Rodgers weighs in amidst Brown’s international retirement

Brendan Rodgers has had his say after Hoops captain Scott Brown announced his decision to step down from international football.

The midfielder, who was capped 55 times for Scotland, made his senior international debut as a 21-year old in 2005 during a friendly against the United States. He was also captain of the Scottish national team since Gordon Strachan was appointed boss in 2013.

Rodgers, who has managed Brown since May 2016, gave his thoughts on the 32-year-old’s decision in an interview on Celtic’s official website:

Scott’s been a wonderful player for Scotland and a real inspirational captain. It’s great news for Celtic and obviously sad for the Scottish team.

For him and his career going forward and for his own fitness he wants to prolong his career at club level, and with the number of games we have here, taking away international football is a real sensible decision.

I spoke with him but it was purely his decision. He had time to think over it and the last time when he stopped he had a genuine intention to stop playing internationally then, but, of course, his loyalty to Gordon Strachan and trying to help the team who were struggling with injuries at that time saw him come back.

The Northern Irishman also spoke of Brown’s talent, saying he could’ve played at England’s highest level had he chose to:

I never realised how good a player he was until I worked with him.

I always saw him from the outside and thought he was a good player but if the measure is the Premier League, then, of course, he could have gone on to play at the very top end of that.

He has devoted his life to his career. He eats, sleeps and breathes football, that’s Scott Brown. You see some modern players who don’t. They’ll just pull on the jersey and call themselves footballers. He’s isn’t that. He’s a brilliant captain and a brilliant player and it’s been a real joy to work with him.

The decision to retire from international duty is undoubtedly one that Brown clearly thought over plenty of times, and one that he took into consideration given that he is captain and a regular starter for Celtic.

Newly appointed Scotland boss Alex McLeish has a decision on has hands when it comes to selecting a new captain.