
Brian held the record of being the club’s youngest ever player for forty years from his goalscoring debut against Gillingham in 1958 until Gary McSheffrey came along. He was still three months short of his seventeenth birthday when he made his debut in what was City’s last ever game in the old Division Three South. For the next four seasons Brian struggled to get a first team game and it wasn’t until Jimmy Hill took over in 1961 that he came to the fore. Hill, recognising his speed as his major asset, converted him to a defensive half-back and in 1962-63 season he became a regular. He earned a reputation as a tough tackling man-marker and was even tipped for England under-23 honours.
Brian was first choice at either wing-half or full-back until 1967 except when his niggling hamstring injuries kept him on the sidelines but it seemed whenever he returned to the side their fortunes picked up. If there was a key man to be marked Brian usually got the job and he had some memorable tussles with Manchester United’s Dennis Law and Tottenham’s Jimmy Greaves. Brian was never a spectacular player but always got through a prodigious amount of work in the engine room of the team and though rarely appreciated by the fans was a key man in Jimmy Hill’s team.
After promotion in 1967 Hill did not look out of his depth in the First Division and had a dramatic moment at Fulham when he came off the substitute’s bench to score his first league goal for over four years to earn City a valuable point. In his last two years he was restricted to 13 appearances and normally called upon to do specific marking jobs. He was only on the losing side twice during that period and his “job” on Alan Ball in the 0-0 draw at Goodison in 1970 was one of the high points of his career.
In March 1971 he went on loan to Bristol City, managed by Alan Dicks, his former assistant manager at Coventry, and helped them to avoid relegation to Division 3. Later that year he joined Fourth Division Torquay United for £5,000 but lived and trained in Coventry for two years. After two seasons at Torquay Brian retired from the professional and went to work at Jaguar and played briefly for Bedworth United.













































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































