BILLY BROWN cheerfully admits to suffering from a common condition known as being “aff his heid.”

How else could you describe a 66-year-old who has just taken on the job of managing Cowdenbeath, a club which suffered two successive relegations before in May finishing last out of all Scottish football’s senior clubs?

The problem Brown has is there is no known cure.

It is almost 30 years since he agreed to go into coaching with old school pal Jim Jefferies and the adventure they went on to enjoy was something neither could have predicted when starting out at Berwick Rangers.

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Jefferies has now retired from being in football frontline. His trusted right hand man, however, has not quite had his full of a game he still loves and seemingly can’t do without.

“I keep waiting for the desire to go away,” Brown admits. “I wake up every morning expecting me to feel different about football but I can’t get rid of the bug. It’s a strange thing.

“When the chance to manage Cowdenbeath came up, I did think about all the hassles you get and whether it was worth it or not. But you know what, I had to do it. I’m really looking forward to the season and what we can achieve.”

Brown certainly doesn’t come across as being of pension age. He’s always been young at heart, one of the game’s good guys, and someone nobody has a bard word for which is exceedingly rare.

He was out of football for a few years “I still went to a match every Saturday” when Gary Locke, a man he’s known for over 20 years, asked him for some help when he was given the task of saving Cowdenbeath from falling out if the league.

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In the end they scraped past East Kilbride in the play-off on penalties. Locke then left to take up a role at Hearts, leaving his long-time coach to take up the reigns.

“I really enjoyed being in the dugout for the ten games or so I was with Gary,” said Brown. “Nothing beats it and I was glad to play a part in keeping Cowdenbeath in the league. I didn’t want to be at this great club when they were relegated, which could well have meant them going out of existence.

“They should never have been in that position. It wasn’t so long ago they were playing Rangers, Hearts and Hibs in the Championship.

“My aim with them is to win the league. It’s as simple as that. I do like a challenge, always have, and I still love football. That has never changed.”

And football has been good to the lad from Musselburgh. With Jefferies they worked at Berwick, Falkirk, most famously Hearts, Kilmarnock and there was also an ill-fated spell at Bradford City.

Brown also has Hibernian and East Fife, where he was manager, on a CV which most coaches would give their right arm for.

“I was manager of Musselburgh and Jim was at Gala Fairydean in 1988 when the chance to go to Berwick came up,” he recalls. “What happened over all those years was fantastic. I’m proud to have worked with every one of my clubs and I’m lucky to have made a good living out of football.

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“Not in our wildest dreams did Jim and I think we’d work at the clubs we did, manage in the English Premiership, win a Scottish Cup with Hearts and play so many games in Europe.

“Even with Bradford, which didn’t go as we would have liked, I see now as a good experience. If we had our time again I think we would have waited a bit longer for a job to turn up, we had been out of work after leaving Hearts for just one week, but at the time, with how the club were, we felt it was too good to turn down.”

They were some team. Jefferies was front of house while Brown happy to be the man who did most of the coaching. But did the assistant ever hanker to be the main man long before he got his chance at East Fife?

“Here is a thing about that,” says Brown. “Jim and I enjoyed a fantastic partnership and so why break up something so good just for the sake of ego? There is a fine line in this game between success and failure. More often than not, you should stay where you are if things are going well.

“There were perhaps jobs I could have gone for but I honesty have absolutely no regrets with staying with Jim.

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“We worked together so well no matter where we went. I’m proud of what we achieved. It’s been a great journey.”

And the journey is not over yet. Brown has been busy signing players for the Blue Brazil, he’s lost quite a few in the summer, as he prepares for the new season.

The job will not be easy, of course. Only a true masochist takes on the worst club in Scotland at his time of life.

However, as our chat ends, Brown chips in; “I hope to hear from you soon. Phone me up in a few weeks and ask ‘how the hell has he got that team to top of the league.’”

You would have to be aff your heid to think this couldn’t happen.