Iconic Celtic skipper Scott Brown has confessed he likely should have called time on his trophy-laden playing career after coming up short in the search of 10 consecutive titles.
The now Fleetwood Town boss endured a rare misstep when he teamed up with close pal Stephen Glass as player/coach in the Granite City. But his double duty didn't pay off as he was stripped of his assistant manager title after Glass was sacked. And successor Jim Goodwin then called time on Brown's stint with the Dons shortly after taking the reins in March of this year.
Now Brown, for the first time, concedes it may have been time to hang up his boots after Rangers and Steven Gerrard denied Celtic a historic run of league triumphs. Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: We didn’t win ‘the 10’ at Celtic, and I knew I was wanting to leave. I got that opportunity to go into coaching, to help Stephen Glass in Aberdeen.
“I should maybe have retired then, but I wanted to go and try to show I still had it. I did in a couple of games, but to do the Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday and Wednesday – it definitely takes a lot out of you.
“I enjoyed my time up in Aberdeen, it was a great insight into understanding a coaching role and learning. It was the right time for me to retire, even though I had 14 months left on my contract. I had retired three or four days and had the opportunity to come down to Fleetwood.”
Many viewed punditry as the next move for Brown to ponder his next step but he reckons some upgrades would have been needed to become Kris Boyd's on-air sparring partner. And he is convinced he made the right call to swerve the studio for a change in England's League One.
He added: “I’d have had to get my teeth done, like Boydy did. Nah, Boydy’s brilliant on the telly, he knows the game inside out, especially the Scottish game. He deserves it, he’s a great lad, we got on really well.
“For me, what I wanted to do going down the line was always become a coach – I’ve done the punditry a couple of times. I get more love, more enjoyment out of being on the field and seeing the lads and being there on a matchday and prepping.
“It was the right time for me to do this and I couldn’t have started at a better club. For us it’s about growing the club and trying to get as high up the table as we possibly can.”
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