GOLDEN BROWN
Rodgers: Skipper has years left
BRENDAN RODGERS last night hailed skipper Scott Brown and backed him to keep on leading Celtic’s trophy sweep for at least two more years.
Brown led his team mates up the stairs at Hampden to collect the Scottish Cup on Saturday and complete a historic double treble.
The 32-year-old, who has now captained the club to its last 14 major honours including seven back-to-back top flight titles, was then honoured at a testimonial match at Celtic Park yesterday which featured legend
Henrik Larsson (right).
And Rodgers believes, despite Brown clocking up almost 11 years of service for the club since joining from Hibs in 2007, there is no end in sight to his all conquering captaincy.
The manager gushed: “Tactically, he’s seeing the game differently now – even though there were a couple of times he was running up the wing in the final!
“I just said to him, ‘Get back inside, your Hibs days are gone!’.
“But he’s got strong legs, he’s looking after his body. He is professional and he has matured. He is playing the game differently, not thinking he has to do everyone’s running.
“He’s not being asked to do more than anyone else. He’s certainly got at least another couple more years left. We’ll just wait and see. I never want to put any time limit on it. He is peerless, really.”
Martin O’neill, meanwhile, reckons Celtic can reach another European final – and Steven Gerrard can help them get there by making Rangers stronger.
As today marks the 15th anniversary of Celtic’s UEFA Cup final defeat by Porto in Seville, the man who led them there reckons it’s not an impossible dream to get back to that stage.
O’neill said: “I think getting to a European final can be done again. I don’t think it’s impossible. “Brendan is dominating Scottish football just now and Celtic have been very strong.
“The next step now is to try to achieve success in Europe.
“Hopefully those days are not gone and it would be nice if Rangers could get stronger.
“That seems as if it might be on the cards and a good, strong Rangers is good for the league.
“And actually, it will benefit Celtic to get stronger in Europe.
“Why? Well, Celtic don’t rest on their laurels in Scotland but if the competition gets stronger, they will rise to it.
“They have won six competitions but I think Brendan Rodgers would welcome it too.”