Brown preparing to celebrate fourth anniversary with Southend

(Picture: Action Images via Reuters)

Southend boss Phil Brown is preparing for his fourth anniversary at the club when his side take on AFC Wimbledon at Plough Lane tomorrow afternoon.

Brown took over at Roots Hall on March 25th 2013, with the Essex club struggling to escape League Two, but has since transformed them into a side fighting for a return to the Championship.

The former Hull manager guided the Shrimpers into League One via a thrilling play-off final win at Wembley in 2015, and with Southend now sixth in the third-tier, a second promotion with the club would be a great achievement.

Speaking to Radio Essex, Brown said: “I started off a job four years ago to prove the world of football wrong.

“I had to go down into the second division to get a job.”

It was two years between him being sacked by Preston in 2011 and Southend chairman Ron Martin giving him a lifeline, and Brown is delighted to have worked for so long with a man he gets on extremely well with.

In a footballing world full of chairmen and owners not afraid to chop and change managers, Brown’s relationship with Martin is a rare one.

Amazingly, despite only being in the job for four years, Brown is the 11th longest serving manager in the Football League, and he said: “I’m so happy the chairman [Ron Martin] isn’t influenced by the outside world as much as other chairmen are.

“I think if you have a good relationship with the guy up top, that is the most important thing. I firmly believe that, given time, most managers will get it right.”