Brendan Rodgers won’t be squaring up with Scott Brown this weekend after all. But the Celtic boss is convinced it’s only a matter of time before they do meet as dugout rivals.
Brown turned down the chance to be St Johnstone boss this week – and the opportunity of a debut crack at the club where he holds legendary status. Rodgers wasn’t surprised at the decision as he revealed his former captain was on the blower to talk about the big opportunity to manage in the Premiership.
The advice given will remain between the pair but it’s fair to say the Hoops boss told his old favourite to bide his time and build on his superb start to life at Ayr United. It might not be too long before they do get to slug it out as gaffers anyway and Rodgers reckons his current captain Callum McGregor might be making a similar phone call to him in the future.
Rodgers said: “Probably. He’s on that trajectory. If I’m still here and want it then we may well do. I think for him to manage at the top level here in Scotland. It’s only a matter of time. Whether that’s with Ayr or someone else it’s a matter of time.
“It was an open conversation and all I ever do is recommend. I would never tell anyone what to do when they ask advice. He knows his own mind. He knows that he’s got a few people he can reach out to just to get a different perspective.
“Scott’s doing a fantastic job at Ayr, him and Stephen (Whittaker) and his staff are doing really well there. They’ve obviously lifted Ayr into a really good place having joined them last season. I think for Scott there’s no rush. I’ve got no doubt he’ll be a really successful manager.
“For Scott it’s not about a club for his next step, it’s about the right club. I always think that, especially when you’re a young manager, getting to the right club is important. But not if you’re already at a good club. He’s at a good club and he’s happy. I wasn’t surprised that he didn’t take it.
“When you’re a young manager it’s about balancing ambition and it feels like you might want to make a move while making sure it is a live move. I was probably in my younger days guilty of it. I was in a rush to get to the Premier League because it’s the most competitive league in the world and it’s a challenge. But obviously when you can sit back and have more information and more knowledge and experience then you can probably look at it a lot clearer. I think ambition is important. I think you have to have that.
“But the ambition can be for the club you’re in and the people you work with as well as yourself. I just see him in a really good place. I don’t think there’s any doubt he’ll manage at the highest level. It’s all about timing and at the right time. I’m very, very confident that he will get there.”
Did Rodgers see Brown as management material when he arrived at Parkhead in 2016? He wouldn’t quite say. But he certainly saw the potential in the former midfield general by the time he left first time around.
He said: “I’d only seen this snarling guy on the telly that I used to watch! Then when I first met him I found out he was totally different. We obviously clearly had a really, really strong relationship in our time here. You need your captain and your manager to be tight.
“I had no doubt his leadership qualities were immense. I just felt that if he wanted to do that it’s something he could absolutely do. He had that first little taste of it at Fleetwood. He’d been really brave coming out of Scotland and going down into the leagues in England.
“He took on that challenge to understand and find that apprenticeship as a manager because that is important as well. You have to learn the trade. He’s obviously come back up here and done a very, very good job so far.”
Rodgers can see Brown’s path and this week he’ll go up against another one of his former players in Borussia Dortmund’s Nuri Sahin, who he had on loan from Real Madrid when he was Liverpool boss. And down the line there’s at least another one of his current charges he can picture prowling the touchline one day.
Rodgers said: “I look at the likes of Callum. He can be a manager if he wants to be later on. It’s the big what if. I think playing and coaching and management are three totally different things. When you’re coaching you’re giving opinions and you’re working with the players. When you’re managing you’re making decisions. It’s a totally different set up. I’ve got some fantastic players here that in their own right may want to go down that route.
“But it’s not always the ones that clearly stand out that become the manager. “I’m sure there’s plenty of players that will tell you that they would have thought someone was going to be a manager and they’ve gone on and done ever so well. I would look at Callum as a start point and think that when the time comes for him if he wants to go down that route then he certainly shows a lot of the facets that you would need to manage and coach.”