Scott Brown has revealed that his ex- Celtic teammates’ reports of Steve Clarke reminds him very much of Brendan Rodgers.
And the former Scotland captain believes that’s due to them both being of the Jose Mourinho school of coaching.
Clarke has been working for months in preparation for Monday’s Euro 2020 clash with the Czech Republic at Hampden.
Brown bowed out of the international scene before we qualified for a first major tournament in 23 years.
The now-Aberdeen player/assistant manager has been well briefed on what it’s like to train and play under Clarke however, after receiving contrast updates from Celtic’s Scotland contingent.
Now a coach himself, Brown is absorbing all the ideas he can in order to develop his own style.
But from everything he’s been told, he sees Clarke in the same mould as Rodgers in how he works, which he is convinced is due to their shared Stamford Bridge background under “the special one.”
He wrote in his new Daily Record column: “Obviously since I decided I wanted to get into the coaching side of things late in my career, I’ve been paying more and more attention to the tactical stuff.
“I’ve been blown away by the work Clarke has been doing with Scotland.
“I’d ask the boys what training was like every time they came back from an international break.
“It was almost all about shape and where he wants people to be on the pitch at any given moment in a match.
“Scotland now move as a team, not as individuals.
“If you see the way they did it against the Dutch the other week, you realise how much hard work has gone in on the training ground to bring all that together.
“It actually reminds me very much of the way Brendan Rodgers got us playing at Celtic.
“It’s probably no coincidence that both Brendan and Steve worked under Jose Mourinho as younger coaches.
“I can see similarities in their approach to management and I have to say it’s hard enough to do it a club when you;re working with the players every day.
“But it's even more incredible that Clarke has managed to do it while going weeks and months without seeing them.
“It does feel that everything has come together for Scotland at just the right time.”
