SCOTT BROWN is considering his international future in the wake of Gordon Strachan’s team failing to reach the Euro 2016 Finals in France next summer.
The 30-year-old Scotland and Celtic skipper has now experienced heartache in five successive qualifying campaigns and Thursday’s 2-2 draw with Poland could be the last straw.
Brown, who won his first cap against the USA a decade ago, has flown to Portugal with the rest of the Scotland squad for tonight’s final Group D fixture against Gibraltar in Faro.
But it looks as though he has already had informal discussions with senior figures within Parkhead and the SFA regarding his future.
He has made no firm decision, but the midfielder admits 10 years of domestic, European and international football has taken its toll.
Asked if he would be up for another campaign, Brown initially replied in the affirmative before admitting to the ongoing physical cost of representing his country.
He said: “Yeah, it’s hard on everyone’s body. There are a lot of games and not a lot of holidays for us. We’ll see where that goes when it comes around.”
Despite missing the first two months of last term, Brown played 55 matches during the 2014-15 campaign,and has already been in action 19 times this term.
His former Celtic team-mate Artur Boruc believes he should carry on. The Polish goalkeeper sat on the bench at Hampden and insists Brown and another old Parkhead colleague, Shaun Maloney, should keep going as long as they can, despite both being on the wrong side of their 30th birthdays.
The flamboyant Boruc, now in the English top flight with Bournemouth, said: “I don’t know how they feel.
“It’s up to them. They are very good players and I don’t think they should stop.
“I am a goalkeeper which makes a slight difference these days, but I am 35 and still have ambitions.”
