THERE is a chance, all going to plan, that Scott Brown's emotional exit from Celtic this summer may not constitute a final goodbye, but rather, just a ‘see you later’.

The Celtic captain isn’t presumptuous enough to think that he is pre-ordained to come back to the club one day as a manager, and certainly not before he has taken this first tentative step in his coaching career as he heads to Aberdeen to take up a role as player/assistant manager.

But maybe it has helped to soften the sadness he feels at leaving Celtic at the end of the season to leave that door open, even if only in his mind for now.

The decision to leave Celtic, he says, was not an easy one. He took counsel from former managers, such as Brendan Rodgers, and having weighed up the opportunity ahead under Stephen Glass against what he was leaving behind amid the uncertainty over who will occupy the Celtic dugout, he felt it was time to cut the cord.

“I’ve always had ambitions to go and be a manager and to be an assistant manager, and I’m now in this process where I will learn from Stephen,” Brown said.

“I’ve been learning from John (Kennedy) a lot recently as well, and I’ve been taking it in from the managers I’ve worked with over the years.

“I spoke to a lot of people. I spoke to Brendan, I spoke to other people like that.

“Let’s be honest, I’m not getting any younger, and to go into this new chapter and to learn from a fantastic manager as well in Stephen is going to be huge for me.

“It’s a learning process for me now to one day go on and one day hopefully I can become a manager, because that’s the drive and the aim for me.

“At the present moment it’s all about trying to get there and learning from the best.

“Now there is a huge learning process going onto the training ground, speaking to first-team players and putting training sessions on.

“It’s going to be a little bit different to me just turning up 10 minutes before training and making sure we do a warm up and we’re all getting prepped.

“I haven’t had to worry about what size the pitches are and if everything was going to work fluently.

“It was always going to be a hard decision to leave Celtic. I’ve had 14 fantastic years here and I’ve enjoyed every single minute.

“It was hard but Glassy phoned me up to say he wanted me to work underneath him but also to play. It gave me the best of both worlds.

“I can see the inside workings of a football club rather than just playing on the Saturday.”

It was the duality of his role that held the key for Brown, who while itching to get to work behind the scenes, is not quite ready to leave the limelight of the pitch just yet.

“It was a big decision but it has come at the right time of my career to move on and have a fresh challenge,” he said.

“It’s something I’ll look forward to. I’ve always been passionate about going in to the coaching side of things and this gives me the best of both worlds.

“I can play as well as learning a lot on the other side, from putting on sessions, dealing with agents and budgets, as well as tactical decisions around the game as well.

“The challenge is to keep playing as well. I’m going in as a coach, Glassy is hands on as well, he’s a fantastic coach and he’s looking forward to the experience.

“He’s someone I trust and respect. He’s going to be a fantastic manager and he’ll show that next season at Aberdeen.

“I’ve got a two-year playing deal at Aberdeen, so we’ll just see how that goes. That will take me to 38, and if I still feel like I do just now, I can still get around the park, still play and help people and the manager still sees the benefit of playing me, then I’ll continue to play.

“If I feel like I’m done and I don’t want another pre-season, then that options on the table too.

“I’d rather make that decision myself than anyone else.”

However long Brown may be away from Celtic, the saddest part of leaving for him is that he won’t get to say a fond farewell in front of the supporters. Indeed, the next chance he may have of playing in front of them will come in an Aberdeen jersey.

“I’ve never really thought about playing against Celtic – I will be now!” he said.

“The sad thing is I won’t get to say my goodbyes in front of 60,000 fans. They’ve been a huge part of my journey over these last 14 years and I’ve got a lot of love for them.

“I wouldn’t be here winning trophies without them. This season has been hard for everyone, and we’ve certainly found it hard having no fans in the ground. It has just shown what the fans bring to Celtic Park.

“I’ll worry about that when it happens. I’m sad I can’t say goodbye right now but I’m sure they understand the situation.

“I’ve had some lovely messages on social media and it’s been much appreciated.

“I’m sorry I can’t get back to them all but it’s been great. I’ve had 14 fantastic years and wouldn’t change it for the world.”