Celtic made late bid to halt Brown’s Dons switch

Aberdeen v Livingston

STEPHEN GLASS believes Aberdeen’s signing of Scott Brown is a bigger deal for the Dons than when another former Celtic star, Roy Aitken, joined the Reds in 1992.

And the new Pittodrie boss revealed that Parkhead chief executive Peter Lawwell did all he could to keep his skipper at the club, even to the point of calling him while he was in the Granite City to complete his move.

Glass was part of Aberdeen’s midfield when Aitken became manager and won the League Cup in 1995, but tomorrow he will be in the dugout for the Scottish Cup fourth-round tie against Livingston having moved from coaching Atlanta United’s second team in America to take over from Derek McInnes at Pittodrie.

He and Brown, inset, have been friends since their days with Hibs and approached the veteran to join him at Pittodrie as playerassistant manager next season.

“In my opinion, Scott joining us, it is bigger than when Roy came to Aberdeen,” he said. “Roy had left Celtic two years earlier and played at Newcastle and St Mirren. We have signed the Celtic captain who is still playing for Celtic and somebody Celtic still want to keep.

“There are huge similarities between them, but in terms of the actual playing side, the player we are getting in Scott Brown is incredible. You see him playing now and he looks like he can play until he is 40.

“That is probably the next job, convincing him he can. I think he wants to play as long as he can, as well as he can. He is a professional, an ultimate professional, an ultimate winner.”

Glass 44, added Celtic’s efforts to retain the services of their captain, whose Parkhead contract expires in the summer, meant that there were phone calls between Brown and Lawwell right to the last minute of him agreeing to buy into the new Aberdeen revolution.

He said: “I think that says it all about how important Scott Brown is to us. I am not talking about Celtic; he is so important to what we are going to do here.

“That he would be willing to come up despite the size and magnitude of Celtic, shows he knows what we offer him. We also know what he offers us.”