PAUL Hartley has backed Scott Brown to prolong his return to the Scotland international fold until the end of the current World Cup qualifying campaign at least.

And he feels his old gaffer Gordon Strachan could do worse than import Celtic's current central midfield pairing of Brown and Stuart Armstrong wholesale for the clash with Slovenia in March.

Brown, rushed back out of international retirement for the 3-0 defeat to England at Wembley in November, has refused to confirm he will stay on longer term, but the Dundee manager hopes he is back for good as Gordon Strachan's side chase an unlikely second spot in the group.

"He [Brown] is having a brilliant season and I would like to see him stay on for the remainder of the campaign," said Hartley.

"Other people will maybe have a different view on it but I think it is important we get as many good players on the park as possible against Slovenia.

"I think Gordon would want him to stay on and I think he will stay on for the remainder of the campaign. It is important because we can still finish second, it is still a possibility.

"They [Brown and Armstrong] have a good partnership, a good understanding," he added. "We want to get all our good players who are on form on the pitch against Slovenia and hopefully they can continue that form till March.

"The manager picks the best squad available to him but if Stuart continues as he is, he'll be in the plans, the same as [Barrie] McKay at Rangers who's having a good season too."

Having locked horns against Brown in the heat of an Edinburgh derby midfield, Hartley grew to appreciate his old adversary as a team-mate and a colleague for both Celtic and Scotland. Nowadays, as Dundee manager, he just tries to stop him: Brown scored the only goal for Brendan Rodgers side in a 1-0 Ladbrokes Premiership win at Dens Park in October.

While the idea of a player picking and choosing his international matches in this manner hasn't been universally popular - Charlie Adam for one took umbrage at the selection process - Hartley says he wouldn't have been bothered as a player because you can't have too many good players when it comes to Scotland.

"It wouldn't have bothered me," said Hartley, whose only international goal came against Slovenia.

"Just having a good player in the team would have been enough for me. What are his assets? His drive, his leadership, his strength, his experience. The way he's led with Celtic this season has been there to see. He's been the best player in Scotland this season."

Including friendlies, Celtic have played 44 matches already this season prior to jetting off to Dubai this week and Brown has been a virtual ever-present. "It looks like he's coping," said Hartley. "It looks like it's no problem to him. He looks as though he has the same kind of energy he had when he burst on to the scene as a youngster at Hibs. But his game management now is a lot, lot better.

"When he first came on the scene he would get an amount of bookings for fouls but he plays now with a real maturity.

"You could say we had a love-hate relationship," said Hartley. "We used to kick lumps out of each other in the derby games.

"It was really like that. He was one of those players I used to hate playing against. He would always be in your face, saying stuff to you.

"It wasn’t until he came to Celtic and we were team-mates that you see he is such a terrific lad."

Hartley is delighted that Strachan stayed on as Scotland manager, even in the face of sustained criticism, while another one of his former team-mates defying the advancing years is Celtic goalkeeper Craig Gordon. "Craig is playing well," Hartley added.

"He was out for roughly two years with injury and has shown great mental strength to come back from that. He is a calm boy and has shown that he can handle anything.

"I’ve seen changes this season in his distribution. You can see Craig has done a lot on that part of his game."

*Paul Hartley was speaking at a William Hill media event. William Hill is a proud sponsor of the Scotland national team.