Michael Brown will hand out more ice creams if he plays at 40

Life Beyond the Premier League

Michael Brown recently brought in an ice cream van to training at Port Vale on his birthday (Getty)

It happened 20 seasons ago but Michael Brown does not need reminding of the details. It was his league debut for Manchester City against Queen’s Park Rangers and it ended abruptly with a red card. “Extremely unlucky” is how he remembers that sending-off within 12 minutes of his arrival as an 18-year-old substitute. “Alan Ball put me on and I pulled Andy Impey’s shirt and the referee thought I was the last man but the video showed Alan Kernaghan was covering anyway.”

For Brown, it was an instant lesson that football is a game of ups and downs – and there were rather more of the latter in that first campaign with a City side relegated from the top flight. “Football is very emotional and on a Saturday, the highs and lows are extreme. Some players struggle to deal with that. I got used to the highs and lows at an early age.”

There have been plenty of both during two decades on football’s Big Dipper for a player who also appeared in the Premier League for Tottenham, Fulham, Wigan and Portsmouth, but Brown, now at League One side Port Vale, is in no rush to get off. He celebrated turning 39 last month by bringing an ice cream van to Vale Park and hopes it will not be his last birthday as a footballer. “I’ve set myself a target. I have got to hit 40. I have got this far now at 39 and am going to try and play a game when I am 40. It’s been an aim of mine for a long time.”

As the ice creams suggest, he does not take a green tea and tofu approach to longevity. “I have always had a drink at the weekend but there’s a time and a place for everything,” says Brown, who is fanatical about his extra fitness work including neural [nerve] stretching exercises. “I have always liked my food so maybe that’s why I’ve trained extra. My key is training a little bit often, rather than big sessions that make you fatigued.”

On the pitch, he also expends his energy carefully. “You can’t make as many high-intensity runs, so generally you make a couple and then just sit off and cover more and try to read the game.”

Intensity was a big part of his game and for the tough-tackling midfielder a few more red cards followed that debut dismissal. “I’ve got some [tackles] wrong but to play with the tempo and wholeheartedness that I do, I am going to get some wrong at times,” says Brown. That streak of mischief is evident in a YouTube clip of him landing a ball on Martin Keown’s head during a pitchside broadcast as his Leeds side warmed up before a 2012 FA Cup tie at Arsenal.

It is fair to say Brown got a lot right too over his nine-club career. He was player of the year at Manchester City in 1998, helped Sheffield United reach two cup semi-finals and the Championship play-off final in 2003, and appeared in the 2010 FA Cup final with Portsmouth. “Succeeding at Port Vale was playing 30-odd games last year,” he adds. Opportunities have been fewer this season, though he is assisting manager Rob Page on the coaching side as he works towards completing his Uefa A Licence.

One immediate goal is be involved in Vale’s next away fixture at Bramall Lane a week on Saturday. “I will never forget the night games there,” says Brown, who has happy memories of working under Neil Warnock, then United manager. “He was good with players’ families and when you played against your old club he gave you the armband.

“To have 26 managers through my career I’ve learned so much,” he adds. “One thing I’ve always done when it’s not going right is just train even harder and then you are ready when your next chance comes.” Even at 39.