By Carl MarstonFOR Wayne Brown, playing football is not about the money, it's about the medals.Ex-Ipswich Town defender Brown, who is now a vital cog in Leicester City's promotion machine, is hoping to play against his old club tomorrow.

Carl Marston

By Carl Marston

FOR Wayne Brown, playing football is not about the money, it's about the medals.

Ex-Ipswich Town defender Brown, who is now a vital cog in Leicester City's promotion machine, is hoping to play against his old club tomorrow.

The 32-year-old has only been with the Foxes for a year, initially on loan from Hull, but already he has tasted promotion and championship glory with last season's League One title.

But Brown is refusing to rest easy. He wants more glory.

"My move from Premier League Hull to Leicester (then in League One) raised a few eyebrows. But I saw it as a good opportunity to further my career," insisted Brown.

"I'm not in football to get lots of money. I'm in the game to win medals. I want to get five or six medals in my cabinet. It's not about money.

"It's the best time of my career, and I'm enjoying my football.

There's no point in being in the game if you don't try and progress.

"I've been lucky enough to win four promotions already, with Ipswich, Colchester, Hull and Leicester.

"But I'm not just happy with ending at four. I am very ambitious. I want more medals, and Leicester match my ambitions," added Brown.

Barking-born Brown, who first signed professional forms for Ipswich in 1996, reckons that the standard of the Championship is not that great.

And that's why he thinks Leicester are again promotion contenders.

They are currently fifth in the table.

"We've not pulled out any trees, but we're going well after the first half of the season," continued Brown.

"We've done OK, but the Championship is no great shakes at the moment.

It's been like that for the last two or three years.

"There's not a lot to go on in quality. There's not much difference between most teams, and most individuals.

"We at Leicester picked up the winning mentality from last season, and we have managed to continue that. We have drawn on our promotion, and carried it on into this season.

"But there's still a lack of quality in the division.

"We're not counting our chickens, but I think we can stay up there in the promotion race. We just have to stay consistent."

Brown has missed the last two games, due to a niggling injury, but he has declared himself fit and ready for a return against his old club - he made 50 senior appearances for Town over eight years.

Before sitting out the last two fixtures, against Sheffield United and Swansea, he had started all the previous 21 league games.

"Time flies. I left Ipswich seven years ago. It was my first club, and I will always be grateful to Ipswich for giving me my first chance,"

insisted Brown.

"I couldn't have asked for a better introduction to football than with Ipswich, both in terms of the excellent facilities and opportunity-wise.

"It was John Lyall who played a big part in me going to Ipswich in the first place, but it was George Burley who really helped me on.

"George believed in the youth policy, so I have a lot to thank him for. He got me started."

Brown is widely regarded as one of the most reliable centre-halves in the Championship, although he never made the grade in the top flight with Hull.

His lack of pace has occasionally found him out, but he feels aggrieved that Tigers boss Phil Brown never gave him an extended opportunity in the Premier League.

He made just one appearance in the top division, enduring a torrid time in a 5-0 home defeat at the hands of Wigan.

"The manager didn't show the same loyalty to me that I did to him and the club," rued Brown.

"I did not get much of a chance to play in the Premier League, and I'm now at a club that matches my ambitions."