Brown calling for ‘fortress’ Pittodrie

Fired-up Aberdeen captain Scott Brown aims to bring the fear factor back for teams visiting Pittodrie. Brown wants to make Pittodrie a ‘fortress’ again that Premiership top clubs are wary of visiting.

Midfielder Brown insists visiting Pittodrie was always a hard game while Celtic skipper – and he wants that to return.

The 36-year-old has warned rivals the Dons aim to make home advantage count by going on the attack and playing with intensity.

Brown hopes that will inspire the Red Army to create an intimidating atmosphere to further sharpen the edge of home advantage.

The midfielder wants a return to the Pittodrie intensity of the 2015-16 season when Aberdeen twice beat the Celtic team he captained in the Granite City.

Brown admits Aberdeen gave Celtic a ‘huge scare’ in that 2015-16 league title race.

He said: “We will try to make this place a fortress. Coming up to Pittodrie was always a hard game, no matter what.

“That’s what we want to bring back – giving teams hard games where we beat Rangers, beat Celtic, Hibs, Hearts – especially at home as well.

“Pittodrie should be a hard place to come especially with the wind, rain, snow, sleet – and the sunshine as well. It is going to be a hard place to come to.

“We want to play attacking football and play with intensity.

“We also want to squeeze the game and force it, and get the crowd behind us.”

Brown captained Celtic to a dominance of the Scottish top flight but admits Aberdeen came close to ending their ninein-a-row run.

During that 2015-16 season Aberdeen began the league campaign with eight straight wins and twice beat Celtic.

Asked how big a scare the Dons gave Celtic that season, he said: “A huge scare. Aberdeen are a great team, they really are.”

Now firmly settled in at Pittodrie the influential midfielder is relishing experiencing both the playing and coaching side of the game – as well as working alongside friend and former Hibs teammate Stephen Glass, the Aberdeen manager.

He said: “I kept in touch with Stephen the whole time and it is great to come in and actually work with him and not just speak on the phone.

“Especially the last four, five weeks of the season it is not the same when you talk to someone about how training is going and how they are preparing on training.

“It was great to get in the building to work with Stephen, Allan (Russell, Aberdeen assistant), Henry (Apaloo, Aberdeen coach), Simmy (Neil Simpson, pathways manager) and I knew Gordon (Marshall, keeper coach) as well.

“I worked with him at Hibs when he was a goalie coach there.”