'Not the end' - Turbines generate fresh enthusiasm for Brown

"When you interview for a job, they always want to hear this word 'philosophy' - I'm called Phil and my daughter's called Sophie, so it's something to do with that."

During a long career in football, Phil Brown has seen it, done it and no doubt has an entire drawer set aside for his large collection of T-shirts - and he's also managed to keep his sense of humour intact.

Since playing more than 650 matches as a full-back, he has managed in all top six divisions of English football and also had a year out in India in charge of Hyderabad.

Peterborough cannot match the sub-continent in terms of climate, but the Cambridgeshire town is the latest stop on 66-year-old Brown's football journey.

Having once guided Hull City to promotion to the Premier League, he is now using all his vast experience to try to change the fortunes of Peterborough Sports in National League North.

"Did I want to come back to this level? No, but football has a weird way of playing its hand and I'm now here, working with one of the most supportive chairmen I've worked with," said Brown.

"Everybody remembers the highest level [with Hull], but if I did something here with Peterborough Sports, there's no doubt in my mind it would be a great achievement.

"If I can keep Peterborough Sports in this division, first and foremost... if we survive this year, which is our first goal, then it's all about next year and can we get promoted? Can we move this club on?"

'The happiest I've been in football'

The 2,300-capacity Lincoln Road home of Peterborough Sports is a world away from the Old Traffords, Emirates Stadiums and Anfields that Brown used to frequent during his four years with Hull.

But he is coming to terms with the sight of chairman Tim Woodward, who gave him the job following Brown's departure from Kidderminster Harriers at the end of last season, doing welding work and removing boilers.

"Every day I come in here, there's always something new happening," he said.

The Turbines are in their fourth season in the second tier of non-league football but are currently next to bottom of the table with 14 points from 17 games.

Brown insists, though, he has never been more content, despite having to drive from his home in the Cotswolds to training twice a week.

"I've just started a young family not so long ago - life outside football is important as well," he said.

"I never seemed to have the balance right all the way through my footballing career. [But] if you can get that balance right, I think you're a better manager, there's no doubt about it.

"I think I've got that balance right now and that's probably the reason why I'm the happiest [I've been] in football."

'You've got to be more understanding'

Phil Brown kept Hull City up in their first season in the Premier League after promotion

Last month, Brown admitted to being "knocked sideways" when Kidderminster dismissed him after reaching last season's play-offs - and achieving his first league win for Sports against Harriers was therefore a satisfying moment.

There was another one on Saturday when Ben Beresford's header gave Sports a 2-1 win at Oxford City and put them into the third round of the FA Trophy - a competition in which they reached the quarter-finals in 2023-24.

Brown believes the principles of management do not change, no matter the level or competition - it is about giving players all the information he thinks they require to win a game.

But in tier six, there are other factors to take into consideration.

"You've got to be more understanding, very much more," he added. "You've got to understand exactly what they've gone through during that day. You've got to understand football is secondary to them.

"This is a part-time environment, this is the second choice for a job [for them]. I think it's difficult and I've got to understand that balance.

"The very first training session I did on the Thursday night, we then won the game on the Saturday against Hornchurch in a cup but I got three players injured.

"All three complained about the amount of running they had done on the Thursday night. I'd gone in there and was just trying to crank it up a wee bit, but not realising what they have been going through during the day."

EFL ambition still burns for Brown

Phil Brown won promotion from League Two with Southend United in 2015

It was former Bolton Wanderers boss Bruce Rioch who first put the idea of becoming a manager into Brown's head - and he still regards Rioch and Sam Allardyce as two of the greatest he has seen in the job.

"He [Rioch] said 'you do not give football up at the end of your playing career because football needs you' - when he said those words I didn't really know what he meant but he was just talking about my character," said Brown.

"Straight away I went and did coaching badges, my certificate of applied management, fascinated by the management side of it as opposed to the coaching, but I embraced both of them."

Brown is still happy to receive advice from those he respects as he looks to plot a way back into the professional game.

"I saw [former Luton boss] David Pleat watching a Peterborough United Under-23s game and he said 'how are you dealing with them being part-time?' Brown said.

"He actually gave me something that I'm going to try to use, just a little snippet of information that he used when he was a part-time manager in non-league football.

"He's 14 years my elder, I didn't realise he had gone [into] part-time [football], but it was in the early stages of his career not at the end.

"I don't want it to be the end of my career, I want this to still be a platform for getting back to the Football League."