Scott Brown made the bold decision to decline an opportunity to become St Johnstone manager this week - which would've seen the Celtic legend make his dugout bow against his old club.
He's instead opted to remain in his position at Ayr United, where he has guided the Honest Men to the Scottish Championship summit and is targeting a crack in the top-flight.
His choice to turn down the first chance of being a Premiership boss and subsequently sign a contract extension surprised many, but Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has revealed the 39-year-old called him to discuss the options over the past few days before coming to a conclusion.
Rodgers can clearly sense Brown's determination to go and thrive in management having tested his skills down at Fleetwood Town after retiring from playing. But it's thought the current Ayr United leader isn't in a rush to move on, and without going into details about the conversation, Rodgers suggested that Brown would be best biding his time at Somerset Park.
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"I think for him to manage at the top level here in Scotland, it’s only a matter of time," the Celtic gaffer commented.
"Whether that's with Ayr or someone else it's a matter of time. It was an open conversation and all I ever do is recommend. I would never tell anyone what to do when they ask advice. He knows his own mind. He knows that he's got a few people he can reach out to just to get a different perspective.
"Scott's doing a fantastic job at Ayr. He and Steven (Whittaker) and his staff are doing really well there. They've obviously lifted Ayr into a really good place having joined them last season.
"I think for Scott there's no rush. I've got no doubt he'll be a really successful manager. He went into Ayr and obviously kept them up last year and had a really good pre-season.
"I could see that in pre-season. They were a few weeks ahead of us but I could see the ideas of what they were trying to implement and how they've played. They've started the season very, very well.
"For Scott, it's not about a club for his next step, it's about the right club. I always think that especially when you're a young manager, getting to the right club is important. But not if you're already at a good club. He's at a good club and he's happy.
"I guess when you're a young manager it's about balancing ambition and it feels like you might want to make a move with making sure it is the right move. I was probably in my younger days guilty of it. You're in a rush.
"When I was a young manager I was in a rush to get to the Premier League because it's the most competitive league in the world and it's a challenge. But obviously when you can sit back and have more information and more knowledge and experience then you can probably look at it a lot clearer.
"I think ambition is important. I think you have to have that. But the ambition can be for the club you're in and the people you work with as well as yourself. I just see him in a really good place. I don't think there's any doubt he'll manage at the highest level.
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"It's all about timing and at the right time. I'm very, very confident that he will get there. But being a manager and a coach at the highest level is totally different to being a captain.
"Those leadership qualities will really help you of course. But there are no shortcuts. Being a top coach or a top manager you have to take your time and you have to learn and you have to find those experiences. I see him doing that very, very well at the moment."
Asked if he'd always deemed Brown as a future manager when he first met the ex-Hoops skipper in May 2016, Rodgers confessed he quickly saw a different side to the hard-man he'd been portrayed as from the outside.
"When I first arrived I didn't know him," he explained. "I only saw this snarling guy on the telly that I used to see and watch. Then when I first met him I found out he was totally different.
"We obviously clearly had a really, really strong relationship in our time here, which you need - your captain and your manager to be tight.
"At Celtic that year there were many challenges, so being together is very important. I had no doubt his leadership qualities were immense. I just felt that if he wanted to do that it's something he could absolutely do. He had that first little taste of it at Fleetwood.
"He'd been really brave coming out of Scotland and going down into the lower leagues in England. He took on that challenge to understand and find that apprenticeship as a manager because that is important as well. You have to learn the trade.
"He's obviously come back up to here and done a very, very good job so far. He feels and sounds like he's in a happy place. He'll get linked with jobs I'm pretty sure. Numbers of jobs in the future. But there's no rush. Just take your time and work well."
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Rodgers simply thinks you can't always determine whether a player will make a quality manager but does believe current captain Callum McGregor could follow his predecessors traction once he hangs up his boots.
“I look at the likes of Callum," the Northern Irishman stated. "He can be a manager if he wants to be later on.
"It's the big what if. I think playing and coaching and management are three totally different things. When you're coaching, you're giving opinions and you're working with the players.
"When you're managing, you're making decisions. It's a totally different set up. I've got some fantastic players here that in their own right may want to go down that route.
“I'm sure there's plenty of players that will tell you that they would have thought someone was going to be a manager and they've gone on and done ever so well.
"I would look at Callum as a start point and think that when the time comes for him if he wants to go down that route then he certainly shows a lot of the facets that you would need to manage and coach.”
