Jonathan Brown (Welsh footballer)
Jonathan David Brown (born 27 April 1990) is a Welsh professional footballer and former Wales under-21 international who plays as a winger for JD Cymru Premier for Penybont FC. Early life Born in Bridgend, Brown attended the Archbishop McGrath School as a youngster. Brown also competed in various sports, including rugby and athletics and was the Welsh 100m champion at the 12–14 age group after taking part in the Welsh games. Brown's father, Steve, was captain of the Wales youth rugby team between 1976 and 1977. Club career Cardiff City Brown was originally spotted by Liverpool scout Gwyn James but was unable to sign for the Merseyside club, due to a rule meaning youth players must sign with a team within one and a half hours of their home, so he recommended him to Cardiff City. Having worked his way through the youth system at Cardiff, Brown made his first team debut against Welshpool Town in the FAW Premier Cup where he scored the only goal of the game with a free-kick to send the Bluebirds into the semi-final, becoming the first Bridgend-born player to play for Cardiff since Billy Rees. He made his league debut for Cardiff on 12 February 2008 against Coventry City when he came off the bench in the closing minutes and made a second appearance later in the season, coming on as a substitute again during a 3–1 win over Blackpool. At the end of the season he was rewarded with a one-year deal at the club, his first professional contract. Brown was the latest in a long line of recent youth players to have broken into the first team with the Bluebirds such as Joe Ledley, Chris Gunter, Darcy Blake and Aaron Ramsey. Loan at Wrexham Having not made an appearance for Cardiff during the 2008–09 season, Brown joined Wrexham on a two-month loan deal. He made his debut on 29 November in a 2–1 win over Stevenage Borough, setting up Jefferson Louis to score Wrexham's first goal before being replaced after 88 minutes by Shaun Whalley. He scored his first goal for the club in his very next game when he scored in the 90th minute to give Wrexham a 2–1 win over Kettering Town. On Christmas Eve, Brown was involved in a road accident while travelling back to Wrexham. On his way back from South Wales, Brown's car overturned near Welshpool and he was forced to break one of the vehicles windows in order to escape. Brown kept the incident a secret from Wrexham manager Dean Saunders until after he had played against Barrow on boxing day two days later. Having been a first team regular during his initial loan spell, in early January it was confirmed that his loan deal had been extended by one month and at the end of the January transfer window the two clubs agreed for the loan deal to last until the end of the season. After the extended deal was agreed, manager Dean Saunders praised