Cup defeat to Rangers was hell but it was the best thing to happen to me

IT sits rather incongruously amid the many red letter days of his storied career. A winner of 16 major honours with Hibernian and Celtic, Scott Brown has accrued such a rich fund of treasured memories from victory that considering a defeat — and an excruciating one at that — to be of equal significance on his personal journey seems almost absurd.

Yet, when the milestones of his career are being plotted, he has no hesitation in doing so. The date was April 17, 2016. The venue, Hampden Park. The outcome, defeat on penalties in the Scottish Cup semi-final to then Ladbrokes Championship Rangers.

Brown’s physical discomfort as he laboured to get around the Hampden turf that afternoon was so marked that it was almost impossible to conceive of him playing a meaningful part after the inevitable parting of the ways with Ronny Deila.

It was, however, not so much an end as a new beginning. Instigated by the arrival of Brendan Rodgers, Brown’s motivation from that point on was to rage against the dying of the light.

Five subsequent major honours, PFA Scotland’s choice as the best player in the land and now the Scottish Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year award suggest he might just have succeeded in doing so.

‘It’s probably the best thing that ever happened to me,’ he said of that loss two years ago.

‘We looked sloppy all over the park that day. I had a lot of responsibility in the middle of the park and I didn’t turn up.’

WATCHIng from a distance that afternoon, Rodgers was one of the few who didn’t rush to judgment on the Fifer’s predicament.

The man who would soon become Celtic manager saw a player with physical issues, but also a solution to them by way of proper rest and conditioning.

An invitation for Brown to visit his home in London was extended as one of Rodgers’ first acts in the job. The words of belief and encouragement he imparted were every bit as healing as any physiotherapy session.

‘When I first met him, I said I would manage two years maximum,’ recalled Brown.

‘But he said if I got myself fit and looked after myself, then we’d see how it went. He was right because I’m still pushing on.’

So imperious has Brown been against midfields across the land this season that it’s almost as if that day at Hampden just never happened.

He’ll turn 33 next month but the Celtic captain looks almost unmarked by the passing of time.

The grim tidings for the opposition he has regularly beaten into submission is that retirement from the front line could not now be further from his thoughts.

‘As long as I keep producing the statistics I’m hitting just now and maintain my energy levels in the off season, then I’ll go on as long as I can,’ he explained.

‘I’m still enjoying it and I’ve won a lot of awards this season. But the main thing is we’re playing good football and winning games.

‘I’m eating better, looking after my diet and living better off the park. A couple of years prior to Brendan coming in, the training wasn’t as intense, so fitness levels naturally went up when he arrived.’

Already on the verge of defying his own timeline for hanging up the boots, Brown feels there is now no sense in starting the stopwatch.

He doesn’t have to look far for glaring examples of players for whom age was only a number.

‘gordon Strachan played on until he was 40 eating bananas and porridge,’ he said.

‘James Forrest now has two bananas every day because I told him that story — and I didn’t even know if it was true!

‘Seriously, gordon played in the English Premier League at that age and it just shows you that if you look after yourself, continue training and don’t pick up too many bad injuries, then you can keep going. People were talking about me retiring but there’s no chance of that happening in the next three or four years.’

Strachan’s role in Brown’s longevity as a player cannot be understated.

If the former Celtic manager’s legendary dietary tips have been taken to the bank, his counsel around the time of that Rangers defeat has been equally as invaluable.

‘I spoke with gordon,’ added Brown. ‘I sat down and had a conversation and it was him that convinced me that, just because I was 30 I shouldn’t believe everyone that says your legs have gone.

‘For me, that was huge. Then, when I went down and spoke with the manager, he said he wanted me in his plans for the next couple of years and to make sure I stayed injury free and as fit as I possible could be. I was determined to prove a point to everyone because people were saying I was finished and that my legs were gone.’

After Rodgers’ first competitive match as Celtic manager, they were saying that — and a great deal more.

Supposedly reborn under the northern Irishman, Brown still shudders when Lincoln Red Imps are mentioned.

‘I went out and worked as hard as I possibly could have but, in the first couple of weeks, I got injured,’ he recalled. ‘It was hard around then as, in the first competitive game, we got beaten in gibraltar.

‘You’re thinking: “Jeez, we’ve not started well against a part-time team”.

‘But the conditions and the pitch didn’t suit us. We knew it would be totally different once we got them back to Celtic Park.

‘Then our style slowly started to come through. Month by month, we started to get better. We understood every role and the way the manager wanted us to play.’

A season which began in ignominy ended in invincibility. With Brown reborn, Celtic became the first team in the history of Scottish football to go an entire domestic season unbeaten.

Almost inevitably, this term has not quite hit the same heights. Yet, for just the fifth time in the club’s history, the Treble is within sight. Certain players in Rodgers’ team have covered more ground and scored more goals. Others have claimed more assists and beaten more opponents.

none, though, could claim to have had the same profound effect as the man who, all so recently, was being referred to in the past tense.

‘I wouldn’t say this is the fittest I’ve ever been but it’s definitely right up there,’ said Brown.

‘When I was younger, I had so much energy I didn’t know what to do with it so I chased everybody about the park.

‘now it’s a different kind of fitness. For me, it’s now about maintaining that and making sure I keep this level up for as long as I possibly can.’