Scott Brown: Celtic captain rules out player-coach role after Neil Lennon's departure

Celtic captain Scott Brown believes there is still plenty of football to be played before he embarks on a coaching and management career.

The 35-year-old midfielder is coming to terms with the departure of Neil Lennon, who resigned on Wednesday with assistant John Kennedy stepping up as interim boss.

Former Celtic captain Stephen McManus has been promoted from reserve-team coach to the first-team coaching staff but Brown insists any role like that is for the future.

  • John Kennedy: Celtic form my priority, not my future
  • Andy Walker: Lennon’s Celtic exit is too late

Ahead of the Scottish Premiership visit of Aberdeen on Saturday, Brown said: “I am still too young for that.

“I am doing my coaching badges and I am learning quite a lot from John and the manager (Lennon) and other managers too.

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“Now is not the right time for me to be jumping into becoming a player-coach or a coach or anything like that.

“I think I’ve still got a lot to offer on the field or with the lads on the training ground.”

It came as a surprise to Brown that former Celtic skipper Lennon resigned from his second spell as boss.

Celtic are 18 points adrift of Rangers at the top of the Scottish Premiership and the quest for a 10th successive title is all but over.

However, Brown has no doubts about the Northern Irishman’s legacy at the club, not least because Lennon is the only person to win the domestic treble in Scotland as a player and a manager at Celtic.

He said: “The manager is a legend of the club as a player and as a manager. He wants the best for this football club no matter what happens, whether he’s here or not.

“He was a fantastic servant to this football club and he gave everything that he could possibly give. It was a sad day when I saw that he was leaving.

“We never want to see any manager go and what the manager’s given to this club over the last 20 years – he was a fantastic player at this club and a fantastic manager as well.

“He’s had two spells and there’s always going to be ups and downs, always going to be heartbreaks but I’m sure the manager will be feeling as bad as everybody else.”

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