Local legend back to his roots
MICK Browning's long career in football has gone full-circle.
After starting out at YM as a fresh faced 14 year old in 1954, the popular Browning, who was capped twice by England Amateurs, finds himself back at Gorings Mead as chairman more than 50 years after his first appearance in the club's colours.
At the ground where he learnt his goalscoring art, Browning can now normally be found behind the goal YM are attacking, hollering at the current crop of players as they seek County League glory.
"YM were my first club, my first men's team," said Browning, recall¬ing his exploits in the Mid-Sussex League.
"I remember playing when I was 14 and a half and winning 4-2 against a team called Horsted Keynes. I used to play out on the left rather than in the middle and I managed to score a goal. At the age of 64, I'm back."
Goals were fashionable com¬modities during Browning's playing days and, with 1,500 strikes in his collection and no bookings, the pro¬lific forward was the non-league Gary Lineker.
Born in Park Terrace East - a miscued shot away from Horsham's Queen Street ground - Browning's path in football was paved by his father, Albert, or more affectionate¬ly known as 'Tinker'.
"My dad was centre-forward for Horsham," explained Browning junior. "I followed in his footsteps. He played just before the war and was quite prolific too. Football was always in the blood."
After spurning Horsham's initial approach, Browning, not yet 16, moved over the fence to YM's more illustrious neighbours and the goals poured in.
"I used to play in front of three and four thousand most weeks. They used to come from all around. It used to be fantastic when we used to play Worthing on Boxing Day, the atmosphere that was generated. There would be queues of people right down to the end of the road. It's difficult to understand now," he said.
Professional teams began to cast an eye over the new darling of Queen Street and managers soon got in touch, most notably legendary Spurs boss Bill Nicholson. A letter from Tottenham, dated May 30, 1960, asking Browning to sign ama¬teur forms can be found in one of his many scrap books.
"The big one was Tottenham. Billy Nicholson wrote me three let¬ters to go to Tottenham. I had Manchester City and Nottingham Forest, there were about 20 clubs interested in me at one time. Eight or nine of those were professional clubs," he explained.
Browning decided the time was right to move on but, with a number of glamour clubs sniffing around, opted for Reading.
"I went to Reading because we liked the man there. He was very genuine and had a very genuine interest in my welfare. I went there for half a season but got a bad injury, I had ligament trouble with my leg and I got disinterested. So I decided to go back to Horsham," Browning added.
Despite his stint with Reading not working out, Browning has no regrets about shunning Spurs. "If I had gone there then you never know what would have happened. But if you want the truth, I probably would not have made it. It was in Jimmy Greaves' day."
Injury may have blighted his pro¬fessional ambitions, but Browning still knew where the goal was on his return to Horsham and regularly rat¬tled in between 60 and 70 per sea¬son. Such were his feats that the young goalscorer became a local hero.
"In those days, we used to come back from games and go to the King's Head in the Carfax. We used to go there and they would all shake you by the hand and say 'well done today' or 'good lad'. It was like being a professional.
"Very often I would order a drink and the barman would say 'don't worry Mick, ten drinks have been put behind here for you'. I couldn't drink all of those, I would have been an alcoholic," he joked.
Browning then signed for Tooting & Mitcham who, with Alex Stepney of Manchester United fame and cur¬rent Crewe manager Dario Gradi in the side, were one of the top ama¬teur teams in the country.
"I guess the level I was playing was today's Conference, or fourth division. When I was playing for Tooting we played Millwall's first team in a friendly and beat them 2-0, and they were top of the first divi¬sion," he said.
Training often involved booting balls at Stepney, who also played for Millwall and Chelsea. "Alex was always there early because he was a local lad. We used to have a car park with a big goal and a lot of sand, that's where Alex used to do all his goalkeeping training."
In 1964, Browning became just the third Sussex player since the war to be capped by his country when he was called-up to face Scotland at Selhurst Park. A reporter broke the news to a shocked Browning.
"He said 'have you heard? You have been selected to play for England against Scotland.' I sat there and was silent, I did not know what to do. The people in Horsham were pleased for me," he said.
Browning scored a last minute winner against the old enemy and also netted against New Zealand in England's 4-1 victory. Surprisingly, despite two goals in as many games, Browning was not called-up again. His two international caps have pride of place in his household and can be found hanging off one of the living room walls.
"I had scored in both matches, I could not do anymore really. I was disappointed not to get picked again or even put on the bench," he added.
Two months earlier Browning had been selected for an England Olympic XI to play Aston Villa at Villa Park, but did not get off the bench. He also has the distinction of having won his Sussex Youth and Senior colours in the same week and was capped 48 times by his county.
Horsham came knocking, with the offer of a three-year contract to be player-manager in hand, and Browning left Tooting, although poor results in his second year in charge led to him getting the bullet.
Spells with APV Crawley, Pulborough and Sun Alliance fol¬lowed among others, but once he hung his boots up Browning soon found himself back at Queen Street tackling a number of administrative roles.
But he eventually moved back to Gorings Mead as chairman, many moons after running the line as a 12 year old. "I have had a fantastic career, I've been so lucky. I'm trying to put a little bit back in now. I enjoy what I do. It seems right that I should be back at YM," he said.