THE INTERVIEW – Paul Brownlie

Can you give us a short career history?

I started off at Motherwell, and then went to Clyde.  From Clyde I went to Stranraer on loan for a month and then moved on to Raith Rovers.  I then came to Arbroath and when I left there I was out of the game for around three and a half years, then I joined East Stirling.

What prompted you back into football after being out of the game for so long?

Gordon Wylde kept pestering me!  I had been going to the Shire games, just to watch a game of football, after my Dad joined the club.  I knew Gordon from my time at Clyde and he kept asking me to sign.  My dad gave the whole thing a wide berth and said he was having nothing to do with it!  I agreed to go along purely for training for a while to see how I got on and to stick my toes back in the water as it were.  I really enjoyed myself and thought that they were a good bunch of boys so decided to put pen to paper.

You’ve played for your Dad at a few clubs now.  What’s that like?  Do you feel under any extra pressure?

 It’s certainly not a problem now, maybe more so when I was younger.  To be honest whenever Dad and I have been at the same club, he has usually been the assistant.  At Clyde, Alex Smith was the manager and he picked the team, it’s the same at East Stirling.  The only time Dad has been my manager was at Arbroath and I think he actually felt the pressure more than I did.  He had to justify giving me a starting place and I felt I had to try that little bit harder and get the jersey on merit every week, so no-one could say he was only giving me a start because he was my Dad.  He’s been there on the side lines since I was playing at U12s so it’s something I got used too.  To be fair he has actually mellowed quite a lot.  Dad now compared to his time at Arbroath is like chalk and cheese.  When he went to Shire, he knew the players were on around £10 a week and were playing football for the love of the game and not for the money and he appreciated that.  He has only ever asked someone to do the job that he feels they are capable of doing and the job they are being paid to do.  He did use to get frustrated and maybe got carried away in the heat of the moment, but that’s only because he’s a perfectionist and he has such a passion for the game.

After so long routed to the bottom of the table, East Stirling have made real progress this year, there must be a good buzz round the place?

Yes, it’s buzzing, especially after drawing Rangers in the Scottish cup.  Spencer, the new owner has put a lot of money into the club which has meant the manager has been able to pay more wages and attract a better standard of player to the club.  We started off by winning the first six games, Sky Sports gave us a bit of publicity and of course our bubble then burst!  We are a much better team this year and I think the league is a lot tighter too; any one team is capable of beating another.  We gave Stranraer a really good game when they scored their winner in the 96^th minute and we gave East Fife a decent game too, we just didn’t take our chances and we’ve lost a few scrappy goals.  However, the boys in the dressing room fear no-one now, there’s more confidence and belief.

Who is the best player you have played with and the opponent you used to dread playing against?

Charlie Nicholas is without doubt the best I’ve played with.  We were at Clyde together and despite being at the end of his career, he still could have played at a higher level than that.  He was simply phenomenal.  As for dreading playing against someone, I’ve never really thought about it.  I can’t think of anyone I used to fear playing.  Maybe when I was at Arbroath I used to fear the journey home in the car if I’d had a stinker!

Finally, you’ve said you think it’s a tight league, who do you see being up there come the end of the season?

East Fife have some quality players and are grinding out result after result, they already have a commanding lead so I think they will be very difficult to catch.  If anyone is going to do it, I would think it may be Stranraer who are also grinding out results and things seem to be going for them.  After all the league table doesn’t lie.

Karen Fleming