IT’S getting on to 40 years since Phil Brown stepped into football but his ambition has not faded one bit.

The man who helped put Wanderers on course to their Premier League glory days as Sam Allardyce’s assistant will be plotting their downfall at Southend tomorrow.

Since going it alone in management 12 years ago, Brown has sampled the high life with Hull City, the tough life with Derby and Preston before a renaissance at Roots Hall, leading the unfashionable Shrimpers out of League Two and into play-off contention in the third tier.

He may have a mid-table budget, with ex-Wanderer Cian Bolger one of the few cash investments made in his four years at the club, but Brown’s side has dropped no lower than 10th since mid-November.

He now stands as the 11th longest serving boss in the Football League and Saturday’s game will be his 199th in charge of the Essex club.

“It’s crazy, really, management – whether you are at Southend, Bolton Wanderers or top of the Premier League – everyone has their own issues and problems,” he told The Bolton News.

“It’s an achievement to be in football, let alone management. And I’ve been doing this for nearly 40 years now so I class myself as a very, very lucky man.

“There has to be a little bit of talent, somewhere, and I’d like to think that one day I could get back to that highest level.”

Brown watched Wanderers from the press box on Tuesday night as they bowed out of the FA Cup at Crystal Palace – a ground on which he had plenty of success as a coach at Bolton.

He has been forced to reinvent himself in recent years after struggling to get back into top level management when an ill-fated 12-month reign at Preston ended in December 2011.

But his ambition to return to the bright lights is undiminished after proving himself again at Southend.

“I think if you run your club the right way, off the field as well as on it, there is no reason you can’t go all the way to the top,” he said. “Bournemouth is a good example, so is Southampton when they got it right, and Burnley at this moment in time.

“There isn’t a glass ceiling. I’m an optimist and I truly believe I can get back to that level.

“I made mistakes at Bolton, I did at Derby, Preston and I’ve made mistakes at Southend – but it’s about learning from them.

“You can’t cover them up but even Sir Alex Ferguson used to say he gets seven out of 10 right. If the three you get wrong are not massive mistakes, then you’ll have half-decent career. I don’t think I’m far off.”

Brown was disappointed his team took just a point from the Macron earlier this season but has been impressed with how Phil Parkinson has stabilised a club which had lurched from one crisis to the next the previous season.

“I’m glad to see it does appear to be in that bad place anymore,” he said. “There are all sorts of rumours you hear on the outside but they need to be handled from the club’s perspective.

“From a manager’s viewpoint the more positivity there is around your club the more it helps you along.

“You need results on a Saturday and that is what Phil Parkinson is doing regularly. He’s doing a fabulous job and so is Steve Parkin, who I worked with at Hull City, they are two very solid characters. That is the way the team plays.

“People can bang on about budgets but it’s what your players do. Can you motivate players to play at this level?

“I’m not saying ‘long may it continue’ because I hope it stops on Saturday, but long may it continue after that!”