Scott Brown has opened up on his approach to management insisting he is now a more "chilled" character than he was as a player.
The former Scotland and Celtic captain hung up his playing boots back in May 2022 as he started his new venture as a manager in his own right at Fleetwood Town.
Working under the likes of Gordon Strachan, Neil Lennon and Brendan Rodgers has stood Brown in good stead for his own career in management and he believes the experience of playing under such names has helped him to grasp a solid understanding of the game.
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He explained: “It was great watching all the managers at Celtic but you probably take it all a wee bit for granted because you walk into the training ground and everything is set up for you.
“You just move from one area to the other and you just enjoy training, work hard, and obviously don’t focus on what the drill is and what the dimensions of drills are depending on how many people there are.
“For me it was good to get that understanding of day-to-day routine at Aberdeen with Stephen Glass, going out setting pitches up and getting a grip on what you see in games, how you analyse it, and the meeting process as well.
“You’ve got to get that little bit of the understanding of being in a coaches’ room instead of me just being thrown in the deep end.
“Stephen Glass got the opportunity at Aberdeen, so I went and learned a lot from him. The day-to-day coaching, as in how big you make areas, the size of boxes, games, and watching what he does.”
Fleetwood are currently 12th in England’s League One and they enjoyed an impressive FA Cup run this term too as they made it all the way to the fifth round stage before being knocked out by Championship high flyers Burnley.
On his approach to management, Brown continued: “Everyone knew what I was like in the dressing room. I was a big personality, had a little bit of banter, enjoyed the craic with the lads, and enjoyed doing the fines and stuff like that.
“As soon as I crossed that white line, I loved training and I always trained to win. It becomes a little bit of a different situation because now matchdays are the easiest day for me.
“I pick the team the day before, everything’s setup, the squad is announced and I’m there to do a team talk and it’s on the lads to go and perform and hopefully they’ve taken a lot of what we’ve done in training on to the pitch on a Saturday.
“I know it is stressful during the game but the lead-up to the game is really quite easy and that’s probably the easiest day for us.
“I’m more chilled out than most people would think I am. It’s more about the team. It’s not about me losing the plot here and there and showing I can shout. Everyone knows you can shout.
“It’s about understanding the tactics, the changes of shape and the personnel. After the game, it’s either ‘brilliant, you’ve got a couple of days off lads,’ or ‘you are in in the morning.’
“I give the lads a month-to-month schedule so they know the script and we rarely pull away from it unless we get a game thrown in here or there.”
Brown still watches on from afar as his beloved Celtic battle it out on a weekly basis under the leadership of Ange Postecoglou and he is a big fan of the Aussie’s personality and style of play.
Asked if he would like to have played under the current Parkhead boss, Brown said: “I think I would have. I’m not so sure I would enjoy playing for him at 37. I’d be struggling to keep up with the lads, that’s for sure. His recruitment has been exceptional.
“There’s been a lot of British people coming to the club from England and Ireland as well. But he’s got great recruitment. I know he was over in Japan for a time, and he would have seen and understood what they are like.
“You can see how well the players that have come over and bought into his understanding of the way he wants to play football and the way the club is as well.
“If I could steal a couple of his players I’d rather have that than pick his brains! He was fantastic with me when I came back to Celtic Park with Aberdeen.
“He said to walk around the stadium and go and take the applause that you are due. That’s not for me doing that with another strip on. But even small details like that and other managers I’ve spoken to speak really highly of him as well.”
On the buzz of winning as a manager compared to that of playing, Brown added: “You still get that buzz as a manager because you’ve set up the lads and the way they have worked.
“Whether it’s rotation or a change of shape or a change of personnel if it comes off you know you’ve made the right choice and you get a buzz because you’ve made the right decision at the right time.
“I’ve made a couple of wrong decisions too but I’m young, I’m learning and there’s no better place for me to learn.”
Scott Brown was speaking ahead of his event with Mika Lustig at the OVO Hydro on May 18. You can purchase tickets HERE.
