Scott Brown has admitted there will come a time when he will be desperate to get back into the cut and thrust of professional football. The Celtic legend is on somewhat of a hiatus from the game, after being recently being relieved of his duties at manager of Fleetwood Town. The former Scotland international finished off his playing career a couple of years back and went straight into management from the off.
Both he and former Hibees teammate, Steven Whittaker, set up camp at the League One club and attempted to cut their teeth in the coaching business. It was not to be enough though as external factors and an injury crisis hit hard and both men were thanked for their efforts and sent on the way. The ex-midfield anchor man and decorated captain of Celtic reckons he didn’t let it breathe after he retired and could do with some time away from the training pitch for a while.
As reported by Edinburgh Evening News, he said: “Steven and me, we knew what we wanted to do,” he said. “We knew we had to make sure the sessions worked – and we planned them inch perfect. But nobody tells you there are going to be injuries, that you’ll have people missing – then you’ve got a chairman going to jail! We still managed to take the lads to the fifth round of the FA Cup in the first season, the first time that’s happened in the club’s history. We finished 13th in the league and were going from strength to strength.
“Even with injuries at the start of the season, we were still in every single game. It was a little bit of a shock when we had to part ways but it’s football, I’ve no problem with that. Somebody else comes in, a new chairman sees a different pathway. That happens in football.
“I went straight from playing into management, I didn’t give myself four or five months just to chill,” he said, adding: “I will get itchy feet eventually. When that comes, I’ll throw my name into a few things.”
Whilst the Hoops legend has been enjoying his time away from it all, he’s also been keeping a keen eye on events within the Scottish National set-up and the journey Steve Clarke and his men are currently on. On his countries recent success in qualification to another major tournament, Brown said: “I think the win over Spain at Hampden will have put every team at the Euros on alert, because the lads were exceptional in that game. They were compact, aggressive, got in their faces. That’s what Scotland have to do against top quality sides. If you give them room and respect, give them time on the ball, yeah, they will eventually find a way through you.”
The 38-year-old continued: “So we might have to sit in a mid to low block at times, which is fine. But, when we can get pressure on the ball, we need to do that – and, under Steve Clarke, it’s what these lads have done really, really well. I think, when they get to the finals, you’ve got to make sure the lads don’t get too carried away. They’ve had a fantastic campaign, especially starting with five wins out of five.”
He added: “I would really have liked to have seen Scott McTominay’s goal against Spain stand. The free-kick in the away game. Then we would have seen how Scotland managed to deal with that – but also seen how the Spanish lads managed to deal with that pressure. If we go and win that game, we could be going in as top seeds in the competition, which would have been exceptional. I take nothing away from what the lads have done, they’ve been brilliant in this campaign. And that’s Steve Clarke managed to get two qualifications under his belt, which is brilliant.”
Paul Gillespie
