Former Manchester City, Leeds United and England defender Danny Mills has told Football Insider that Scott Brown could end his Celtic playing career at the end of the season and become a youth team coach.
Brown is approaching his late 30s and has been touted for a coaching role for some time, but the Premier League defender advises the club not to add the skipper to their backroom staff because of his lack of coaching experience and strong ties to the squad.
Scott Brown is out of contract at the end of the season and reportedly claimed that he was offered a coaching role at Paradise if he wished to retire from playing. Mills feels that the youth set up may be a more suitable option for the Celtic legend though. When asked if Brown should be kept at the club, he said: “As long as the relationship is okay between him (Brown) and the new manager coming in. Maybe have him around in the youth team, lower down.”
Broony worked with the Celtic development squad in the past. He has been seen on the touchline in the Glasgow Cup Finals of recent years. Mills explains why that role may be a better starting point:
“Coaching is completely different to playing. You can be the greatest leader on the pitch, you can be the best captain ever like Brown but suddenly changing from that to coaching is a completely different skill set and a completely different job. I don’t think people always fully appreciate that. It’s very, very hard to go from one to the other.”
The ex-England star also spoke about some of the internal issues that going from captain to coach may present.
“He’s still got ties with all those players. A new manager coming in who is going to do an overhaul will want a little bit of distance to make clear decisions.
“Maybe put him in the youth team but I wouldn’t suggest he would be a first team coach.”
