Neil Lennon believes that Celtic skipper Scott Brown can play for another three or four years at the top level for the Parkhead side after announcing his second international retirement.

Brown announced his decision yesterday morning that he will not be available for the new qualifying campaign under Alex McLeish and it is unlikely that there will be any going back this time.

And while Lennon doesn’t believe that the additional travel or game time had an overly taxing effect on Brown, he does expect that the mental break will be as beneficial as the physical one when the international calendar takes precedence.

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“He is a genuine leader so it will be difficult for Scotland to replace that,” said Lennon. “However, from Celtic’s point of view I think he can play at this level and sustain the kind of form that he has shown this season until he is 35, 36.

“He is a fit lad, really strong and he looks after himself really well. He has a young family now and I think it is probably more so about spending the time away from home when there is so much of that at club level anyway.

“But what it will enable him to do is focus purely on Celtic and that is no bad thing from the club’s point of view. If you are in Brendan Rodgers’ shoes too then you are thinking when the international games come around that it is one player, a key player for you, that you don’t have to worry about losing to injury or need to give a rest to in subsequent games.

“If you watch Scott and look at his stats in games, he is still covering a helluva lot of ground. He is still producing at this level and you could argue that he is one of the most consistent performers in the team. There is no reason now why he can’t sustain that.”

Brown played alongside Lennon as the former Celtic captain came to the latter years of his career and then also managed him when he went into the dug-out.

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In many ways there are similarities between the two, although Brown’s pantomime villain and hamming up of his role to opposition players and supporters doesn’t carry the same edge that Lennon’s experience did.

Like Lennon, Brown has relished the position of being the man that everyone other team loves to hate.

“You do probably have to be a certain kind of character for that,” said Lennon. “But he loves it. I think it brings the best out in him. He is a real character and the Celtic fans love him for that. They don’t suffer fools gladly and I think when he is not in the team you see how much he is missed.

“You see that incident up at Pittodrie the other day and you just have a chuckle to yourself. That is him all over the back. He really does revel in it but to me it has always been a back-handed compliment when you are targeted like that either by players or opposition supporters. If you offered any team in the league Scott Brown, they would bite your hand off.

“He has that fear factor for other teams. I know he stepped down from international football before and then came back for Gordon [Strachan] but I think it will be his final decision now and it is probably best for everyone that there is a bit of closure on it.

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“It will give him a bit more time to savour winding everyone up.”

While Lennon had to give up international football due to more nefarious reasons, Brown’s decision is entirely football based.

Celtic currently provide sufficient numbers of players to the national squad to effectively form the spine of the Scotland side and while the games may not reach significant numbers over the course of a season, it is the additional elements that go along with it that can take a toll.

“To be honest I was never sure from my own point of view whether or not retiring, under difficult circumstances or not, enhanced by playing time,” said Lennon. “You are not talking about a huge amount of games but when you factor them in on top of Champions League qualifiers and a full assault on the domestic landscape it does add up.”

For all that Brown might enjoy that more than some may say is advisable, Lennon has stressed that there is another side to the player behind closed doors.

“To me he epitomises what a captain should do which is why it will be difficult for Scotland to source his replacement,” said Lennon. “If ever I felt that I had a player who needed an arm around the shoulder, it was Scott that I could go to at Celtic and say, look can you keep an eye on him for me and make sure he is ok or if someone had just come into the dressing room he was able to make sure they were included into things and made to feel part of it.

“It is really important that you have that.”