Gordon Strachan signed Scott Brown for Celtic and worked with the inspirational club legend at international level when he was the manager of Scotland. The former Celtic Manager yesterday gave his reaction to the news that Broony has terminated his contract at Aberdeen with immediate effect and will now be looking at pursuing his long held ambition in coaching.
The Aberdeen statement fell short of confirming that Scott Brown has decided to call it a day on his playing career but what’s certain is that he won’t be playing football this season. Perhaps the opening in the game that Broony pursues will mean he can do a player/manager role so it’s as well to keep the option opened rather than closing it down via a statement from Aberdeen yesterday afternoon.
“The game is going to miss having a player like Scott around. And it’ll be the same across the Scottish media too. People will be scratching their heads and thinking, ‘What do we do now? We’ve had so many stories from this fella!’.
“Whether it was great moments on the pitch – good fun, daft or sometimes stupid – he’s been a real giant over the years and guys like him don’t come around too often,” Gordon Strachan told Daily Record today.

Strachan remembered the day that the young midfielder arrived at Celtic from Hibs – hilariously the Rangers fans had been chanting about their club (now bust) going to sign the most admired youngster in the Scottish game for a long time.
“Scott may have arrived at Celtic in baggy jeans and kicked in trainers on the day he signed but, absolutely, he went on to achieve legendary status at the club. Look, there will be people who will ask the question, ‘Well, how good a footballer was he?’ and that’s open to debate. But when it comes to being a giant of the game there can’t be a conversation. Absolutely none,” Strachan noted.
“I’ve played with a lot of fantastic footballers, terrific footballers, probably technically more gifted than Scott. But out of all of them, none of them comes anywhere near the amount of trophies that Scott’s got or the kind of legacy that he has left,” the former manager added.
Strachan will be an ideal sounding board for Broony as he considers his next steps, with talk this morning that he could be in line for the vacant Under 19s coaching role back at Celtic. There might even be interest from Neil Lennon in talking to Broony about a stint in Cyprus and you could see the merit in Lenny not wanting his former captain to hang up his boot just yet. Maybe after such a long, distinguished and gloriously successful playing career Scott Brown will fancy a wee break before deciding in his next move.

Gordon Strachan spoke about what he’s been explaining to Scott Brown over the years on how to become a successful coach.
“Scott and I have conversations, talking about systems and coaches but I keep saying to him that every manager has their own style. The secret is getting good people and good players around you. Any time I see a club not doing so well it’s usually because the recruitment has brought people to the club that are causing the problem.
“Then you get the good people, guys who play their part and who want to get better. And then, every now and then, you get the gem. The gem is a guy who can make people around him great players. That is a gift. Scott has the ability to make the people around him great. That’s what he’s done over the last 15 years or so.”

Such is the bond between the two men that the former Celtic captain did not hesitate to answer Strachan’s call to come out of international retirement to play against England at Wembley in a World Cup qualifier.
“I didn’t talk him into coming back. In fact, I had to tell him, ‘You don’t have to do this for me, I’ll be fine.’ That’s for sure. But you know what he’s like. There was no holding him back.
“The thing about Scott is, he likes people. He likes being with people and he likes to see people doing well which is a wonderful thing when you are going into coaching. A lot of people go into coaching for themselves but the secret to being a great coach is being a bit like a doctor. You’re there to make other people better, not yourself.
“And that looks like being Broony’s next step. He’s great in the dressing room and that’s massively important. But he’s also great on the training field and the pitch. Some guys are only any good to you in one of those three places. The great ones can do it on all three. That’s Scott Brown all over.”