(Image: PA)
DENNIS Brown might have been left wondering what could have been in his career had it not been for a dreadful car accident.
He scored the winner on this day in 1974 for Aldershot in their 1-0 win over Huddersfield Town.
But a decade earlier, he had been on the books at First Division Chelsea, where he played alongside the likes of Ron ‘Chopper’ Harris, Terry Venables and Bobby Tambling.
Brown had even scored the winner on his debut against Matt Busby’s Manchester United.
He spent time in the Second Division with Swindon Town and was part of the Northampton Town side that had that remarkable rise and fall through all four divisions and back again during the 1960s.
He was a prolific goalscorer and surely had dreams of forging a career fairly high up in the English game.
But Brown had not long joined the Cobblers when he suffered the accident that changed everything.
The forward was involved in a terrible car crash, at still only 23 years of age.
Fortunately, Brown lived to tell the tale, but his injuries were dreadful, and he had to have a kneecap removed, such was the severity of the accident.
But to his great credit, he fought his way back to fitness and made his comeback with Northampton just 11 months later.
He struggled to regain the form that had caused them to sign him, but he went on to have a fine six years at Aldershot from 1969.
Brown helped them into the Third Division in 1973 and scored 55 goals in 245 league games, a fine servant to the club.