Izzy Brown's playing career is over. Here's a reflection on his Rotherham United time, plus details of how he so nearly joined the Millers again
IZZY Brown, the former Rotherham United loanee who has been forced to quit playing in his mid-20s, came close to joining the Millers for a second time.
The attacking midfielder shone in a spell at AESSEAL New York Stadium in 2016 when he was a Chelsea kid.
Before the start of their 2021/22 League One promotion campaign, Rotherham — then managed by Paul Warne — thought they had a permanent deal lined up for Brown following his release by the Premier League giants.
However, they were gazumped by Championship side Preston North End who offered Championship football and bigger wages at the last minute.
Brown suffered severe damage to his Achilles tendon before he could make his debut for the Lilywhites and, after two rounds of surgery, announced late last week on his Twitter page late that he has retired at the age of 26.
His arrival at AESSEAL New York Stadium was one of the few good things to happen during the short, disastrous managerial reign of Alan Stubbs.
He was a lovely player who received the ball so comfortably and then moved so well with it, often in the tightest of spaces. He could beat opponents, he could move away from them, he could pass and he had an eye for goal.
Having joined Rotherham in August only to find himself in a doomed Championship survival battle, Brown moved on to Huddersfield Town the following January for a successful assault on reaching the top flight.
It’s a sad statistic that his 17 starts in a Millers shirt were as many as he mustered for any of the ten clubs he played for. He managed the same number for Luton Town and 12 was his next best, for Vitesse Arnhem and the Terriers.
He came to New York with a big reputation as one of the next emerging stars of the English game but there was nothing ‘big time’ about the Peterborough-born prospect. When he travelled up from West London to sign, he quietly booked himself a hotel in Sheffield the night before and turned up in S60 on his own the following day. There was no aide, no fanfare, no excess of ego.
He was bright and engaging, he sang a John Legend initiation song, he buckled down, he fitted in, he was one of the boys; the best boy in the team.
Rotherham was one of many temporary destinations. His moves, until Preston, were always loans because the youngster who had made his top-flight as a 16-year-old with West Bromwich Albion in 2013 was given such a lucrative contract by Chelsea when he was lured away from the Baggies.
His boss at Stamford Bridge, Jose Mourinho, rated him so highly that the manager said he wouldn’t be doing his job properly if Brown didn’t go on to win an England cap.
His career appearances amount to just 133, a tragically low figure for a performer of his talent.
The final outing, although no-one knew it at the time, was in April 2021 as a second-half substitute for Sheffield Wednesday in a 2-0 home defeat against Swansea City.
He will always be remembered in Rotherham circles for another episode at Hillsborough a month earlier and, ironically, it was something bad from a player who had it in him to do everything well.
Warne’s men were down to ten men in the derby, they were drawing 1-1 deep into stoppage time, they were desperately hanging on in the face of late Owls pressure.
Brown scuffed a corner; I mean, really scuffed it. It was an awful delivery. The visitors broke, Matt Crooks delivered the cross-field pass, Freddie Ladapo latched on to it, the rest is history.
Once a Miller, always a Miller, eh, Izzy?
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HIS FAREWELL NOTE
BROWN revealed his sadness as he went public with his bad news in a tweet to his 120,000 followers on Twitter.
In a long message, he wrote: “I always thought I’d have to write this one day, I just didn’t think this day would come so soon.
“It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that, after a long year struggling with two surgeries, I know have to retire from professional football.”
He added: “I lived my dream and for that I will always be grateful. The sacrifices my mum and grandad made for me from when I was four gave me a chance to live a life I always aspired to live.
“They drove me after school from Peterborough to West Brom three or four times a week to get me to training and games. I think my mum missed only one match in my whole life.
“Football doesn’t define me as a person. I am a father, a son, a brother, a friend.
“I just want to say thank you to all the fans who have supported me and sung my name. There is no greater feeling than hearing that.”
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IZZY FACTS
BROWN was with Rotherham from August 15, 2016, to January 3, 2017.
In 17 starts and three substitute appearances he hit the target three times.
He scored in the only win of Alan Stubbs’ tenure, a 1-0 home victory over Brentford on August 20.
He also bagged the winner in the first triumph of Stubbs’ successor, Paul Warne: a 1-0 result against Queens Park Rangers at AESSEAL New York Stadium on December 10.
His final match before Chelsea recalled him and sent him to Huddersfield Town was a 3-0 loss at Leeds United on January 2.