behind the scenes previously.

The temporary move to Peterborough

Brown has spent the past 18 months on loan at Peterborough, who recently were promoted to the Championship. It would seem that Peterborough are not interested in signing the midfielder on a permanent basis. With Carel Eiting leaving Town after his loan spell and Alex Pritchard being released I think it is a huge opportunity for Brown to try and save his Town career. Fans will remember that Town signed him as a number 10, but at Peterborough, he played in the middle of a three and was primarily the defensive midfielder in the team. As a result, he looks a lot more of a complete player than when he left.
Last season Reece made 33 starts with 5 substitute appearances for Peterborough. He scored 2 goals and registered 2 assists, according to Whoscored he scored an average rating of 6.69, which ranked him 10th in the Peterborough squad for players who played 20 games or more. Looking at his more detailed stats, Reece attempted 75 tackles with a success rate of 69%, he made 51 interceptions and 24 clearances. Offensively, Brown attempted 24 shots, 6 of which were in the penalty area and 18 outside of the box, although his 2 goals came inside the 18-yard box. He had a pass accuracy of 83%, broken down his long pass accuracy was 56%, while his short pass accuracy was 86%. He made 21 key passes, 3 were from long passes while 18 were from short passes.
From the outside, it does look like Brown has had quite an 'underwhelming' season for Posh, but I actually think he played as a system player quite like Gini Wijnaldum did at Liverpool. Reece was therefore facilitating the attacks to happen rather than being the one scoring the goals and providing the assists, even though he does have the capabilities to do both.

The Verdict.

It would be clear that there is an attitude issue with Reece, but I think there this is a common issue among footballers in general. He has one year left on his deal and I would like him to be given a chance to at least show what he can do at this level. With Eiting not returning next season as he signed for Belgium side Genk, we are missing that defensive-minded playmaker and I think Reece could do that job.
With the way that Town have been recruiting this summer, they have been signing top-level League 1 and bottom-half Championship players, so why not give Reece another chance?
From the way Town have been posting on social media with the players back in training, there is a clear increased posting of Brown, which could mean they are trying to show fans that he is in the first team plans or they are trying to publicise him to sell him on.