GREAT SCOTT
McCrorie excited to work with Brown
HAVING been embroiled in midfield warfare against Scott Brown with both Rangers and Aberdeen, Ross McCrorie needs no lessons in the combative qualities of the Celtic captain.
Being on the same side next season is a hugely appealing prospect. And not just because of Brown’s bite.
McCrorie views the 35-year-old as the perfect tutor to educate Aberdeen’s rising talents once he arrives on a player-coach contract this summer.
Indeed, he feels that incoming manager Stephen Glass has already delivered a major win for the Pittodrie club by securing that pre-contract deal.
‘It will be brilliant because Scott Brown is a top player who has won a lot of trophies,’ said McCrorie.
‘It will be great for everyone, the young boys especially, to learn off him. I can’t think of anyone better to come into the club to learn from.
‘I’ve played against him down the years and he’s someone I would definitely take into the trenches with me. He’s a battler and he is also very good technically.
‘It’s been evident over the years the impact he’s had at Celtic. It is a great signing for the club, not just on the playing side but the coaching side as well.
‘He will have a lot of experiences that he can bring to the team. We can feed off that. He will also show us things on the training side.
‘I am really looking forward to working with Scott Brown — but that is going to be next season.
‘Right now, we have a lot of games to play before we finish the season and I’m also looking forward to when the new gaffer comes in.’
Interim manager Paul Sheerin remains in charge for today’s Scottish Cup third-round tie away to League One side Dumbarton and is also likely to lead the team into next week’s Premiership match with St Johnstone.
With Glass quarantining after travelling from America to Scotland, his first league assignment will be against Celtic on April 21.
Brown will be a foe again that day. Might it feel a little weird knowing that he’ll soon be on his way to Pittodrie?
‘No, I don’t think so,’ countered McCrorie. ‘I’ve played against Scott Brown for the majority of my first-team career.
‘He’ll be with us at the start of next season but, right now, he is an opponent. That’s the way it is.
‘I like playing against him, as it’s a real battle. I’ve played against him in Old Firm games.
‘He is a legend basically at Celtic and it is a great signing at the club to bring him in.’
A lunchtime visit to Dumbarton, televised live on BBC Scotland, will bring back some happy memories for McCrorie.
Four years ago, he joined the club on a second loan away from Rangers and helped them stay in the Championship.
‘I went to Dumbarton on loan when I was 18, after I’d been at Ayr United, and I spent the last two or three months of the season there,’ recalled the 23-year-old.
‘Ian Durrant brought me in and I had a great time there. It was a massive loan for me because at that age I didn’t want to be playing youth football any more.
‘I’d been with Ayr and helped them get promoted and then I got the chance to go to Dumbarton to help in a relegation battle.
‘Durranty had been a big influence on my career (from his time coaching at Rangers), so I couldn’t have gone anywhere better. The fact it was a relegation battle taught me about the other side of the game, the mental side.
‘That has helped me get to where I am today because you have to be mentally strong.
‘A lot of people don’t realise how big the mental side of the game is, having the belief that you’re going to win and coping when things go against you.
‘You have to keep your head down and work away, but people take that side of it for granted because they don’t see it.
‘We stayed up. We’d drawn with Dundee United in the second last game, so we went into the final day safe. We were chilling.’
Relaxation has not been part of the story of Aberdeen’s current campaign, a stop-start season which saw long-serving manager Derek McInnes depart the club.
Having failed to score in nine of their last ten games, a 1-0 loss to Dundee United before the international break delivered a familiar story of angst.
‘We know where we have to improve, scoring goals has been a problem for us this season — it has been a big problem and you can’t get away from it,’ said McCrorie.
‘It hasn’t been good enough and we have to make it better.
‘I thought certain aspects of the Dundee United game, the build-up play, were very good but it’s the final third bit that hasn’t been clicking. Once we can get that working properly we will be okay.
‘The form we have been in the last month has been frustrating but hopefully we can change things in the cup this weekend.
‘The Scottish Cup is a target for Aberdeen every season and we would love to win it this season.’