IBROX WAS THE MAKING OF ME
Brown relishes being ‘Public Enemy No 1’ in Govan for last 14 years
CELEBRATIONS, confrontations and a cacophony of booing aimed at his ears. When Scott Brown enters Ibrox, things are rarely dull.
Some of these visits have influenced his Celtic career in a hugely positive way. A few others are probably best forgotten. Each and every time, however, Brown has approached the challenge with a competitor’s relish.
A red card, a couple of goals and the birth of ‘The Broony’ have all played their part in this tale. On his last outing in G51, a Rangers fan — later banned from football grounds and ordered to carry out community service — broke from the stand and squared up to him on the pitch.
‘I knew he wasn’t going to do anything,’ Brown reflected yesterday, playing down the incident. ‘He came on and probably instantly regretted it.’
The result, a 5-1 romp for Brendan Rodgers’ men, is far more prominent in Brown’s mind when he looks back on that April day. He can recall when defeat has stung.
Today will be the 13th time Brown has entered Ibrox as a Celtic player. His first visit — a 5-2 loss — was as an 18-year-old tyro with Hibernian back in August 2003.
‘I’ve been public enemy for 14 years now,’ grinned Brown, anticipating another hot reception. ‘You kind of blank most of it but you go there and concentrate on pressing your opponent, dominating and winning the battles.
‘If we can do that from the start, and with the pace in our team, then hopefully it can be a day to look forward to.
‘You can feed off the atmosphere but you need to blank most of it and help your team-mates. You have to focus on formation, tactics and where to be. It’s a different game for us now compared to when I first came (to Celtic) ten years ago. Structurally we’re very solid and we try to make it hard to play through us and we have a lot of pace, too.
‘You still get a wee bit of butterflies going out. That will to win drives you on more than anything. There is nothing better than going to a packed stadium, where you have a lot of supporters as well, and winning.’
Oddly enough, perhaps his most significant game at Ibrox didn’t end in victory. Sunday, February 6, 2011 saw Neil Lennon’s Celtic involved in a Scottish Cup tie. Trailing 2-1 and having had goalkeeper Fraser Forster sent off, Brown equalised with a 20-yard strike before celebrating — arms spread wide, aka The Broony — in front of El-Hadji Diouf.
‘What are my best Ibrox memories? Scoring,’ said Brown. ‘I’ve scored there twice, to be fair.
‘But in the Diouf game we were down to ten men and struggling for a period of time. We managed to keep the ball and build attacks. By the end of the game we were the ones pushing for the winner.
‘I also scored in another game, a penalty against Greegsy (Allan McGregor). I put it to his left, like I did with every other penalty I’d hit. I thought the goalies would work it out eventually! When Rab Douglas saved one, I got taken off the penalties.
‘But the Diouf game was the day when me and the fans connected. Beforehand, I was a bit of a loose cannon and would get suspensions.
‘It was back in the day when you got a four-match ban for six bookings, so it was always hard. You were walking on eggshells from the start of the season and, when you got a ban, the fans weren’t happy.
‘I could understand where they were coming from but it’s also quite hard to play in the middle of the park and avoid bookings.
‘But that day Lenny put faith in me as captain and I still have a great deal of respect for him for that. He let a wee Fife guy become captain and I kicked on from there.’
Cards still play their part. Brown was sent off at Ibrox in 2010, but a booking there last Hogmanay almost appeared to have a different purpose. Celtic were being outplayed by Mark Warburton’s side before Brown saw yellow for a challenge on James Tavernier.
He used the break in play to demand more from his team-mates. They went on to win 2-1.
‘I thought I won the ball,’ Brown said coyly. ‘You never want a booking early on in the game, but it happens. You think you can win the ball and he was too quick for me on the turn.
‘But it did get the crowd behind us. The lads followed on and we kicked on from there.
‘It can change things for you or against you. You are then treading on eggshells for the rest of the game and you have to make sure tackles are timed to perfection.
‘Sometimes it could be a pass, a goal from Griff (Leigh Griffiths), a run from Scott (Sinclair) down the wing. Those can give that extra bit of belief. It’s not always a tackle. It can be about how we attack.’
Bookmakers have Rangers as 4/1 outsiders on their own turf. Celtic fans may be hoping for another hefty scoreline but Brown remains cautious.
‘I wish it was that easy,’ he said. ‘No, you have to respect everyone you play against. You never know what can happen on the day.
‘We have to go there and play as we have done all season. We have to maintain the standards the gaffer sets.
‘They (Rangers) have spent a lot of money. They want to win the league and quite rightly so. A club the size of Rangers should be wanting to win the league.
‘We want to win the league, Aberdeen want to win the league, Hearts want to win the league.
‘The main thing is you need to keep doing it consistently. We have been doing it consistently for a long period of time now under the gaffer.’