Aaron Brown Hits Out At Stimson

Last updated : 07 July 2008 By Gary Hutchinson
Brown originally signed for Gillingham during the reign of Ronnie Jepson, but
Mark Stimson - The Worst Manager Aaron Brown Has Ever Played For
it became clear he wasn't part of Stimsons plans early on in his reign.

Brown played in the first five games after Stimson arrived at Priestfield in November, but his poor form combined with the arrival of the likes of Stuart Thurgood and Adam Miller led to him being left out a defeat to Yeovil.

Suspensions then handed him another chance to impress Stimson in January when MK Dons visited in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, but another poor performance led to him being placed on the transfer list the following day.

He then had a trial with The Imps in February, but the deal wasn't concluded as he was still a Gillingham player and it was outside the transfer window.

However following his move to City he chose to reveal the hell that Gillingham manager Stimson put him through.

Speaking to the local press, Brown said: 'I played the first five games for Mark, but then he made excuses to get me out of the team, then made them to me about why I wasn't playing.

'When somebody doesn't want you in the team and they are the manager, they can do whatever they want.

'Being out of the team was not so much of a problem, it was just the fact I was treated like I was a leper.

'Don`t get me wrong, from a coaching perspective and what he does in training with the players, he's very good at what he does.

'But his man-management, in terms of the way he treated myself and the other lads who are still contracted there, was just shocking.

'How he handled 10 people was an absolute disgrace. In that respect he`s the worst manager I have ever played under in my entire career.'

Brown recounted a tale where he and another unnamed player were left to "stand in a field" all day after being told not to take part in training in a scene that sounds like something straight out of secondary school.

He added: 'I remember one day he pulled me and another player aside and told us we would not be training with the first team or the youths.

'So I said, 'what are we supposed to do then?' He said 'you can do what you want'. So, in the end, myself and this player just stood in a field. I was like, 'well, this just isn't football, it's ridiculous'.

'In every football club there is going to be a player who does not get on with the manager, which is why you need man-management skills.

'You can't keep everyone happy and I was one of those players. But you can still treat them like professional football players and I think that simply did not happen.

'It affected me and, mentally, I wasn't there because I knew I would be training with the youth team.

'This is no disrespect to them, but it's hard to give a 100% when you are with the kids.'

Brown sought out clarification from Stimson as to why he was not being included and even called in the PFA. Stimson himself openly commented on this in March. 'Unfortunately you have got to include these players in your training sessions. If you don't, these so-called footballers ring up the PFA and I get phone calls from the PFA saying 'you haven't involved our player in your training session and you are not allowed to do that'.

'I include them, I try to get them bright but after 10 minutes you can see they are just wasting time and making it difficult for the good players and the players that want to progress.'

Brown confirmed Stimsons remarks 'It got to the stage when I even had to phone Nick Cusack at the Professional Footballers' Association to ask him if I could join in training with the lads.

'When he phoned Mark he agreed, but he had me in training on Saturday mornings at 8.30am with the physio. I trained more with the physio in the last six months at Gillingham than I did with Mark and I wasn't even injured.

'I wanted to find out just what the problem was, but he was just evasive. When you are not getting a satisfactory response, I knew there was no point in going to see him.'

But, despite all of this, Brown reveals that Stimson was prepared to bring him back into the first team frame this season, but was told where to go.

He added: 'Strangely, it got to the point when I went back in at the end of the season and he told me I was in his plans.

'If I wanted to stay I could have done, but I couldn't understand why he said that after making me train with the youth team for six months.

'He asked what I wanted to do next season, and I simply told him I never wanted to play for him ever again.'

"Gillingham is behind me now and it's a new chapter at Lincoln," he said.

"We've got good management team and the set-up is really good.  The manager  effectively sold the club to me. I didn't want to come to a club where its aim is to be mid-table.  I don't want to pass time by, I came here because I want to achieve something.

"You get a feel of what you are stepping into by meeting the management team and I'm delighted to be here.

"I got promoted with Swindon from this league before and I want to achieve that again."