I loved Scott Brown as a Celtic player, and especially as a Celtic captain, and I hope he does very well as a coach. The path may lead back to Celtic one day, but we’re not going to know that for years.
He’s doing well at Fleetwood, but a manager can’t move from Fleetwood to Celtic unless he’s done something absolutely exceptional there, like climbing multiple divisions and doing so in a certain style. An Eddie Howe type of achievement.
If Brown goes to a bigger club and continues to do well on that bigger stage, then his claim starts to become more real and more credible. He is an exceptional man and an exceptional leader. Whether he becomes an exceptional manager remains to be seen.
In the meantime, the last thing he needs is anyone talking him up as a “future Celtic boss.”
I know why people say it. But the same tag was applied to Larsson when he got his first manager’s job, and he didn’t end up anywhere. We’ve had great captains before, like Paul Lambert, who went into management and there was a presumption that we would see them again … and all I can say is that thank God neither of those guys ever sat in our dugout as boss.
The memories I’ve had of those guys I would quite like to keep intact. It’s better for those guys too that we never saw our relationships with them, as magnificent servants to the club, scored out by failures in management.
We remember them for the good they did, and nothing will erase that. Scott Brown deserves the same respect until he rises to the level where he can genuinely push his claim, and if that day comes he’ll be welcomed with open arms.
The pressure of being a presumptive Liverpool boss has crushed Gerrard. He knows now that it will never come to pass. He can kid himself on that his career will recover from the decision to move to the Saudi League but that’s really all he’s doing.
His sacking at Villa was bad, but he was entitled not to give up on the dream because every top boss has suffered a reversal like that. He’s wised up to the fact that he isn’t a top boss and never will be.
Brown, I think, will certainly be a better manager than Gerrard.
He is learning his trade at a small club and I think that’s a creditable journey which everyone who wants to be a top boss should take. Go where there’s no expectation and do something unreal. Build a team in your own image. Play the role of the hero. Learn on the job and grow.
In the meantime, he doesn’t need the pressure.
I’m sure he never thinks beyond his next game and his next result. I am sure that when he considers his possible return to Celtic it is as something possible but not certain, and that he works towards it rather than assuming that it will come to him.
He was a model pro on the field, and he appears to be the same off it.
If he’s good enough, he’ll be here when he’s ready.
For his own sake, and ours, not a minute before.