Scott Brown finds himself without a club and Brendan Rodgers is predicting a return to Celtic – but not for a little while yet.
Brown’s time at Aberdeen was cut abruptly short earlier this week, leaving the club following the exit of his old pal Stephen Glass.
With a lessened role under new Aberdeen boss Jim Goodwin, Brown wanted out of Aberdeen and has now been let go.
So what next for Brown?
He hasn’t officially ended his playing days but certainly wants to have a strong pathway to enhance his coaching career.
Some wondered whether Brown would join former Celtic boss Neil Lennon in Cyprus with Omonia Nicosia, but that doesn’t seem likely.
Brendan Rodgers is willing to help Brown, extending an invitation to his former Celtic captain to go and visit Leicester City.
That could be appealing to Brown, but we have to be real here – there will be plenty of chatter about a return to Celtic.
Brown was an absolute icon at Celtic and The Scottish Sun claim that Celtic are willing to open up a job for Brown to make a return.
That would likely see Brown coaching in the Celtic youth setup, which may not be what Brown has in mind having been in contention for the St Mirren job.
Rodgers has now commented on Brown’s situation, speaking to the Daily Record about the 36-year-old.
Rodgers thinks Brown will ‘definitely’ have a pathway to return to Celtic and rise up as a coach, but doesn’t think now is the right time.
The Northern Irishman noted that Celtic have a strong coaching staff already, praising the team around Ange Postecoglou.
Rodgers does though think that Brown can match Billy McNeill in terms of captaining Celtic and then becoming their manager down the line and actually wants to help make that happen by passing on some tips to Brown now.
“I do think that one day that could be the position for him but I’m not sure it’s the best step for him to go back right now,” said Rodgers. “If you look at it, Ange is doing a great job and he’s very clear in how he works. Then, behind him, you’ve got a brilliant coach in John Kennedy who is there to support the manager and you also have Gavin Strachan and Stephen McManus.”
“So you have good coaches there already and, below that, it’s always been Celtic’s way to bring through their own young coaches. I’m not saying Scott wouldn’t be a great addition to that. He would. And I’m not saying he needs to put distance between himself and the club either. It’s about him having the time to allow him to grow and develop in his career, wherever that is.”
“But I definitely think there will be a pathway for him to go back to the club at some point in the future. He’s obviously been a fantastic player and captain of the club and he could go on to follow in the footsteps of Big Billy. I’m pretty sure if Brownie really wants to do that then I think he will do it. But it’s about building up the skill set to best enable him to become the manager of Celtic and deal with the pressures and the expectations he’ll then encounter,” he added.
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