A member of Darlington’s academy as a 14-year-old back when the club’s home was Feethams, within two years Gary Brown was working as an apprentice heating engineer.

Thirteen years on, and with the club now of amateur status having fallen from the Football League when he was part of the youth system at the time George Reynolds was chairman, Brown’s now the club captain and nobody could be prouder.

“It’s immense,” says the defender. “The feeling every game when I walk out of that tunnel with the armband on is something that I’ll have with me forever.

“Easily the proudest moment of my footballing life is being captain of England’s biggest amateur football club. When I came for a trial I didn’t even think I’d get a contract, let alone get the armband. It’s very special to me.”

That trial came in the summer of 2012, when Quakers assembled a new squad ahead of their season in the Northern League, Brown joining having had spells on the non-league circuit with Shildon, Blyth and Durham City.

His is a career path that, like many in non-league, paints the picture of someone that dropped down the divisions having previously not made the grade in football as a teenager.

Not quite. Because Brown’s story is differs greatly to most.

He explained: “My Dad took ill on the Wednesday morning and he died from meningitis on the Thursday evening. It was December 6, 2001. He was 44.

“My Mam asked me what I wanted to do, and I just said that I didn’t want to play football anymore so I packed it in altogether.

“I was having a bad time of it and my Mam was picking the pieces up. I think I related football to my Dad.

“I didn’t start again until I was 16 or 17. I had two or three years out and didn’t play football at all.”

While football understandably took a back seat due to the tragic circumstances that affected his family, it is to Brown’s credit that he was able to eventually find the courage to put his boots back on and follow in his dad’s footsteps.

Brown’s dad, Paul, had been a well-known on the North-East non-league scene having played for Crook, Willington, Durham, Brandon, Spennymoor United and Bishop Auckland, winning the Northern League title with Bishops, and, fittingly, Gary did likewise, leading Darlington to the top in 2012-13.

“He was a centre-half, big and horrible. He was a lot broader than me. But he only broke his nose five times, I’ve broken mine seven,” says Brown. “I’m not on his level though, he was better than me.

“It was nice when I won the Northern League with Darlo because I’ve got two of my dad’s trophies and the tankards are the same as the one I got. George Courtney, the referee, was my dad’s mate and it was him who did the trophy presentation. That was a nice touch.”

Sadly, his dad’s sudden death was not the first time Brown had been touched by tragedy. A year before his dad’s death, his Darlington coach died.

He said: “Alan White’s brother, Steve, was my coach at Darlington. He didn’t turn up one day and he was found dead in his bed. He was a lovely fella, a lovely character. I’ve spoken to Whitey about it.

“My Dad was very upset. He used to come and watch us a lot and he liked Steve. My Dad was my biggest critic, so whenever he told that I’d played well I knew that I had.”

The ability to triumph in adversity is a recurring theme for Brown, whose determination and leadership are traits as clear in Quakers’ captain as any of his football ability.

His current challenge is, at the age of 27, moving from being an old-style physical centre-half to a right-back, while last season he returned two months early from a serious ankle injury which sidelined him for the majority of the campaign.

Injured when playing against Gateshead in pre-season, he said: “I was told I should give it six weeks and due to the nature of the injury it might repair itself. But I knew that was never going to work. While I was waiting for the operation I built up a bit of strength in my ankle.

“The worst time was the first game of last season. I limped out of the tunnel, could see the lush green grass, it was the first game after we’d been promoted, but I couldn’t play. I felt sick.

“It’s things like that which drive you on, to make you get fit.”

In his absence, White and Chris Hunter have become manager Martin Gray’s preferred centre-half pairing and while Brown has his misgivings about his current positional shift, he and the team are in great form.

Darlington are top of the table having conceded only nine goals in 17 games, not conceding any in their last seven league and Trophy games.

They bid to continue their good run today when they head to Cambridgeshire to play St Neots Town in the Trophy.

Brown said: “I’m not a right-back, but I want to be on the pitch and I’ve told Martin I’ll play anywhere. I can play at right-back, I can do the defensive side, it’s the going forward I struggle with.

“The long passes, when I play them from centre-half it’s a clearance, but now I’ll sometimes knock it long and think ‘Gary, you’re supposed to be a right-back, that was a centre-half’s ball’. I’m still trying to make the transition.

“But I’m feeling more confident there. It’s nice to be getting involved in the forward play, which I haven’t really done in years gone by.

“I’d say to the fans, just be patient with me. I’m a 100 per center and no matter where I play I will give everything. Sometimes I think that can be better than a bit of quality. There’s been the odd grumble, especially at home games, but people pay their money so they’re more than welcome to do it. I’d probably be doing the same if I was paying to watch.

“I’m determined to improve. I listen to the people above me and I’m always learning. It’s the same at work - you can’t know enough about anything.”

At a tense Heritage Park ten days ago, Darlington defeated promotion rivals Spennymoor Town, one of 11 consecutive victories in league and Trophy.

“We feel unbeatable at the moment,” added Brown. “Stephen Thompson was talking about it on the bus on the way home after Mossley last week, when we stepped on to the pitch before the Spenny game we just knew we were going to win. That’s confidence for you.

“Everybody is on top of their game. Ian Watson’s come in at left-back and is doing great, Peter Jameson is on fire, Thommo is back to his best, Tom Portas has probably been our best player this season, Hunter’s got his confidence back and if Whitey was ten years younger he’d be getting bought by a Football League club.

“It’s a pleasure alongside him it really is. He’s quality and he’s playing even better than he was last year.

“We’ve got a settled back four, we’ve got a good understanding. If you look at our back-line, it’s very rigid. Confidence helps too, we’re massively confident.”

He infamously once referred to himself in his programme notes as “just a raggy-arsed heating engineer from Brandon”, but Brown means an awful lot more to Darlington than that.

He follows Kevan Smith, Craig Liddle and Ian Miller in making his mark as Quakers’ captain: dedicated to Darlington.

“I’m always coming across Darlo fans when I’m working,” he added. “I go to McDonalds in Aycliffe every morning for a coffee and I bumped into a fan in there this morning. It always makes me feel ignorant when it happens, because I don’t know their name they always know me!”