Wes Brown: Blackburn's new signing 'can't contemplate packing it in', 18 years after Manchester United debut

The former Manchester United defender Wes Brown has declared five years after leaving Old Trafford that it has never crossed his mind that he “can’t be bothered” to continue his career, having signing for Blackburn Rovers at the age of 36.

Brown played 313 times for United between 1998 and 2011 and had been facing the prospect of lacking a club for a new season for the first time in 18 years when Owen Coyle offered him the chance to start at Ewood Park. After release by Sunderland, it means a new start in a career he began in May 1998, in a 3-0 win for United over Leeds at Old Trafford.

“I don't think it's ever come into my head that I can't be bothered anymore or I don't need it anymore,” Brown said. ”It's always still the same for me. As long as these (legs) can do it I'm pretty sure I'll be trying to do it.“

Brown’s enthusiasm for his fresh start saw him sustain a calf injury on Rovers’ pre-season training camp in Austria and he put that down to failing to ease himself in.

”To be fair it was probably my own fault,“ Brown said, reflecting on the injury which delayed Coyle's plans to sign him. ”My calf was feeling a bit tight and maybe I should have been more senior and mature and not done the running that day. It's just my nature to carry on. But even when the injury happened the manager was fine, he just told me to get it right, get back in training, have a few games, and we'd get something sorted.“

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Brown’s exuberance reflects the quality that Sir Alex Ferguson always saw him. He always cited Brown, who is from Manchester’s Longsight district, as a player who succeeded because of a desire to better themselves in life. But Coyle would be advised not to ask Brown to take penalties, if Ferguson’s testimony is anything to go by. “Wes would sooner have played barefoot than take a penalty,” Ferguson reflected a few years ago. “Wes prayed that [a cup] game would be decided before he had to take his turn.”

After proving his fitness by playing in behind-closed-doors clashes and for the under-23s, Brown this week signed a contract until the end of the season. He will be involved in the Rovers squad which on Saturday travels to Derby County where Rovers will attempt to secure back-to-back Championship victories after seven games without a win at the start of the campaign.

”I'd pretty much settled in before I signed because I've been here since day one of this season but I'm just happy now to get it sorted,“ said Brown. ”It's been a disappointing start because we've got good players and we show that in training every day. But I've watched the games and they could easily have gone the other way. But that's football. You can't let that get to you. You've just got to think positive and get on with it.”