JOCK BROWN ON DEATH THREATS AND LIVING WITH CELTIC PRESSURE
THE death threats following Wi m Jansen’s acrimonious departure were a bluff. The police advice on how to stay safe at traffic lights proved unnecessary.
During a troubled tenure as Celtic general manager, however, Jock Brown learned how lonely and fraught running a football club during a ten-in-a-row season can be.
And, as supporters turn their guns on Neil Lennon, major shareholder Dermot Desmond and chief executive Peter Lawwell over an alarming reversal of fortunes, he recalls life on the other side of the fence.
‘I have sympathy for the people in this situation now,’ he tells Sportsmail. ‘Very much so.
‘No matter how competent or incompetent you think anyone is, to be put in a position of trying to deal with these issues in a Glasgow goldfish bowl where you can’t move without something becoming public knowledge is very difficult.
‘You imagine Peter Lawwell now. All eyes are on his every move and he can’t scratch his nose without people analysing how he does it and de constructing it and interpreting what it means for Neil Lennon’s future.
‘The current situation is incredible. For goodness’ sake, Celtic are about to win their fourth Treble.
‘It’s quite staggering. There are always cycles in football.
‘In Glasgow, one of the big two is in the ascendancy and the other one is cast in the role of challenger trying to get back. That’s how it has always been.’
A fanbase which never did see eye to eye with the former commentator and lawyer still view matters in a rather different light.
Refuting allegations of a spoiled sense of entitlement after a run of 11 straight trophies, Celtic supporters offer a more rugged defence than their porous team.
Granted the advantage of a free run at Champions League riches for the last nine years, most feel they were entitled to better than a 13- point deficit before Christmas.
While Rangers sweep all before them, Celtic have been forced to offer Lennon a public stay of execution until the New Year after a run of two wins in 12 games. The fury of supporters is reminiscent of the fallout which followed Jansen halting a Rangers march to ‘ the ten’ in 1998 — t hen announcing his resignation in the Pal acio Hotel in Lisbon 48 hours later.
Portrayed as a Rangerssupporting villain, Brown — a lifelong Hamilton Accies f an — battened down the hatches.
‘I had death threats,’ he recalls. ‘But the thing about
“I didn’t want to talk about it publicly because that just encourages matters but I’m not sure I knew the half of it”
death threats is that people talk about them. When it happened to me, I never said a word to anybody. ‘It was known about within the club, of course. They were very on the ball in terms of looking after people. ‘But I didn’t want to talk about it publicly because that j ust encourages matters, doesn’t it? ‘ We had all sorts of protocols in place to deal with it, so I’m not sure I knew the half of it. ‘But I had special arrangements to protect my personal safety. I can remember being briefed by police about the things I could and couldn’t do and what to do if there was any problem.
‘I was told that if I stopped my car at traffic lights, I had to be careful.
‘But my actual experience was t hat people would actually wind down their window to be nice to me.
‘When you get serious heavy media abuse, the public tend to sympathise with you.
‘Listen, social media was just beginning in my day. It was a different world in that sense.
‘But it might surprise people that my response from the public was generally excellent.’
There was an i ncident at Prestwick Airport when Celtic’s flight returned from a European defeat to FC Basle at the same time as a supporters’ charter. Blaming journalists for painting him in an unflattering light, he adds: ‘In that situation you have to avoid reading the papers.
‘I was well aware of what was being written because I was briefed on what I needed to know. But what you have to do is hold your line and do what you believe to be right, no matter what.
‘ If you listen to the hysteria outside, then you are wasting your time.
‘There is no way of making any sense of that.’
While Jansen took advantage of a break clause in his contract to quit Celtic hours after stopping the ten, Neil Lennon finds himself cast in the role of Walter Smith.
Smith admits he was ‘ nicely sacked’ by David Murray when a Rangers t eam wearied and exhausted by the demands of winning nine-in-a-row stumbled in Europe and staggered in the quest for the ten.
Using the club AGM in October 1997 to announce plans to stand down at the end of the season, Smith clung to office until the end of the campaign.
And, with no candidates lined up to replace him, Celtic directors stil l hope Lennon can defy pressure f rom supporters to do the same.
‘I can tell you there is nothing harder than not having a manager and trying to recruit a manager,’ says Brown (pictured).
‘Trying to do that in the Glasgow goldfish bowl, it really can be murder.
‘Is any Scotsman going to turn down the job of managing Celtic? Unlikely.
‘But it’s not obvious to me where they would go right now to get a suitable Scottish guy.
‘In the current circumstances, the Celtic job might be appealing to a foreigner. But if you are recruiting normally, you would want to talk to people and interview people.
‘They can’t do that at the minute. You can’t arrange a meeting with
anyone because i t would get out. Either the agent would leak k it or it would appear on social media.
‘And i f you already have a manager in place, you cannot be seen to be doing that.
‘ Once you no l onger have a manager in place it’s different. But even then it’s problematic.’
Celtic fans are entitled to regard succession planning as part of the job description for those running g the club.
And Brown acknowledges the onus on Desmond and Lawwell l to get i t right after setting g themselves against their own supporters to back Lennon.
‘The board creates the environment in which the manager works,’ adds Brown. ‘In any other walk of life, when you are assessing how to improve things you look right at the top of the tree.
‘That’s where the leadership has to come from. Ultimately, a football club is no different.’
“The current situation is incredible... for goodness’ sake Celtic are set to win a fourth consecutive Treble”