Scott Brown knew the time had come to hang up his boots.
An evening of Tynecastle torment as an Aberdeen player confirmed he had made the right decision. And one year on, Brown recognises that huge career call as the best switch of his life. The Celtic legend is 12 months retired this week and has no regrets about quitting the Dons early.
The final game of his glittering 20-year career was a 2-0 defeat to Hearts. Brown admits that was a nightmare way to bow out but, long-term, it was a brilliant idea. For it led to him fully concentrating on being a boss before landing up at Fleetwood Town. He’s loving life as gaffer of the Cod Army who are marching up the League One table and in FA Cup fifth-round action at Burnley on Wednesday. On the equivalent midweek in 2022, Brown gave it one last shot for Dons even though he knew he’d leave Pittodrie. "That year has gone quite quickly,” Brown reflected. “It was definitely the right time for me to retire. I’m not a big fan of having to man-mark people when I’m 36!
“My job might’ve been to catch Barrie McKay that night – I’m not sure that one was for me. Having to get one-on-one is never going to be fun at my age. I didn’t want that experience to be my last game but there comes a point in time. I already knew I was leaving. I made my decision before that game.”
Jim Goodwin had just replaced sacked Stephen Glass who, 11 months earlier, persuaded Brown to ink a player/coach pre-contract at Pittodrie. Goodwin made it clear Brown’s coaching progress would stall in his reign but the veteran midfielder knew that reverting to full-time player wouldn’t work either. Brown reckons the writing was on the wall when he interviewed for Goodwin’s old job shortly after the Irishman exited Paisley for Pittodrie.
Brown said: “I said I’d help out as much as I could and try to be the same player I was. But I was never going to be the player most people thought I’d be. I’d gone up there for Stephen, to learn and do as much as I possibly could.
“So for me not to help out coaching and to take a step back was always going to be hard. I didn’t want to take anything away from Jim, a new manager coming into the club. I’m a big personality, I didn’t want any falling out. It probably didn’t help that I went for the St Mirren job. As soon as I went back up the road, it was always a hard one. The new manager was in place, I come back in and Jim probably thought I was that guy who wanted his job.
“But I never did. I didn’t even have my ‘A’ licence at the time. I was just in the process of going through it in the months to come. I needed to make sure I knew, in the long-term more than anything, what I was wanting to do.
“So it was the right time. It was probably the best decision I made in my life because it’s given me the chance at Fleetwood. I don’t think I could’ve picked a better club to start out.”
St Mirren initially fancied Brown or Steven Naismith but ultimately plumped for experience with former Motherwell boss Stephen Robinson. Brown said: “Dave (Cormack) said it was up to me, I could go down and see how it went. To be fair, it was very positive at the start but it was taking its time. And you know what happens when things take their time.
“But it was good for me on my learning curve, to sit and speak to a boardroom. I have to thank St Mirren a lot for that. They made a good decision too because they’re doing really well.
“I enjoyed my time at Aberdeen. It was cut a little bit too short and sad that it ended the way it did because I felt that we were starting to build something. There were always going to be bumps in the road. I didn’t get much coaching time but I learned and understood what happens day-to-day.”
