Brown delighted to see McGregor pick up his mantle
SCOTT BROWN insists Callum McGregor was his ideal replacement as captain at Celtic Park.
The former Parkhead skipper reckons McGregor has followed in his footsteps in the way he has “driven standards” within the Celtic squad.
Brown left Celtic last year for Aberdeen after 14 trophy- laden years, with more than a decade as captain under his belt.
Now manager at Fleetwood Town, the 37- year- old has revealed he was thrilled that McGregor was the man Ange Postecoglou turned to with the armband at the start of last season. Brown said: “I tried to drive everything as much as I possibly could.
“I knew I was coming to the end and I was just glad Celtic offered Cal the captaincy, because he drives training.
“He drives standards about the place and wants to be the best he possibly can be.
“Did I play with better players? Possibly, I played with Virgil [ van Dijk] and [ Victor] Wanyama and stuff. But for somebody to go in and control a dressing room is hard. These players are important to have because if they don’t drive standards people slowly drop.
“For me, I tried to drive my own standards when I was a player, because I just wanted to be the best I possibly could be. Cal is the exact same.
“We still speak now but I never give him advice on how to captain Celtic, because that was me captaining Celtic and he captains Celtic the way he wants to captain Celtic.”
Brown is now trying to establish himself in management after joining Fleetwood in the summer and suffered his first defeat in six games with a 2- 1 reverse at home to Bolton at the weekend. But he admits he still leans on former Celtic bosses Gordon Strachan, Neil Lennon and Brendan Rodgers.
The former Scotland captain told the BBC: “Gordon signed me for Celtic and I still speak to Gordon now. I speak to Neil, I speak to Brendan.
“Brendan was brilliant for me, a big influence.”