WUNDERKIND Backs Brown to be boss.
Frimpong remembers his Parkhead days fondly. Insists Lennon exit came as shock, hears Mark Hendry
JEREMIE Frimpong arrived a Celtic as a fresh-faced kid among a sea of hardened, experienced pros. The young Dutchman pitched up at Lennoxtown having never played a firstteam game of football at Manchester City. A raw talent who had pace to burn and inexperience to shed. He could have been forgiven for cowering at the pressure of playing for a successful Celtic team but the then-18-year-old credits his captain for convincing him he could make it.
Scott Brown, after all, was a Hibs hero at just 17 when he made his debut. He became the gallus and brash midfielder at Parkhead after a decent grounding in Leith. And, to Frimpong, he had all the experience in the world to pass down and help the young rightback both fit in at Celtic and reach his potential.
So when Neil Lennon resigned as manager last week, Frimpong was not surprised to hear Brown’s name being banded around when the conversation of who should replace the Northern Irishman came up.
“If he wanted to be a manager I feel he’d be a great manager,” Frimpong said.
“The way he speaks, the way he motivates the players. He knows a lot about the game and has been in the game a long time, so he’s experienced. I feel he’d be a great manager.”
Brown has a wealth of knowledge and Frimpong has, before leaving in an £11.5million move to Bayer Leverkusen this season, picked his brain often enough. The defender credits his former skipper with providing the advice which helped him go on and succeed in Glasgow.
But it was never lengthy lectures from the captain. Instead, Frimpong remembers brief conversations with Brown where he’d highlight the youngster’s talents and ensure he knew how to make the most of them. That, to the rightback, is what makes Brown stand out. And while the Hoops management position may come a bit too early for him now, Frimpong has no doubts that it may be one to revisit in the future.
“When I first came and played my first match [Broony] would tell me what I should do, what’s best for me in this position,” he added. “He’d say, ‘Use your ability when you go forward and attack them, you’re the fastest in the league, they won’t catch you’, things like that. Defensively he would tell me as well, about my positioning and that I can’t always rely on my speed. If you put yourself in a better position then you don’t even have to use it. He’s more experienced and would give me little things like this, and it really helped, because look at where I am today! I’ll always be grateful.”
Lennon’s exit came, perhaps, under a cloud for
He knows a lot about the game and has been in the game a long time. I feel he’d be a great manager
CRAIG Gordon insists Hearts must find an answer to their current slump if they want to win the Championship in style.
The Jambos have hit a worrying dip in form in recent weeks, managing just 1-1 draws from their last three games against Queen of the South, Morton and Inverness Caley Thistle.
They still have a massive 12-point lead over Raith Rovers at the top of the table as they prepare to host Dundee this weekend. But Gordon accepts the Tynecastle men have to get better if they are not going to end up stumbling over the finishing line in the race for the title.
The former Scotland and Celtic keeper said: “It doesn’t matter what players we’ve got, it’s the results. Whatever anybody says about ‘it’s a good group of players, [they] shouldn’t be doing this’, this is the group of players and we’ve got to get the results.
“I’m kind of sick of hearing that, to be honest. We’ve got to get this league won, no matter how we do it. If we have to [go to Inverness] and scrape draws and get there in the end then that’s what we have to do. But we want to play better and we want to try to dominate games, and be a force and go and win this league comfortably. We need to improve to do that.”
Gordon admits Hearts were made to pay for a slow start in the Highlands in Friday night’s 1-1 draw with Inverness.
The Gorgie outfit fell behind to Miles Storey’s opener after just nine minutes but Liam Boyce’s 14th goal of the campaign rescued a point. He told
BBC Scotland: “It’s disappointing. We didn’t start the game particularly well and got ourselves behind, and were always chasing to get back into it and to try to go on and win it.
“We’ll take the point but we were really looking for three.”
Meanwhile, Derby County assistant manager Liam Rosenior admits David Marshall has injured his oblique muscle but has refused to say how long the Scotland goalkeeper will be sidelined for.
Former Celtic shot-stopper Marshall was forced off just before half-time in last Friday’s 1-1 draw with force local rivals Nottingham Forest.
The set-back comes as Scotland boss Steve Clarke draws up his squad list for the opening World Cup qualifiers against Austria, Israel and the Faroe Island from March 25.
Rosenior said: “Marhsy is OK, we’re doing more checks on him. We’re keeping a check on him and the medical staff are working really hard with him and hopefully he will be fit as possible as quick as possible.”