There's something you need to know about Scott Brown and what if he's the answer Hearts don't want to hear? Keith Jackson

The cat may have got his tongue on Saturday afternoon when Scott Brown declined to go into any kind of detail about his decision to snub St Johnstone. But, deep down, this is a man who knows it’s good to talk.

That’s why he asked for permission to sit down with the Perth club’s American owners in the first place in order to have a natter about their aims and ambitions now that Craig Levein has been emptied out of McDiarmid Park. And it’s why he picked up the phone to Brendan Rodgers for advice after holding those discussions with owner Adam Webb on Thursday and being left with his head in a spin.

Now, before we go any further, there’s something you need to know about Brown. He’s a great deal smarter than he likes you to believe. And maybe that’s where Webb went wrong when he held his one-to-one with the Ayr United manager as part of the hunt to find Craig Levein’s successor.

Something certainly backfired quite spectacularly behind closed doors as there was a point in the day when Brown appeared ready to head to Perth to take on the role of keeping Webb’s club in the top flight. It could be that the 39-year-old was surprised to learn he wasn’t the only rider in what he may have believed to be a one-horse race.

On the contrary, Webb wanted to hold similar discussions with at least two alternative candidates but if Brown was misled into assuming the job was his for the taking then it’s no wonder he wanted a word with his trusted mentor. Brown, of course, is giving nothing away but there’s another potential stumbling block in here too where these talks are concerned and it could have played into Tieran Lynch’s decision to head for the hills late yesterday afternoon, when it seemed the deal to take him from Larne had been