Scott Brown: New Fleetwood Town boss learning from his old managers

Scott Brown says he will "steal" tips from managers in his playing career as he begins life as Fleetwood Town boss.

Brown played his final game in March and is now set for his new role in League One with the Cod Army.

The former Celtic captain, 37, will have ex-Scotland team-mate Steven Whittaker as his assistant at Highbury.

"I stole a lot from different managers," he said. "I spoke to Gordon Strachan, Neil Lennon, Brendan Rodgers and I pulled little bits from them."

Brown won 23 major trophies during his time with Celtic and was skipper for their nine successive Scottish Premiership titles, between 2012 and 2020.

Capped 55 times by his country, he left Celtic Park last summer to be player-coach under Stephen Glass at Aberdeen - but he left Pittodrie following Glass' departure in February, before announcing his retirement from playing last week.

Scott Brown made his final appearance as a player for Aberdeen in March

Now he starts the next chapter of his career as he gets the chance to imprint his own ideas on Fleetwood.

"I kept all the training sessions from over the years and I think it's now time to put my spin on their sessions," he told BBC Sport.

"Brendan [Rodgers] said to me he stole a lot from a lot of different managers as well. That's what managers do - they add little bits, you never know what will happen down the line."

'I've led in dressing rooms for 14, 15 years'

Brown takes over a team who finished 20th in League One this season and only avoided relegation by goal difference, after finishing level on points with Gillingham.

He may be a rookie as a head coach, but the man who was the driving force in Celtic's midfield for 14 years is confident that he can galvanise the Lancashire club and make the leap from on-field leader.

"I've been in a dressing room and I've been a coach at Aberdeen," he said. "I've had a lot of learning curves there and enjoyed being in the coaches room, learning how it works.

"I've been putting on training and drills as well. I've led in dressing rooms at Celtic for 14, 15 years and I enjoy the responsibility.

"Now it's about giving back to the lads, using mine and the assistant manager's experience to help us."

Scott Brown collected the 23rd and final winner's medal from his time at Celtic in the 2020 Scottish Cup final

Brown is no longer part of the furniture at Celtic Park, but he could not fail to be impressed by the work Ange Postecoglou has done in his first season in Glasgow, winning the Scottish League Cup and more importantly, regaining the Premiership title from Rangers.

While he also has special praise for the man who replaced him as the Hoops captain.

"It's been fantastic season," he stated. "There are going to be ups and downs and Celtic had their downs at the start of the season.

"The manager brought in a lot of his own players which I think had to happen. They have a great shape.

"For me, Callum McGregor has been fantastic this season. He's led by example and that's all I wanted him to do.

"He's a fantastic player and everyone knows how good he is, they just didn't know how good he was at running a dressing room."