Scott Brown is one of the greatest captains in the history of Celtic and will forever remain a club icon. His Parkhead exit was less than what he deserved though. Broony left after the disaster that was the 2020/21 campaign, and said his goodbyes in an empty Parkhead. He would take up a coach-player role at Aberdeen after that, but it proved to be the wrong decision.
He would quietly hang up his boots after that and has since moved into management. He currently finds himself at League One side, Fleetwood Town, where he is earning a lot of plaudits and has already made club history, taking them into the 5th round of the FA Cup.
Could he become Celtic manager someday? That remains to be seen and will depend on how his managerial career goes from here on forward. Many fans have questioned the timing of his Parkhead exit as a player though, and believe that he could have played the role of a ‘leader’ in Ange Postecoglou’s Premiership and League Cup-winning side the next season.
But it looks like Broony did not want to be remembered as someone who was past his prime. As reported by 67 Hail Hail, he said in a podcast with Daily Record:
"“Him as a manager, his coaching style and his philosophy, yes (I’d have enjoyed working with Ange).“But I felt it was my time to leave Celtic, 100 per cent. I didn’t want to stay there and people remembered me being slow, old, can’t go out wide, got to stay within a four yard radius.“Even though I did that half my career! I was quick over that four yards! If people remember me, I want them to remember I had energy; bursting forward, winning trophies. I loved every single moment of it.“Being there and not playing games really, that would not have been for me. As soon as you drop from Celtic, it’s a huge drop and the harder it was going to be for myself.”"
Brown reveals why he decided to leave Celtic
It is true that Brown’s exit did not feel fitting for a legend of his magnitude. At the same time though, it was quite clear that his form was on the slide at that point of time.
Even in his last season at Celtic, he was nowhere near his best and did not feature as much as people would have expected him to. Thus, perhaps the timing was right after all and the Hoops needed a fresh start under the management of Postecoglou, with Callum McGregor as captain.
We can only wish Brown the best in his managerial career. And maybe we will see him back at Parkhead one day.