I was trying my best to help him out but he just wanted to help himself
FROM BACK PAGE with Record Sport Brown today lifts the lid on the highs and lows of his 11-year roller-coaster at Parkhead.
And he reveals for the first time how close he came to being booted out of the club at the height of Mowbray’s catastrophic 10 months in charge.
Brown said: “It hit me like a hammer when he told me to find a new club. I didn’t want to leave. I enjoyed playing for Celtic and all my family were here.
“Then all these offers start coming in and I’m thinking to myself, ‘Well, whatever happens happens’. I had an offer from Newcastle. There was also interest from Harry Redknapp at Spurs and I was waiting to find out if he was still wanting to do something. So I’m sitting there thinking if I should go or not.”
Record Sport exclusively broke the news in December 2009 that Mowbray had dropped the bombshell news on Brown just weeks before the winter transfer window was about to open.
Brown added: “Fast forward a couple of weeks, I’m on the team bus going to Kilmarnock away after recovering from an injury. Mowbray has named me as a sub. In the second half he tells me he’s sending me on at left-back then says, ‘As soon as you get on you take that armband. You’re going to be the captain now’.
“What was going through my head? I was thinking there was obviously no one else on the park for him to give it to.
“The armband had been given to about six players in the previous few weeks. It felt a bit like Russian Roulette.
“Looking back, as absurd as it all was, that was the moment that changed my entire Celtic career. I suppose I’ve got to thank him for that.
“If he doesn’t give me that armband on that night then, after he was sacked, we’d have got a new manager in. Mowbray would have talked to the new guy and told him, ‘You need to get rid of this guy Brown.
‘He’s no good, he’s a bad egg,’ Record Sport or whatever. Can you imagine if he said that?
“I’d have been trying to find a new club, I wouldn’t have been Celtic captain, some other manager would be in charge, ripped the whole team up and started again.
“It was a strange thing. Tony and I got on unbelievably well when we were together at Hibs.
“I was devastated when he went to West Brom because we didn’t think we’d get another manager of the same class. It turned out we didn’t get a manager of the same class but that’s another story!
“It all started well but when the s*** started to hit the fan somehow all the blame came back to me. And I was the guy who tried to help him out at Hibs. Now I was playing through injuries, trying to play in games when I shouldn’t have done. And it all backfired.
“I was trying my best to help him out but obviously he just wanted to help himself.”
When Mowbray was sacked in April 2010 on the back of a 4-0 hammering at St Mirren, Neil Lennon took over as caretaker manager. And Brown’s Celtic career took off.
He said: “I was 24 or 25 with a good few years left on my deal. So I stay then Lenny gets the job until the end of the season. I’m thinking, ‘Here we go, let’s show this guy what I’m all about’.
“He gets 10 or 12 games and we win every one of them apart from a Scottish Cup semi at Hampden against Ross County.
“And Lenny made it clear he wanted me to stay. That wee bit of love makes all the difference.
“I didn’t need him to cuddle me, kiss me or blow smoke up my a***. It was just good to know he wanted me to be his captain and to lead by example.
“But I had no experience in being a captain. The first thing I thought was, ‘What are you supposed to say in the huddle? All the best boys eh?’
“I was lucky I had Lenny. He talked me through what being a captain was all about.
“He taught me how to lead by example, to work harder than everyone else, get into training early. Don’t get caught out on the p*** all the time – something else coming from Lenny!”
Eight years on Brown is leading Celtic’s charge towards an eighth successive title and about to enter into discussions over a new contract.
He added: “You talk to any fan and it’s about 10. But they forget about the other ones we need to win before that.
“We’ve done seven so far and now we need to get to eight. If we win eight, we need to get to nine. It’s not time to talk about 10 in a row. It’s about us winning this league this year.
“But I do believe my body and legs will allow me to get that far. I think I can play another three or four seasons. I’ll be 34 next summer and I believe I can still be playing at Celtic until I’m 37.
“But right now it’s just about winning the next game and getting back to the form we’ve shown over the last couple of seasons.”
(3pm unless stated) ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE (1) Bournemouth v Leicester ...................... (2) Chelsea v Cardiff ................................... (4) Huddersfield v Crystal Palace ............... (5) Man City v Fulham ................................. (6) Newcastle v Arsenal .............................. (-) Tottenham v Liverpool .................. 12.30 (7) Watford v Man Utd ......................... 5.30
SKY BET CHAMPIONSHIP (9) Birmingham v West Brom .................... P (10) Blackburn v Aston Villa ................ 5.30 (11) Bolton v QPR ......................................... (12) Brentford v Wigan ................................ (13) Bristol City v Sheff Utd ........................ (14) Hull v Ipswich ....................................... (15) Millwall v Leeds .................................... (16) Norwich v Middlesbrough .................... (17) Preston v Reading ................................ (18) Rotherham v Derby .............................. (19) Sheff Wed v Stoke ................................ (20) Swansea v Nottm Forest .....................
SKY BET LEAGUE 1 (21) Wimbledon v Scunthorpe ..................... (22) Bradford v Charlton ............................ (23) Burton v Sunderland ........................... (24) Coventry v Barnsley ............................ (25) Fleetwood v Accrington ...................... (26) Luton v Bristol Rovers ........................ (27) Peterborough v Portsmouth ............... (28) Plymouth v Blackpool ......................... (29) Rochdale v Gillingham ......................... (30) Shrewsbury v Southend ...................... (31) Walsall v Doncaster .............................. (32) Wycombe v Oxford ..............................
SKY BET LEAGUE 2 (33) Carlisle v Tranmere ............................. (34) Cheltenham v Crewe ........................... (35) Colchester v Cambridge ...................... (36) Crawley v Morecambe ......................... (37) Grimsby v Oldham ............................... (38) Macclesfield v Lincoln ......................... (39) Mansfield v Exeter .............................. (40) MK Dons v Forest Green ........................ (41) Newport v Yeovil .................................. (42) Notts County v Stevenage .................. (43) Port Vale v Northampton .................... (44) Swindon v Bury ....................................
LADBROKES PREMIERSHIP (45) Hibs v Kilmarnock ............................... (46) Livingston v Hamilton ......................... (47) Motherwell v Hearts ............................ (48) Rangers v Dundee ............................... (49) St Johnstone v Aberdeen ...................
LADBROKES CHAMPIONSHIP (-) Ayr v Falkirk ........................................... (-) Dundee Utd v Morton ............................. (-) Dunfermline v Alloa ................................ (-) Inverness v Partick Th ........................... (-) Queen of South v Ross County ...............
LADBROKES LEAGUE ONE (-) Arbroath v Forfar ................................... (-) Brechin v Raith ....................................... (-) Dumbarton v Montrose .......................... (-) East Fife v Airdrie .................................. (-) Stranraer v Stenhousemuir ...................
LADBROKES LEAGUE TWO (-) Berwick v Elgin ....................................... (-) Clyde v Albion Rovers ............................ (-) Cowdenbeath v Peterhead ..................... (-) Edinburgh City v Annan Athletic ............ (-) Stirling v Queen’s Park ........................... ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE (9) Wolves v Burnley ............................ 1.30 (3) Everton v West Ham ......................... 4.0 ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE (-) Southampton v Brighton .................. 8.0
Scottish Premiership – St Mirren 0, Celtic 0.
Sky Bet Championship – Birmingham 1, West Brom 1.
Spanish League – Huesca 0, Rayo Vallecano 1.
German League – Dortmund 3, Eintracht Frankfurt 1.
French League – Nice 2, Rennes 1; PSG 4, St Etienne 0.
Belgian League – Bruges 2, Lokeren 1.