CALD IN HIS SHADOW
Ex-celtic defender never envisaged Brown as captain material but knew he was a winner
LADBROKES PREMIERSHIP
meeting at 10am tomorrow – at which they’re expected to declare Celtic champions and relegate the Jambos.
Budge previously headed up a reconstruction taskforce with Hamilton’s Les Gray off the back of a controversial SPFL vote to end the lower leagues’ season due to Covid-19.
But that was quickly disbanded – before she’d submitted a proposal – when six Premiership clubs decided they weren’t in favour of re-jigging the league set-up.
Stenhousemuir chairman Iain Mcmenemy has already cast doubts on her chances.
Mcmenemy said: “When I heard, it was a bit of surprise and a bit of dejavu. I thought we’d moved on but suddenly it seems we’ve taken a step back.
“We can’t be left again with another three or four day period of not knowing. “Then it could just re-implode.”
Gary Caldwell reckons it’s the quality that makes Scott Brown deserving of his place alongside Scottish football’s legendary nine-in-a-row captains Billy Mcneill and Richard Gough.
The Celtic midfielder will join that duo of iconic figures when the SPFL officially confirm the Hoops as Premiership champions for 2019-20.
It isn’t how Brown or anyone at Parkhead wanted to win it but having opened up a 13-point gap at the top before Covid-19 struck and shut down the game the title was all but theirs anyway.
Brown will chase a record breaking 10th successive title next season in what is set to be his last year at the club.
Caldwell (right), who watched him come through the ranks at Hibs as a youngster before teaming up with him again at Celtic, is full of admiration for what the 34-year-old has achieved.
He never had any doubt that Brown would become a great player because even as a spiky-haired buzz bomb at Easter Road, Caldwell knew he was destined for the top.
He said: “When I look at Scott now, as the leader of this Celtic team and the centre of everything at the club, it’s hard to believe it’s that same kid I met at Hibs.
“Even when he first came to Celtic, he had a difficult first couple of years.
“He obviously had a family issue, with his sister passing away, which was so tragic.
“That really affected him but he has done amazingly well to come back from that and grow as a person and footballer. He has gone on to become a Celtic legend. “It takes a lot to come back from that because it could easily have gone the other way. “That’s probably Scott’s biggest asset. When I think back to all of those young Hibs players at the time, he was the one who had that mental toughness, that resilience and character. “When things went wrong he was able to recover from it and get to the very top. “He has needed that at many points in his career and has shown he’s got that in abundance.
“In those first few years when I was at Celtic, I don’t think anyone could have said that would happen for him but he has gone on to be a fantastic player and someone who’ll be remembered at the club for ever more.
“It’s incredible he’ll be in that company now, with Mcneill and Gough. There won’t be many more nine-ina-row achievements in our lifetime and you can throw in the Trebles for Celtic as well.
“There haven’t been too many of them in Scottish football history but he has three in the last three seasons.
“It shows how special a time it is for the football club and for Scott as captain. That’s what will put him right up there with the very best players who’ve played for Celtic over the years.”
“Being a leader wasn’t something that jumped out at me with Scott early on. But as he got older, with experience, he became very professional.”