THE opportunity of adding a third promotion to his CV stares Phil Brown in the face after he was announced as new Swindon Town boss on Monday night.

Brown joins Town on a deal until the end of the season with the option of that deal being extended further.

The 58-year-old northerner started his footballing career in the late 1970s when playing for Hartlepool United.

More than 200 appearances later, the South Shields-born right-back jumped ship to make more than 100 appearances for Halifax Town before stints with Bolton Wanderers and finally Blackpool in the mid-1990s.

It was at Blackpool that Brown would start his coaching career as assistant to former England boss Sam Allardyce.

Following that, he joined Bolton as assistant manager to Colin Todd - taking charge of the team as caretaker manager and winning four games out of five - before linking up with Allardyce again following his arrival at the Wanderers.

Derby County then called for Brown in what would be his first job in full-time senior management in June 2005, although his run at the Rams quickly ended after seven months following a string of disappointing losses.

But it was at Hull City where Brown made his mark.

Joining the club in troubled times in late 2006 as joint caretaker-manager alongside Colin Murphy, having previous been named first-team coach, Brown took the Tigers from the Championship drop zone to promotion to the Premier League a year later in 2008 having been handed the manager's job in January 2007.

Hull briefly led the 2008-09 Premier League after a magnificent start but eventually just survived their first season in top-flight football, finishing 17th after a turbulent campaign - including a memorable on-pitch Boxing Day dressing-down of his players on the pitch at Manchester City after they trailed 4-0 at half-time.

Relegation from the Premier League the following season saw Brown depart in June 2010 and he experienced relegation again after joining Preston North End in January 2011.

While the following season started promisingly, Brown’s progress with the club was halted by a series of injuries – ultimately dropping the club from second to 10th in League One.

He and Brian Horton left Deepdale in December 2011.

It was more than a year later that Brown returned to the managerial scene when taking charge of Southend United.

The Essex club provided Brown with his longest run in management. He took charge of 251 games, guiding the club to promotion from League Two in the 2014/15 season.

His stint with the club ended in January of this year.

While he joins Town with a 35.3 per cent winning record, Brown boasts a history of taking clubs to the next level.

He joins Swindon with only 10 league fixtures remaining while the club finds itself level on points with seventh-placed Lincoln, who occupy the final playoff spot.

His first game in charge of Town takes place this Saturday when his men travel to face 14th-placed Cambridge.