EASY TARGET
I’d get huge ban for tackle like Davies, says Brown
SCOTT BROWN claims he would have been banned for the rest of the season had he dished out the kind of challenge Ross County’s Andrew Davies inflicted upon him last weekend.
The Staggies captain was shown a straight red card after stamping on the Celtic skipper’s groin during a 3-0 victory for the Parkhead side.
Davies was handed an automatic twomatch ban after the SFA decided not to charge him with excessive misconduct.
However, Brown is adamant that, had the roles been reversed, Hampden chiefs would have thrown the book at him.
He said: ‘Let’s be honest, if that was me, I’m getting a solid five or six-game ban and probably not playing again for the rest of the season.
‘I’d be all over the papers for weeks on end — and he’s got a two-game ban.
‘Jeez, I kicked Neymar on the back (in a Champions League match against Barcelona in 2013) and my big toe almost touched him and I got a three-game
ban. So there are obviously rules for some and not others. ‘Everyone has been talking about my tackling this season, but I’ve never actually deliberately stood on anyone’s hee-haws before. ‘But he has actually done me a favour because I didn’t want any more kids, so it saved me going to the hospital to get the operation.’ Brown revealed that Davies had not taken the ‘manly’ option by getting in touch with him this week to apologise. And he also accused the County captain of letting his own team-mates down in the heat of a relegation battle. ‘Looking back, it was quite bad,’
said Brown ahead of tomorrow’s trip to face Hamilton. ‘At the time, I didn’t realise how bad it was because I slid in with Billy Mckay. We were arm in arm, and I fell over, pushed the ball and he (Davies) has waited for us and stood on top of me. ‘He waited until the ball has gone flying past and he’s properly gone for it. ‘You can see on his face and he’s just walked off after that. ‘You want to tackle hard, you want to win the ball — it is a contact sport — but stamping on opponents when the ball is nowhere near you is definitely not being a hard man. ‘Was it premeditated? I don’t know how because he is a centre-half and I’m a central midfielder and I’m going further and further back. ‘So what are the chances of the two of us running into each other? I’m not usually that far up the park. Everyone has a wee minute of madness now and again and that was probably his. ‘But, being the captain of a team who are in a relegation battle, who probably has players looking up to him as the leader, for him to do that is probably not what Ross County need at the moment. ‘Did he make an attempt to apologise this week? No, nothing. That would have been the manly thing to do.’ This week, Hibs boss and former Celtic captain and manager Neil Lennon warned that careers could be wrecked by some of the tackling taking place in the Premiership this season. Brown agreed, citing the example of Celtic keeper Craig Gordon who suffered a serious knee injury while at Sunderland. ‘If it (the Davies tackle) catches you on the knee then I think it could be career ending,’ he said. ‘You look at people like Craig Gordon. He was out for two years with his knees. You don’t want to see that for anyone.’