Former Hibs boss Alan Stubbs pays tribute to Scott Brown amid impending retirement

Ex-Hibs boss Alan Stubbs has paid tribute to Scott Brown after it emerged the former Easter Road favourite is close to retiring.

It was reported on Tuesday afternoon that Brown would hang up his boots mid-season after Stephen Glass’ exit from Aberdeen and Jim Goodwin’s hiring as the successor.

Brown was recruited to the Dons by his former Hibs team-mate Glass as both assistant manager and captain. However, since Glass was shown the door, Brown’s role on the coaching staff diminished with Goodwin admitting there weren’t as many opportunities on the training field with his more hands-on approach.

The Scottish international, who won a bundle of trophies during his long stay at Celtic, whom he joined from Hibs for £4.5 million in 2007, will now look to quit playing despite being only nine months into a two-year contract.

Hibs' David Gray presents Scott Brown with a gift before the midfielder's final game as a Celtic player at Easter Road. Picture: SNS

Stubbs, who led Hibs to Scottish Cup glory in 2016, spoke effusively about Brown on the Daily Record’s Celtic Podcast.

He said: "I think there's going to be a lot of options for him, whatever Scott decides to do and I think initially he may just take a bit of time to look back on what he's done, what he's achieved.

"We know he wants to go into coaching and management, but I think it's important to be clear when you go into that, because it does take a huge commitment but he's been a fantastic player.

"There's more than one way to win individual battles on a pitch and Scott could do that in virtually every way. Whether it was through his own ability, getting in someone's head, getting in someone's face, there's so many different facets to getting one over on your opposite number and Scott was a master at that.

"There's an art to it. He's certainly backed up his confidence on the pitch. He had personality, he was exuberant, he was intimidating, and it's not very often you get all that in a mix in a modern-day footballer. He rubbed people up the wrong way but, again, that's you winning. And opposition players will call him annoying and whatever but more fool them for letting him annoy them.

"I have nothing but admiration for him. He's a great guy off the pitch, I've been in his company on numerous occasions."

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