Lessons about ‘brutal’ side of beautiful game

back-up left-back behind Terence Kongolo and looked good in several games in pre-season.

When Jan Siewert was sacked in August, caretaker manager Mark Hudson moved Kongolo to centreback – and that opened the door for Brown to make his senior league debut against Reading.

He would go on to make a further 14 appearances for the Terriers before losing his place to January signing Harry Toffolo, but at just 21-years-old, there is still plenty of time for the youngster to win back that shirt.

Speaking in an Instagram Live interview with Darnell SimpsonTomlinson, Brown said: “I had two bad years [at Spurs] but then my last year was a good year.

“Personally I just felt it was the right time for me [to leave].

“Maybe the coaches didn’t but I felt like it was, and sometimes I’m right, sometimes I’m wrong.

“I left Spurs and went to Huddersfield and I went straight out on loan [to Exeter] and I didn’t play a minute, so I’m thinking ‘maybe I’m wrong.’ But it’s made me hungrier.

“Exeter is a great club but those three months were probably the hardest three months of my career: you’re not playing but feeling like you should play, you’re far away from friends, family.

“I’ve just come from Tottenham so I’ve come from a nice training ground, nice changing rooms...it humbled me a bit more, even going to training on Astroturf because the grass isn’t good enough or jumping in a minibus, doing my own prematch, all of that – it made me see the other side of the game.

“It’s not all nice, it’s not all glamorous, it’s not what everyone thinks it is. It’s a brutal sport. I realised that on loan.

“If you ask my friends, I’m very confident, in the way I talk, the way I move, even on the pitch. But that humbled me a lot. It didn’t knock my confidence at all but it made me see the game differently.

“I wanted to come back because the new gaffer [Siewert] came in and he was giving a few chances to younger players in the Premier League, but at the same time I couldn’t play because I’d already played for Tottenham U23s and Exeter U23s so I couldn’t play any competition games for Huddersfield.

“I was disappointed about that because I felt like I would have got a chance but at the same time I went back and I decided to work hard in front of the manager and prove to him that I was a good player for the next season really.

“Last season I was always preparing myself for this season.

“I just had a feeling that I was going to get my chance because of how hungry I was, especially after coming back from my loan. “Pre-season came and I thought I did well. The gaffer gave me indications I’d done well, he moved me into the first-team dressing room – little stuff like that gives you that crazy confidence where you’re like ‘put me in, I might not be ready but I want to play and take my chance.’

“I played against Lincoln in the Carabao Cup and it hit me.

“You know when you feel like you’re so confident and then you get a reality check and you’re like ‘this is the real game’? I didn’t play

It’s not all nice, it’s not all glamorous, not what everyone thinks it is. It

humbled me