JAMIE Brown is back on the Conference South beat with Basingstoke Town after being bombed out by Gosport Borough.

The Southampton-based midfielder, who proudly skippered Borough in the FA Trophy final at Wembley in March, had his contract terminated last month.

The 33-year-old landed himself in hot water when he took to social media to criticise the club’s pre-season trip to Guernsey.

It is alleged that the former Dorchester Town and Eastleigh favourite was subsequently involved in a verbal confrontation with Borough chairman Mark Hook.

Brown challenged Borough’s decision to sack him, taking his appeal to a league hearing at the Football Conference’s Birmingham headquarters last week.

It appears that the appeal was dismissed, leaving Brown a free agent, but no details were released as all parties had signed confidentiality agreements.

 

Basingstoke boss Jason Bristow has been in the market for a holding central midfielder since the departure of Wes Daly and, in Brown, has found a replacement he has long admired.

“I have been a fan of Jamie’s for many years,” he revealed. “He’s a very combative central midfielder who will fit in well with the squad.”

 

Basingstoke are currently second in the table and one of the stars of the season so far is another ex-Eastleigh man Chris Flood, signed from Winchester City during the summer.

He scored two goals and made the other as the north Hampshire club took temporary residence at the Conference South summit with a 3-2 win at Bishop’s Stortford on Saturday.

Flood has now scored five goals in seven matches for his new club.