start since early September on 29 November in Leeds' emphatic 4–0 win against Nottingham Forest. During the pre-match warm-up for Leeds' FA Cup game against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, Brown kicked a ball into the face of pundit Martin Keown who was doing punditry pitch-side with Robbie Savage for ESPN's coverage of the game – he claimed that he had in fact been aiming for Savage. He endured numerous spells out of the first team until manager Simon Grayson was replaced by his former Sheffield United boss Neil Warnock in February 2012. He scored his first goal for Leeds in a 7–3 defeat by Nottingham Forest on 20 March. He was sent off for the first time as a Leeds player when he was given a straight red against Derby County on 9 April. Warnock revealed that the contract which Brown signed in August 2012 would be on a reduced wage, but he felt Brown was the type of player he wanted to keep around the club both on and off the pitch. Brown scored his first goal of the 2012–13 season on 2 November in a 2–2 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion; the goal was awarded to Brown despite deflecting off teammate Luciano Becchio. On 5 April 2013, just days after the sacking of manager Neil Warnock, Brown activated an appearance-based clause on his contract to extend his contract at Leeds into a third year. Brown played 19 games during the 2013–14 season and was released by owner Massimo Cellino in May 2014. Cellino also believed the number seventeen to be unlucky and asked manager Brian McDermott to retire the number following Brown's departure, leaving him to be the last player to wear that number for Leeds, until the number was unretired in 2019, when Hélder Costa wore that shirt number. Port Vale Brown signed a one-year contract with League One club Port Vale in July 2014; manager Micky Adams also gave him the responsibility of coaching the reserve team. He scored the only goal of the game on 15 November, helping the "Valiants" to a 1–0 win over Rochdale at Vale Park; his performance in the match earned him a place on the Football League team of the week. He went on to state that he aimed to continue playing football up until he was 40. Despite his age he proved a key first team player,