Neil Lennon says there’s a coaching job for Scott Brown at Celtic as soon as he stops playing

Parkhead boss reckons it would have been a ‘disaster’ if skipper had moved to Australia

Manager Neil Lennon says that Scott Brown is his go-to guy in the Celtic squad. Picture: Craig Foy/SNS

As the coronavirus pandemic has brought a grinding halt to normal life, a credo of these testing times has become that they offer up the opportunity to reflect on what is really important. If asked to perform such a reflection with respect to his football club, Celtic manager Neil Lennon wouldn’t need to pause before uttering the name of Scott Brown.

The 34-year-old club captain was once more proving the driving force for a team that had within their grasp a ninth straight title and a fourth straight treble before football was suspended. And for the latter half of a career in which he has claimed 21 major honours, the old head has exerted an influence on and off the pitch unrivalled among any Scottish-based players of his generation.

And Lennon has revealed that when the ageing process leads to Brown being no longer able to inspire and cajole the men around him as an on-field presence, he will not be unstitched from the fabric of the club but remain a security blanket. The footballer who sets the tone will evolve into the coach who serves this same function.

“I wasn’t here at the time, but when I heard the talk about him possibly going to Australia [last season], I thought it would have been a disaster,” said the Celtic boss. “As far as I am concerned when he stops playing there will be a coaching role for Scott here at the club. I would offer him something straight away. For me, it is the obvious path for him in the future. He is doing his badges at the minute and I would definitely want him around the place when he stops playing.”

Brown could easily follow Lennon to one day become Celtic manager. Both possess the personalities to command and demand standards from those around them. Each new arrival to the club now cites Brown as the figure who settles and schools them in the ways of the club. The impetuous and temperamentally challenged 21-year-old who joined from Hibernian in 2007 has been replaced by a veteran performer whose example is to be followed.

“He sets the template at this club for all of the players,” said Lennon. “In training he still has that great desire to work hard and all the boys take their lead from him as their captain. You can’t give him that, or coach that into someone, it is built in him. He wants to keep pushing himself, but also the team on to bigger and better things.

“During this spell of not playing, and when we do have games coming up, if he suspects even the slightest bit of complacency then he will nip it in the bud straight away. Players listen to him and he is a great role model to the players.”

The Celtic manager also listens to Brown, now a valued intermediary between the squad and the coaching staff. Lennon has no qualms about recognising his captain as his manager on the pitch.

“I speak to Scott all the time about things,” said the Celtic manager, who had Brown as his captain in his first spell in charge, that covered four years from 2010. “He is my go-to guy in the squad about a range of subjects.

“I couldn’t ask for a better captain than him, to be honest. He tells you how the dressing room is feeling about a certain situation or whatever and you go from there.

“He has a bigger role this time around than in my first spell. He is a few years older and he has won so much in the game. He has led the squad to so much success and he has matured into a great lad and great player so it is only right I speak to him about things.”

Speaking about the day when Brown will require to pack away his armband is not a conversation the pair need to have any time soon. Not when the midfielder has been performing as impressively on a consistent basis in the past year as at any stage in his 30-plus period. A five-month pause in his career, as would appear the Covid-19 outbreak will result in, could indeed extend his playing days.

“He is looking well and he has had a great season,” Lennon said. “He will be around next year that’s for sure. I think he would be a huge loss to us as a club if he stopped playing. This wee break might do him the world of good.”