4.35pm, Saturday 27th January 2024. A moment in history as Alan Browne came on to make his 400th appearance for Preston North End.
At 28 years, nine months, and 20 days old, the Irishman became the second-youngest man to reach that landmark, and only the 13th player in club history to reach the tally.
Not bad when you consider he only arrived in Lancashire ten years ago as a fresh-faced teen, with experience of playing only youth football back home in Cork.
A lot’s changed since then both on and off the pitch, but one thing’s for sure: he’s put his name in the history books among some of the club greats.
Browney said: “It’s something I can take pride in. To have made that many appearances for this club is a huge achievement.
“I don’t do it very often but I have to give myself credit for being able to play that amount of games.
“To stay fit for that amount of games, to be available for selection – yeah, it’s something I’m hugely proud of.
“I knew 400 was a possibility this season but I didn’t realise how close I was. It’s a huge achievement for me and I just want to make as many as I can now.”
Like most young footballers growing up in Ireland, Alan always had aspirations of making the move over to England, and for him it probably happened earlier than most, at the age of 18.
Speaking previously of the move, he said it was “something I could have only dreamed of”, however he’s not quite yet achieved what he set out to do.
To prove himself as a player, yes. To help Preston North End get back into the Championship, yes. But to lead the club somewhere it’s never been – not just yet.
Browney said: “Obviously I was playing at a much lower level, but back home I was used to winning things so I just wanted to win more and more.
“But I learned quickly things aren’t as easy as that. Obviously we made the Play-Offs in my first season and managed to get promoted in the second, but since then I’ve found out it’s not going to be an easy ride to get where I wanted to get.
“As a young kid, I wanted to get to the Premier League, and ever since I’ve come here all I’ve wanted to do is get promoted with this club, which I see as my club.
“We’ve established ourselves as regulars in this league, but it’s at the forefront of my mind to take that leap into the Prem."
That desire has only gotten bigger during the previous few years, since taking the armband from Tom Clarke.
There’s no questioning the way he leads the team. You only need to hear his teammates eulogise about the midfielder. Although there are clearly differences in the way he does so, compared to those before him.
“Every game, I love captaining this team,” he said. “Being captain of this club is something I’m really proud of.
“I’ll never be a Tom Clarke type. He was just different. Even now, I still call him ‘Skip’ and a few of the boys still here who played with him do as well.
“He was a proper man and led by example at all times, and I’ve had different captains over the years who did the same: Welshy and Gally.
“You take bits and pieces from each player but I don’t want to be a carbon copy because I want to be my own person and that’s what I’ve tried to do.
“I do the best that I can to lead by example, to set standards, and hope people pick up on that and do the same things.”
One of those standards is accountability, and that’s something the midfielder has always carried with him – not just as a captain.
He can come off a pitch having scored, picked up the man of the match award, and won the game, but thinking he could have done better with that chance in the first half or that duel in the 63rd minute.
It’s definitely not a bad trait to have, though, albeit a self-deprecating one!
“I always look at myself first,” he said. “People make excuses a lot of the time and I do too sometimes, but I think you have to look at yourself first and foremost.
“I’m just always wanting to improve. I’ll always be my biggest critic which I think is the way it should be because you know what you’re capable of and you know what you can do better.
“You get to learn your own game especially as you get older and you take things on board to be better next time.”
It’s fair to say he’s a very different player now to the one which arrived a decade ago from Cork.
Baby-faced and thin-bodied to a leader of men, and off the pitch life is also completely different.
He’s built a family in Lancashire, having become a father to Hugo and Cole, while also becoming an important figure to his fiancée’s daughter, Layla.
Browney reminisced: “When I first came over, I was on my own and learning the way of life to be honest, and learning to be away from family and friends.
“I could kind of do whatever I wanted, but now it’s completely different, but I wouldn’t change any of it.
“It’s been a learning curve for me as a person, but I honestly love being a dad more than anything in the world.
“Seeing them in the stands or getting home to see my kids is unbelievable. It’s the best feeling ever.”
Hugo has only recently turned four, which the skipper feels has happened “in the blink of an eye”.
His birth came during the unprecedented time of Covid-19 so there was very little socialising they could do when he was very young.
Now, though, he’s regularly in the company of children of other members of the North End squad, which goes a way to emphasising the togetherness of the group.
He said: “It’s nice because a lot of lads who are here have been here for a long time, so the kids are almost growing together.
“Hugo and Delilah (Dai Cornell’s daughter) love each other, and it’s the same with the other kids too.
“He does his own things now which is great for us, but it’s hard to know he’s getting older.
“I was looking back on pictures of him as a baby and it’s mental really. It’s quite sad knowing that your kid’s growing up.
“He’s not so much a little boy anymore. He’s still my baby but he’s not that little boy who’s solely dependent on us.”