Ex-Celtic captain Scott Brown is the big favorite to be appointed manager of Fleetwood in the next 24 hours.
The League One club have interviewed a number of candidates and a final decision is expected to be made later on Thursday.
The role would be Brown’s first in management after leaving Aberdeen in March just nine months after a two-year contract where he was a player-coach under former boss Stephen Glass, but left when Jim Goodwin arrived “for focus on his development as a coach”.
The 36-year-old made the shortlist at St Mirren before appointing Stephen Robinson and has also been linked with the vacancy at Raith Rovers.
Brown is now set to make his managerial debut in England after announcing his retirement last week, ending a 19-year career in which he made a total of 787 appearances for Hibernian, Celtic and Aberdeen, and also won 55 Scotland caps.
He won 10 Scottish Premiership titles with Celtic – nine in succession between their 2011-12 and 2019-20 triumphs. Brown, who turns 37 next month, also played a key role in their treble-winning team which won domestic trebles every season between 2016-17 and 2019-20.
Stephen Crainey has returned to his role with Fleetwood U23s after a stint as head coach since December following the departure of Simon Grayson. He picked up 26 points in his 29-game stint at the helm to keep the club in the division on goal difference.
“Captain, Leader, Legend”
Scott Brown’s last Celtic home game was played in an empty stadium.
Brown’s glittering career began with Hibernian, but is best remembered for his 14-year spell at Celtic and his impressive career in Scotland.
Following League Cup success at Easter Road, the midfielder joined Celtic from Hibs in 2007 for £4.4m – a record transfer fee between two Scottish clubs.
He became a club legend, winning 10 top flight titles at Celtic as well as six Scottish Cups and a further six League Cups during 14 years at the club.
Brown led the Parkhead team to an unbeaten season in Brendan Rodgers’ first year as manager, as well as four successive hat-tricks.
Scott Brown is one of the most decorated players in Scottish football
Often reveling in his role as a pantomime villain, Brown appeared in 44 games against Old Firm rivals Rangers and earned a 51% win rate in the game.
Brown made his 600th appearance for Celtic on December 6, 2020, however, just three months later it was confirmed he would leave at the end of the season to join Aberdeen.
He didn’t get the fairy tale ending he had hoped for at Celtic with a trophyless season and his last home game played in an empty stadium. However, that didn’t stop the same three words from being used after the game: captain, leader, legend.
Career in Scotland
Brown has won 55 Scottish caps
Although he never led the national team to a major final, Brown enjoyed a memorable 13-year spell playing for Scotland – a journey that began in 2005 when he made his debut against England. United States.
He earned 50 caps before announcing his decision to quit international football in 2016 to focus on his club career.
This decision was short-lived and he returned to the team under his former Celtic manager Gordon Strachan months later in a bid to help the team reach the 2018 World Cup.
The midfielder, who also captained the national side 21 times, later made the decision not to be available for selection after talks with then manager Alex McLeish.
Brown in management
When Brown agreed to move to Aberdeen before the end of last season, he saw the opportunity as a real first step on the road to becoming a full-fledged manager one day.
After being named the team’s captain, he still featured regularly under former manager Glass – something the 36-year-old was very fond of.
However, after Glass was sacked, Jim Goodwin arrived from St Mirren. In a strange twist of fate – Brown was considered by the Paisley club to replace Goodwin but instead Stephen Robinson took over and Brown has been on the sidelines ever since due to injury.
