Aberdeen's carefully worded statement stopped just short of saying that Scott Brown ’s playing days are officially over.
But even if the 36-year-old is not yet ready to confirm his boots are being hung up for good, deep down he knows that he’s finally reached the end of the road.
The shaven headed war dog of Celtic ’s historic run to nine successive top flight titles didn’t envisage it would end this way when he swapped Parkhead for a long goodbye at Pittodrie.
In fact, in the final analysis, it wasn’t even half as long as he expected it to be.
But when the final 12 months of his two-year deal with Dons was terminated yesterday afternoon, Brown was also leaving behind a glittering on-field career.
A career that began with a red mohawk and a notoriously angry attitude during his breakthrough seasons at Hibs.
But one which, ultimately, saw him become one of the most single decorated players in the entire history of the Scottish game. And one of its most larger than life characters.
As Gordon Strachan - the man who signed him for Celtic all those years ago - said to Record Sport : “The game is going to miss having a player like Scott around.
“And it’ll be the same across the Scottish media too. People will be scratching their heads and thinking, ‘What do we do now? We’ve had so many stories from this fella!’.
“Whether it was great moments on the pitch – good fun, daft or sometimes stupid – he’s been a real giant over the years and guys like him don’t come around too often.”
Brown’s enormous trophy haul at Celtic – which is made up of 10 Premiership titles over 14 years, six Scottish Cups and six League Cups - will stand the test of time even if his body can go no longer.
Add to that a League Cup triumph at Easter Road and what we are dealing with here is a true goliath of the game in this country.
That it has all ended so tamely, with documents signed behind the closed doors of an office in the Granite City, is the ultimate contradiction to a career spent in the ferocious glare of the spotlight. Brown never shirked it. In fact, on the contrary, he fed on the fervour of it all.
Strachan went on: “Scott may have arrived at Celtic in baggy jeans and kicked in trainers on the day he signed but, absolutely, he went on to achieve legendary status at the club.
“Look, there will be people who will ask the question, ‘Well, how good a footballer was he?’ and that’s open to debate.
“But when it comes to being a giant of the game there can’t be a conversation. Absolutely none.
“I’ve played with a lot of fantastic footballers, terrific footballers, probably technically more gifted than Scott.
“But out of all of them, none of them comes anywhere near the amount of trophies that Scott’s got or the kind of legacy that he has left.
“Scott and I have conversations, talking about systems and coaches but I keep saying to him that every manager has their own style. The secret is getting good people and good players around you.
“Any time I see a club not doing so well it’s usually because the recruitment has brought people to the club that are causing
the problem.
“Then you get the good people, guys who play their part and who want to get better.
“And then, every now and then, you get the gem. The gem is a guy who can make people around him great players. That is a gift.
“Scott has the ability to make the people around him great. That’s what he’s done over the last 15 years or so.”
The hairdo may have changed over the years but his fiery combative streak was still burning all the way to the end, until a painful, long-running hip injury forced him to concede that he can’t continue to hold back Father Time forever.
Brown might also have ended up in exactly the wrong place and at precisely the wrong time because even if he did plan on putting his creaking old limbs back on the line for one final season, it would appear that the new man in charge at Aberdeen’s wasn’t as keen on the idea.
Neither man is likely to admit it in public.
That Brown didn’t give Jim Goodwin as much as a name check in his parting statement yesterday was just as telling as the fact that there was no fond farewell from the Irishman either.
It seems this relationship was never likely to work and that comes as a surprise to Strachan, who knows Brown better than almost anyone else – and famously brought him back out of international retirement for a World Cup qualifier against England
at Wembley.
Although Strachan insists: “I didn’t talk him into coming back. In fact, I had to tell him, ‘You don’t have to do this for me, I’ll be fine.’ That’s for sure.
“But you know what he’s like. There was no holding him back.
“The thing about Scott is, he likes people. He likes being with people and he likes to see people doing well which is a wonderful thing when you are going into coaching.
“A lot of people go into coaching for themselves but the secret to being a great coach is being a bit like a doctor. You’re there to make other people better, not yourself.
“And that looks like being Broonie’s next step.
“He’s great in the dressing room and that’s massively important. But he’s also great on the training field and the pitch.
“Some guys are only any good to you in one of those three places. The great ones can do it on all three. That’s Scott Brown all over.”
