Celtic legend Scott Brown to take charge of two former Rangers rivals and 'wins race' for Fleetwood job

Scott Brown will take his first step into management next week when he is named the new boss at Fleetwood Town.

The former Celtic, Hibs and Scotland midfielder announced his retirement from football earlier this month in the wake of his departure from Aberdeen. Brown had moved north to begin coaching, combining duties on the training ground with playing in Stephen Glass’ Dons regime.

He has made no secret of his ambitions of moving into the dug-out and spoke to Raith Rovers about replacing John McGlynn in Fife this summer having previously been linked with vacancies at St Mirren and Kilmarnock earlier in the season.

Now, according to the Scottish Daily Mail, Brown has secured his first role as a boss and will take over at Highbury Stadium – where two of his former Old Firm rivals will be under his charge.

Ex-Rangers duo Joe Garner and Jordan Rossiter are both on the books at the League One club previously been managed by Steven Pressley, Joey Barton and Simon Grayson. Brown will replace another ex-Celt, Stephen Crainey, who took over in December but will return to his under-23 role at the Fylde coast club, nicknamed the Cod Army.

As a player Brown picked up 55 Scotland caps and came through the ranks at Hibs before moving to a decorated spell at Celtic where he was named club captain. He earned 22 trophies at Parkhead including 10 Scottish league titles before moving on to his combined coaching role with former Hibs colleague Glass at Aberdeen.