Moving forward without Brian Brown

It was announced on July 5, 2019, that Brian Brown had been put on loan to FK Partizani of the Albanian Superliga. A team that was founded 73 years ago in 1945. They finished third out of 16 in the 2018-19 season. Brian Brow is Reno 1868 FC’s all-time leading scorer.  He scored the game-winner against the Real Monarchs SLC in the first round of last year’s playoff to give Reno their first playoff win.

Here are some reactions from social media: 

I’m going to miss seeing 99 on the field.
Good luck to the dude I’ve interviewed most. You’re going to kill it with FK Partizani! 👍🏽#VamosAzules #COYBIB #GoingPlaces #goodluck pic.twitter.com/lO7kmzCdiY

— 𝕁𝕠𝕙𝕟 𝕄𝕒𝕔𝕒𝕝𝕦𝕤𝕠 (@JohnMacaIuso) July 6, 2019

We're sad to see you go… but we're proud of you and wish you nothing but success. Thank you for all that you've done for this club! pic.twitter.com/bSMOwgP8y7

— Battle Born Brigade (@BB_Brigade) July 5, 2019

https://twitter.com/EricBallpark/status/1147271247127928832

Wishing Brian Brown (@Neigodon) the best in the next steps of his career. This is something Brian has worked hard for and earned.

Thank you for the 2 and a half seasons you spent with us in Reno. You will always be an important member of the @Reno1868FC organization. https://t.co/3hu2Rrythe

— Ian Russell (@ianrussell07) July 5, 2019

.@Reno1868FC's all-time leading scorer Brian Brown heads to reigning Albanian Superliga champions @FK_Partizani.#BeChampions: https://t.co/4xlCXZsiMs pic.twitter.com/QmtTbCX49Z

— USL Championship (@USLChampionship) July 5, 2019

Here is what Brian Brown said following the announcement:

View this post on Instagram

I want to thank everyone at Reno 1868 fc and the city for the best 3 years of my career. Thanks to my teammates, the entire Reno coaching staff and the Jamaica football federation @JFF_football for believing in me and supporting me. ✊🏾 it was fun while it lasted. I enjoy every minute of it and have no regrets moving to Reno. Thanks to the best fans and supporting group in the @uslchampionship @battlebornbrigade 🙌🏽. Thanks for welcoming me to the biggest little city 🌃 and into the family of Reno with an open arms. Reno will always be my home and I will always support Reno 1868 fc!!💙💙 ALLFOROURCITY. Excited to start my new journey and to meet my new family @fkpartizani 👏🏾.. looking forward to a wonderful season with @fkpartizani ❤️. Remember With god all things are possible 🙏🏽🙏🏽THANK YOU Y’ALL 🙏🏽🙏🏽

A post shared by Brian Brown 💪🏾 (@brianbrown_99) on Jul 5, 2019 at 4:55pm PDT

I think overall the reaction has been mostly positive. I think most of the fans are happy about the success of our players. Even if that means moving to another team. 

How bad is it? The situation is not as bad as it looks. He has been gone before because with call ups to the Jamaican national team. Reno has also been playing for a few weeks without him. The team was struggling without him. He was the driving force for our offense up to the Gold Cup. For a while now the question has been can we win without Brown? For most of this season, the answer has been no. In the last week, the team has really found their footing without him. So the team has turned a solid no into a solid yes. 

What do we do now? Nothing. As I said in my last game review, I think that the addition of Brown in the team at its current state would only improve the team. I think it would have improved his play as well. I just think that this moves us from a championship contender into a top 4 team. We just lost our number one striker, but there are a few guys currently challenging for that spot. Corey Hertzog is currently the front runner in my opinion. Close to him though is Sam Gleadle. I think that both of them are proficient scorers. It has yet to be seen though if either of them can be the driving force behind our offense. 

I think that the mindset for some people has been one that looks forward to Brown’s return. I have had that mindset myself. I thought that the Phoenix game could have had a much different result if Brown was on the field. I think that that mindset now needs to change. We can no longer look at him as the person who will save the team and take it to the championship. I think the mindset now needs to be looking at how we can be successful with the guys we have.

*I said that Brian Brown was loaned he was actually transferred

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