Scott Brown has been an amazing Captain for Celtic for a good many years and a fixture in the team for a decade, the conversation over
If Brown wants to play for Celtic next year then the facts are that an offer is on the table, if it is a lucrative or even if it has the playing guarantees he has taken for granted in the deal no one is sure, but the offer exists and now comes decision time.
Broony has 2 possibilities, fight for his place at Celtic and fight for the 10 in a row with the opportunity to make his name immortal among the most fanatical fan base this side of Argentina, or go and play for a franchise in a League which is regressing by the day.
The A-League was soaring a few years ago, its crowds are falling like a stone in a pond at the moment with turmoil gripping the administration of the game in Australia.
The city he is possibly moving to has 2 teams, Melbourne Victory are high flying and well run with Keisuke Honda as their marquee and a stadium full of vocal fans watching all their games.
Melbourne City
The new franchise Western Melbourne (exact name yet to be decided) is going to be playing its games in the regional centre of Geelong an hour and a half to the West of Melbourne whilst its moonbeam stadium is constructed.
Then it will move there once finished sometime in the next 2-3 years, by which time Broony will have retired.
The opportunity for Scott Brown is this, get a 3 year contract to play Football in a dying code as the 3rd biggest team in an AFL mad state whereby an average game pulls 60,000 and a big game 95,000 at the MCG whilst playing your football at a regional centre waiting for your stadium to be built possibly 6 months before you retire.
Or sign on for Celtic and have a chance of putting your name alongside the names of men
He may well get an extra year on his contract playing at a temporary stadium which is itself an AFL pitch at Kardinia Park, that is to say a cricket ground with the fans miles from the action, but why would you want to play there?
Geelong themselves have a very popular AFL team and the city is fanatical about the Australian sport, his move there is the equivalent of signing for Partick, moving to an empty stadium in the shadow of giants.
Over the coming weeks and indeed months there is no rush for him to make up his mind, indeed his own performances will dictate if he has a place at the club.
But if he can find that 3rd wind, show everyone he isn’t finished and lead us to 8 in a row and even a treble treble, then his decision is stark, take a payday at the 3rd biggest team in a city where Football is the 4th biggest code (behind AFL, Rugby league and Rugby union which all have higher support) or lead the Champions forward.
If he is thinking about his future, immortality is worth a lot more than the Australian dollar.