Scott Brown and the St Johnstone snub that's no surprise as 5 hints at Celtic legend's future hide in plain sight
Scott Brown has told Ayr United he won't be walking out for the St Johnstone job. And that should come as no surprise as he's made it clear he's a grounded manager with high ambitions.
Brown was one of at least four serious contenders to replace Craig Levein but Record Sport broke the story on Wednesday that he will remain committed to Ayr and their push for the Premiership. He's been talked up in the past as a future Celtic manager, for obvious reasons as a legendary Hoops captain, and while his ill-fated stint at Fleetwood was a major blow to those ambitions, he's going in the right direction again with Ayr one of the favourites for promotion this season.
Speaking back in April, he addressed one day becoming the Parkhead boss in the clearest terms yet. And he wasn't shying away from the fact it's an ambition of his if his career goes to plan. He told the BBC's Scottish Football podcast: "I think I need to just worry about myself. At Celtic what I've done and how I’ve played, that’s all in the past. You don’t become the manager because you just played at Celtic. You’ve not got the right to manage Celtic. You have to go and earn it."
It's clear Brown sees his best path to 'earning it' in that respect is by being a success at Ayr. Speaking three months into his tenure in Ayrshire, he went on: "You have to be qualified because you’ve taken good quality players who have a good IQ about the game, and you need to make sure you can make them better. And you have to also have that passion to the fans. Yeah, I have got that understanding about what they want and how the club works, but you have to drive them.”
Brown has been asked about his ambition to one day follow in Brendan Rodgers' footsteps ever since he went into management in his own right. Speaking to PLZ Soccer shortly after his appointment at Fleetwood, he said: "You never know in football. You need to do a good job at the club you're at. I need to make sure I'm on the ball and the lads are on it in training. So far, the lads have enjoyed it, but going forward, we need good results."
And he told the Fleetwood website: "I'm a young manager, I'll make mistakes, but hopefully my knowledge of the game will help out with that.
"I've got an assistant who is quite young as well. The two of us are learning, we're going to lean a bit on Stephen Crainey, who has been here for a long time and done fantastic for the club. He knows the league very well and the lads too. There's a lot of studying to do for us."
That didn't exactly go to plan for him, biting the bullet in his second season, but he said while he was between jobs that he would go 'anywhere.' The St Johnstone job would likely have appealed to him then; but after nine months at Ayr and his career heading upwards again, it seems not so much now.
He said late last year: “I’m trying to get back in. I’ve had a bit of time off and been around a few clubs. I went to West Ham and Spurs, I have got another couple of clubs to get around to as well. I’m just trying to learn as much as I possibly can.
“I’ll apply for a few jobs and see what is out there. Hopefully somebody wants a youngish manager who wants to play the way we can but also win games as well. I would go anywhere. There are no ifs and buts, I would literally go and speak with anyone. I don’t really have that ego of feeling I’m too good for anything when I was in League One and got sacked! So I’m willing to listen to anything or go and speak to anyone.”