A phone call from Brendan Rodgers has contributed to St Johnstone being managerless going into tomorrow’s match with Celtic.
With Craig Levein getting sacked the Perth side are on the lookout for a new boss with the current Ayr United manager an obvious candidate.
Since leaving Celtic in 2021 Brown has packed in a lot of coaching and management experience from stints at Aberdeen, Fleetwood Town and Ayr United who he joined at the end of January.
When St Johnstone were granted permission to speak to the Somerset Park boss it seemed that the stage was set for a dramatic McDiarmid Park debut on Saturday night.
Normally to reach that stage you’d have expected a third party to have been sounded out but for whatever reason/s the deal feel through when the club spoke to their preferred candidate.
St Johnstone tried to save face by saying that the meeting was only for talks, no offer was made but if Brown had been keen Rodgers could have been facing a familiar foe in Perth this weekend.
Rodgers on Brown:
I think for him to manage at the top level here in Scotland. It’s only a matter of time. Whether that’s with Ayr or someone else it’s a matter of time.
It was an open conversation and all I ever do is recommend. I would never tell anyone what to do when they ask advice. He knows his own mind. He knows that he’s got a few people he can reach out to just to get a different perspective.
Scott’s doing a fantastic job at Ayr, him and Stephen (Whittaker) and his staff are doing really well there. They’ve obviously lifted Ayr into a really good place having joined them last season. I think for Scott there’s no rush. I’ve got no doubt he’ll be a really successful manager.
For Scott it’s not about a club for his next step, it’s about the right club. I always think that, especially when you’re a young manager, getting to the right club is important. But not if you’re already at a good club. He’s at a good club and he’s happy. I wasn’t surprised that he didn’t take it.
When you’re a young manager it’s about balancing ambition and it feels like you might want to make a move while making sure it is a live move. I was probably in my younger days guilty of it.
I was in a rush to get to the Premier League because it’s the most competitive league in the world and it’s a challenge. But obviously when you can sit back and have more information and more knowledge and experience then you can probably look at it a lot clearer. I think ambition is important. I think you have to have that.
But the ambition can be for the club you’re in and the people you work with as well as yourself. I just see him in a really good place. I don’t think there’s any doubt he’ll manage at the highest level. It’s all about timing and at the right time. I’m very, very confident that he will get there.
It is unclear whether the Rodgers phone call was before or after Brown held talks with St Johnstone but from today’s comments it would seem that the Celtic boss was cautious about the St Johnstone vacancy.
Falkirk look like providing a very serious obstacle to Ayr gaining automatic promotion with the Play Off a lottery weighed against Championship clubs.
At St Johnstone Brown would be going straight into a relegation scrap, down a division he will have greater scope to test his managerial ability and learn more about that side of the game in a more forgiving environment.
Brown has since signed a new two years contract with Ayr United, St Johnstone have been given permission by Aberdeen to speak with Peter Leven about their vacancy.
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