Brown has made a total of 787 appearances for Hibernian, Celtic and Aberdeen; midfielder also earned 55 Scotland caps during two spells; Brown has won 23 major honours during his 19-year career; the 36-year-old wants to focus on his coaching career after player-coach role at Pittodrie
Tuesday 8 March 2022 19:03, UK
Scott Brown has left Aberdeen after just nine months at Pittodrie "to focus on his coaching development".
The 36-year-old, who is one of the most decorated players in Scottish football history, joined the Dons last summer on a two-year deal in a player-coach role.
However, one month after manager Stephen Glass - who lured him from Celtic - was sacked, Brown's stay in the Granite City has been cut short by mutual consent, as he looks to focus his efforts on becoming a manager.
He said: "I would like to take this opportunity to firstly thank the board at Aberdeen and, of course, Stephen Glass and his backroom staff for giving me the opportunity to enjoy my first taste of coaching.
"I'd also like to thank all my team-mates and the great staff both at Cormack Park and Pittodrie.
"I know I was only in the north east for a short period, but the fans made me feel welcome from day one, so my thanks must also go to them for showing me so much support.
"Aberdeen is a huge club and I know there is a real determination from all to deliver success both on and off the pitch. I wish them all the best for the remainder of the season."
Brown's glittering career started with Hibernian, but is best remembered for his 14-year stint at Celtic and impressive Scotland career.
After League Cup success at Easter Road, the midfielder joined Celtic from Hibs in 2007 for £4.4m - a record transfer fee between two Scottish clubs.
He became a club legend, lifting 10 top-flight titles at Celtic as well as six Scottish Cups and another six League Cups during 14 years at the club.
Brown captained the Parkhead side to an invincible season in Brendan Rodgers' first year as manager, as well as four successive trebles.
Often revelling in his role as a pantomime villain, Brown featured in 44 games against Old Firm rivals Rangers and had a 51 per cent win rate in the fixture.
The midfielder picked up one red card in 2010 and scored a memorable goal the year after, which was followed by his iconic celebration in front of El-Hadji Diouf.
Brown also clashed with Joey Barton and, when reflecting on his most memorable match in a Celtic jersey against Rangers, Brown told Sky Sports News: "Joey talked a great game and I showed him a great game.
"It was as simple as that, he'd done all the talking off the field and I'd done all the talking on it.
"I had an opportunity at the end of the game, he shook my hand and it was a battle. I already had it in my head that I was winning it before the game had even started because he'd been talking too much.
"He'd maybe have done that a lot down in England but he's had a fantastic career, he went back down and played in the English Premier League.
"It shows you what a top-quality side we had at the time that we were doing that to players who'd go down to play in England, so it shows you how strong we were at the time."
Brown made his 600th appearance for Celtic on 6 December 2020, however, just three months later it was confirmed he would leave at the end of the season to join Aberdeen.
He didn't get the fairy tale ending he'd hoped for at Celtic though with a trophy-less season and his final home game played inside an empty stadium. However, that didn't stop the three same words being used after the match: captain, leader, legend.
Despite never leading the national side to a major finals, Brown had a memorable 13-year spell playing for Scotland - a journey that started in 2005 when he made his debut against the USA.
He won 50 caps before announcing his decision to quit international football in 2016 to focus on his club career.
That move was short-lived and he returned to the squad under his former Celtic manager Gordon Strachan months later in a bid to help lead the side to reach the 2018 World Cup.
The midfielder, who also captained the national side 21 times, then took the decision to make himself unavailable for selection after talks with then manager Alex McLeish.
When Brown agreed a move to Aberdeen before the end of last season, he saw the opportunity as a first real step on the pathway to becoming a manager in his own right one day.
After being made captain of the team, he still featured regularly under former manager Glass - something the 36-year-old was keen on.
However, after Glass' sacking Jim Goodwin arrived from St Mirren. In a strange twist of fate - Brown was considered by the Paisley club to replace Goodwin but instead, Stephen Robinson took over and Brown has been on the sidelines since due to injury.
Not unsurprisingly, Brown made the large majority of his appearances for Celtic, playing 620 times. He scored just shy of 50 goals for the Glasgow club.
His best goals to appearances ratio came at Hibernian, with two goals scored in his Aberdeen spell. Brown also scored four international goals.
The large majority of Brown's trophies were won with Celtic, although he did secure a Scottish League Cup title with Hibernian.
He won a quadruple treble of domestic titles between 2016 and 2020, with Brown missing out on silverware in only three seasons since 2006 - 2009/10, 2020/21 and 2021/22.
Ten of Brown's 23 trophy wins were Scottish Premiership titles. He has also won the Scottish Cup six times and seven Scottish League Cup trophies - six with Celtic and one with Hibernian.
Of course, Brown has also amassed a number of individual accolades alongside his winners medals. He has been included in the PFA Scotland Team of the Year (Premiership) six times and was the three-time winner of the PFA Scotland Players' Player of the Year award.
He was the SFWA Football of the Year for the 2017/18 season, having won their Young Player of the Year award in the 2006/07 campaign.
