Scott Brown never once stole a living as a footballer. He jokingly admits that he has pilfered everything he knows when it comes to football management.
The former Celtic and Scotland midfielder saw his first crack at being a boss come to an abrupt end after just 15 months when he was sacked as manager of English League One outfit Fleetwood Town. Brown was not burned by the experience. He doesn’t bear any emotional scars.
If anything it has made him all the more determined to do it better next time on the proviso that another club takes a chance and lets him loose in the technical area. The unforgiving nature of the EFL saw Brown on a steep learning curve with Fleetwood after being appointed head coach in May 2022.
Despite guiding Fleetwood to the fifth round of the FA Cup – a run that was stopped by Vincent Kompany’s Burnley – and lifting them from 20th to a respectable 13th-place finish in the table in the 2022/23 season he was still relieved of his duties after a poor start to the 2023/2 campaign which saw the side take a solitary point from their opening six league games.
Having served under the likes of Bobby Williamson, Tony Mowbray, John Collins, Gordon Strachan, Ronny Deila, Brendan Rodgers, Neil Lennon, Walter Smith, Alex McLeish, George Burley, Billy Stark and Craig Levein at both club and international level, Brown’s football knowledge is as impressive as it is extensive.
He has not been idle since being laid off either as he revealed that he recently spent time watching and studying Davie Moyes at West Ham as well as ex-Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham and he was glad to report that even the best coaches around are still learning the game and developing their managerial techniques.
Brown said: “I’ve stolen everything from all the coaches and managers I’ve had in the past. Steven (Whittaker) was the same and so was Baz (Barry Nicholson).
“We were sitting chatting about it when we first went in. I said ‘Everything I’ve got, I’ve stolen’. A guy fae Fife, you can believe it as well!
“If you ask the top managers, they stole from somebody else as well. You take the small details and you might manipulate them a little bit. At the same time, there is no right and no wrong way. If you win a game on Saturday nobody is going to say ‘You didn’t make this pass’ or ‘You should have done this or that’. That is all forgotten about and you just go on to the next game.
“The coaches do think we could have done this better, or we could have worked better. Fans think ‘I don’t care how you won’. Everyone has their way they want to play and fans will have their way as well. Some supporters will want to go direct and put the ball in the box, and play a percentage game, but then some other fans will want to adopt the proper way Celtic play.
“I was down seeing Ange Postecoglou and Davie Moyes as well. They couldn’t have been any better with me coming in. They have two different ways of playing football. Ange presses extremely high, is very dynamic, high up the park, and puts teams under pressure. Davie is more of a mid to low-block and catches teams on the counter. It shows there is no right or wrong way and every manager has his way they want to play.
“For me, it is good to learn both ways and then I can learn where I want to be. That’s what Davie said, he said don’t get pulled into anyone else’s way and thought process, just be your own person.
“When I spoke to Davie and Ange about that they’ve changed as well because they can’t be who they were 15 or 20 years ago.
Celtic Way: Scott Brown
“Even I see that the game has changed dramatically in that the players have more power, there is social media, you have to move forward. That is what top managers do and that’s why they have been so successful over the years. I’ve changed from who I was 15 to 20 years ago as I am definitely a lot more mellow.
“The EFL was relentless. The average time for a manager in League One is about 15-18 months. So you need a bit of time and faith from the board.
“I would have found out if I was cut out for management in the first couple of months! Some managers have lasted maybe five or ten games. For me, I had the luxury of being there for 15 months. We had two pre-season and it was a good experience. It was a good grounding and it was helpful for me going forward.”
READ MORE: Celtic legend Scott Brown admits he’ll manage ‘anywhere
Ironically Brown’s biggest challenge now is to convince somebody that he’s worthy of employment again. The 38-year-old hasn’t had too many setbacks in a trophy-laden career that saw him lift 10 Scottish Premiership titles, six Scottish Cups, seven Scottish League Cups and earn 55 caps for Scotland and scoring four goals.
When he left Celtic after 14 wonderful years he was bestowed with the moniker – Captain. Leader. Legend. That’s all well and good but it won’t sustain him now and Brown is well aware that he is not the only one out there trying to carve out a living as a football manager. From experience, he knows that he’s up against some managerial heavyweights every time he applies for a position or sends in his CV to clubs on spec. With age comes wisdom as they say and Brown insists that he won’t just jump at the first offer that comes along because he was guilty at Fleetwood of diving in because he wanted to kickstart his new managerial career.
He said: “I was a bit devastated to be fair, the way I didn’t get the chance to give it a couple of months more to get through. They wanted to change and have new personnel in charge so by all means do so. The experience at Fleetwood was really good, especially the first season. We enjoyed it and we were all on the same page. The second season was tougher but we’ll bounce back and go again. It was a huge learning curve for myself, Steven and Barry. We really enjoyed it and we took Fleetwood from 20th position to 13th. It was a good first season. Everyone’s still learning. If I went into it again, I’d probably do some things differently.
“Fleetwood didn’t see me as the manager to take them forward and they wanted someone else. That’s part and parcel of football. I don’t doubt myself. No, as soon as they phoned me that was me, I was done with them. I hold no grudge against any of them. They had to do their job, I did my job, and at the end of the day, I wish them all the success in the world.
“The problem now is that everyone wants a job. So many older, experienced managers are out of work. You need a bit of luck. You need someone to take you as seriously as a manager who had 30-odd years in the game. I have only had 15 months in the job compared to someone who has been in and around the Championship or League One for the past 20 years.
“I will try to get in as quick as possible but at the same time you have to make sure it’s the right club at the right time, you don’t want to just dive into anything and then realise it’s a culture shock or they don’t have any money or any budget or players are tied to long-term contracts and you can’t get them out.
“You have to make sure you have that understanding of the whole club. That is maybe something I understand a little bit better now. I probably didn’t do that at my first club but I was also really keen to get in the first door. I’ve been chilling. I’ve applied for a few jobs but nothing is flying just now, it’s been quiet. I enjoyed the festive period and the time off. It’s been a while since I had that long off. I’m looking to see what’s out there. I’m not a house husband!”
Celtic Way:
You can’t keep a good man down so they say. Rather than being soured by the whole Fleetwood episode Brown insists that when he gets back into football management he’ll continue to do it his way and stick rigidly to his principles and football philosophy.
He said: “The biggest thing I have learned is to stick by my morals and no one else’s. I knew what I was doing but probably fell into the trap of what other people might think. There’s no right or wrong way. It’s about understanding how I want to play.
“Sometimes I’d play a different way, either due to personnel or other people on the outside getting inside my head a bit. I hope I’ll be a better manager the next time I go in. It was a huge learning curve and I believe I’ve grown as a coach and as a person. Now, I need an opportunity to go again. If I get that bit of faith, I have to repay it.”
Scott Brown was speaking at a Scottish Gas media event. Scottish Gas is the proud partner of the Scottish Cup.
