The sight of Scott Brown lifting silverware season after season routinely riled Rangers fan Barry Nicholson. That grin and the grip on the league trophy left Fleetwood’s first team coach fuming from afar.
Now Nicholson couldn’t be happier teaming up with born winner Broony - because he reckons that means surefire success for the Cod Army. Baz is part of the Fleetwood furniture having worked for a host of big-name bosses including Brown’s old foe Joey Barton. Chairman Andy Pilley loves a major profile manager and has landed another in the Celtic legend. Ex-Ger Steven Whittaker is No 2, assisted by Nicholson, while former Celtic defender Stephen Crainey is in charge of the development squad.
There’s harmony across the Old Firm divide at Highbury Stadium as Brown prepares to kickstart his managerial career at Port Vale on Saturday. Nicholson, a midfield opponent of Brown with Dunfermline, Aberdeen and Kilmarnock, said: “For at least nine years, a horrible part of following Rangers was watching Scott Brown lift that trophy every year. He was the scourge of me, he used to run the game all the time against my team.
“He was the mainstay in that Celtic side for so long. He still jokes now about just winning the ball back and giving it to better players. But we all know that’s doing himself a disservice, he was so good. I remember really good encounters between Aberdeen and Hibs when he’d just broken through.
“I played against him many times when he was at Celtic, too, he was horrible to play against. He never stopped going. In more recent years, I imagine Rangers players felt the same way I did playing against him. It’s going to be interesting here when that first Old Firm game comes around in September!
“Whitts had two spells at Hibs but is more a bluenose after being at Rangers. There’s a bit of a mix throughout the building, including the younger age groups. It’ll be interesting to see who gets those bragging rights this season!”
Nicholson played for Fleetwood in 2012/13 when Micky Mellon was gaffer and returned as development squad coach for Graham Alexander. He’s also worked with Steven Pressley, Uwe Rosler, John Sheridan, Barton and Simon Grayson.
Now he believes a big Brendan Rodgers influence can benefit Town, who only escaped relegation to League Two by goal difference in 2021/22.
Nicholson said: “It’s been great so far, the players have responded brilliantly to Scott, there’s a buy-in. The gaffer gets on well with the staff already here. He’s going to bring being a serial winner, he commands massive respect, I’ve seen that already.
“I feel he’s been preparing for this for a long time. He seems very organised, he’s got a way of playing. I personally think there’s a lot of stuff from Brendan at Celtic on the training pitch.
“That’s what young coaches do, take the best bits from who they’ve played for They had massive success and it sounds like the two of them got on brilliantly.
“He’ll add his little bits, how he wants things done. Standards and discipline will be massive, just what he was like as a player.”
Despite boasts from Barton, it was Brown who lorded it over his midfield rival in Glasgow when Celtic thrashed Mark Warburton’s Rangers 5-1. They’ll be dugout rivals for the first time in November when Fleetwood visit Bristol Rovers.
Nicholson grinned: “That meeting will be interesting, that will be funny. But, you know, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if they got together before that game, shook hands, chatted away in the office later and were brand new with each other.
“Out on the pitch playing is totally different to standing on the touchline as manager where you’ve got to show a bit of calmness and show there’s no carnage going on.
“People will say there’s a comparison between the two of them. If you don’t know them personally, you think they’re going to blow their top every time something goes wrong.
“But it’s not like that. Clint Hill was really good for Joey. I can see the same with Whitts for the gaffer. I got to know Joey really well. What I’ll say is they both prepared really well to be managers and that’s probably helped them going into their first jobs at this club.”
Brown, who signed Shaun Rooney from St Johnstone, goes into his League One debut after a 2-1 friendly win over Dundee United.
Nicholson added: “If we get a good start, get some confidence going then we could have a really good season. Mid-table or above could be a good position for us but I’d imagine the gaffer would want better.
"We don’t want to be anywhere near that relegation zone again, that’s for sure. We’re the longest-serving League One club, others have gone up or down but this will be our ninth season.
“The chairman wants sporting success but realises what we are, the club that gives academy players a chance as we’ve done in the last few years. We’ve brought them through and sold them on for money. We had to play a few in the first team last year because of injuries and that became difficult, we didn’t win enough games.
“He’s probably looked at Scott’s profile, it’s all about winning and that’s got to appeal to a chairman who wants to go home happy with three points on a Saturday night.”
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