There’s a feeling that Scott Brown might be projecting when he ponders the arduous nature of the Aberdeen job for a young manager such as Barry Robson.

A man it was suggested could have struggled to be in charge of the Pittodrie side for Sunday’s Viaplay Cup final had he not ended a seven-game winless run with a 2-1 home Premiership victory over Hearts at the weekend. Brown believes his former employees, and “Dave” as he refers to chairman Dave Cormack, deserve credit both for hiring his one-time team-mate and then not firing him as they posted only three league wins from their first 14 outings. “Now you have four games and then Twitter erupts. Everyone listens to Twitter, the club sacks the manager, gets someone else in and starts again,” Brown said of the lot for first-time managers, the 22-honour-snaring storied Celtic captain manager at Fleetwood Town for little over a year, only for a solitary point from their first five games of this season to see him jettisoned. “They don’t get the two or three transfer windows that they probably need to go and build a squad and make the players a little bit better.”

He acknowledges the club with which he ended his career has given significant backing in the transfer market to Robson, who can deliver a mighty return on that at Hampden on Sunday. Brown jokes that the like-minded combative midfielder who was “horrible” to play against – “his elbows were everywhere and he had that arrogance of knowing he was a good player” – is a perfect fit for his current post in being Aberdonian in all respects: upbringing, looks and manner. He could add another facet to that, with Robson’s two wins and a draw in three managerial outings against final opponents Rangers suggesting he gets the need to stick it to the club despised by the Aberdeen fanbase above all others. Obviously that came naturally to Brown in his playing twilight. He believes Rangers cannot afford not to lose the final – “it would be a real kick to them”.

Scott Brown believes defeat for Rangers in the Viaplay Cup final is unthinkable for them but that his old club Aberdeen will be encouraged by their recent form against the Ibrox side that they can produce an upset. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

The edge for the occasion will be positively serrated, and the 38-year-old drools over that. “It’s a huge game, but it’s not enough to just play well against Rangers,” he said, recalling how even in his 2021-22 season at Pittodrie, the “underdogs” did that. "Every single Aberdeen player understands what that game means to the club and what it means to supporters as well. There has been a little bit of hatred between the two sets of fans over the years. A nasty streak. It’s a great football spectacle for 90 minutes when it’s like that. [But] you don’t want any trouble afterwards, after the game you forget about it and go your separate ways.”

What Brown is sure he won’t see at the national stadium this weekend is a penalty for Aberdeen. It is 30 years since the match-up, across all competitions, produced one in Glasgow for the team from the north. Indeed, Brown was in the Aberdeen team the last time Rangers conceded a spot-kick in the league, which came at Pittodrie in January 2022, the Ibrox men spared any in the subsequent 71 top flight encounters. “None, on those stats” is his assessment of the chances the final could end the aforementioned two-decade penalty wait for the Pittodrie side. “Is that the last time they conceded a penalty?” he said of Rangers’ league sequence without giving one. “I’ve been retired that long… since they last had a penalty against them [in the league]? That’s incredible, eh? It’s good to see VAR is working well…”

Brown is circumspect about finding himself in the thick of such decision-making again as a manager. He found it refreshing to be removed from the Celtic-Rangers rivalry bleeding into his life away from football on his English sojourn and is currently in “no rush” to be back at the sharp end as he enjoys family time. As for a Scottish club acquiring his services, he states the question has yet to be asked as his name is linked with the vacant managerial post at Queen’s Park. One manager he is convinced will find the answers to present difficulties is former Celtic mentor Brendan Rodgers, who is having fingers pointed at him following defeat to Kilmarnock. The January transfer window, where he will “move out and move in” a number of players, is key to doing so as he sees it. The Ayrshire loss he considers was a bad day on a plastic pitch against an opponent who played well against visitors crucially denuded.

“I think [Cameron] Carter-Vickers is a big miss for them because he is the core of that defence,” the Parkhead club icon said. “He keeps Liam Scales, Nat Phillips intact, he leads by example at the back, he is composed, very good, on the ball and will build attacks. The thing is you can squeeze the line with him because he is quick, strong and believes in himself. It becomes a different game with Nat and Liam. He is a huge miss. You are missing [Liel] Abada, [Reo] Hatate and [Daizen] Maeda – that is four key players that Celtic are missing. And they are still doing well, still sitting top of the league.” You can take the man out of Celtic…

Aberdeen's Scott Brown (right) speaks to Rangers' James Tavernier during a match in 2022.

Scott Brown was promoting Viaplay’s live and exclusive coverage of Rangers v Aberdeen in the Viaplay Cup Final. Viaplay is available to stream from viaplay.com or via your TV provider on Sky, Virgin TV and Amazon Prime as an add-on subscription

Scott Brown opens up on Rangers-Aberdeen hatred, 'incredible' penalty stat, huge miss for Celtic, managers and Twitterati

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