IT’S ALL GOOD

Brown focused only on positives Collins has brought to Celtic

SCOTT BROWN insists he has no problem with the appointment of John Collins as Celtic’s new assistant manager.

The Parkhead skipper was a member of the Hibernian squad that staged a revolt against the former midfielder’s management methods during his short-lived tenure as Easter Road boss.

Revealing that new boss Ronny Deila phoned him to break the news Collins was coming in, however, Brown claims there are now no issues between the two men.

‘I think there are always going to be negatives here and there,’ said the Celtic and Scotland skipper. ‘People are trying to start something up.

‘But you just have to focus on the positives. It’s two good management people who have come in and that’s going to be good for us.

‘Ronny phoned me and told me he was going to bring John in, so it’s been good.

‘I don’t dwell on what happened before. I’m at Celtic now, it’s a big club and John has come in.

‘Everyone wants to make it a big issue, but me and John have got on fine since he has come in.

‘ There have been no hard feelings whatsoever and it’s been nothing but positive.

‘Hopefully that will continue because, the way it has been going, I have enjoyed every single minute of it.’

Unveiled as Deila’s right- hand man last week, Collins allayed any concerns over t he relationship between the pair.

A strong and influential figure in the Parkhead dressing room, Brown (right) has matured since his days at Hibs and, in an interview with Celtic TV, says he always anticipated the possibility he might work with Collins again.

‘ In football, it’s all about not falling out with people,’ he continued. ‘ You always know that someone could come back round the corner and you could be working with them again.

‘I always knew John might be back working at Celtic at some point because he is a legend here.

‘But the gaffer has done well to assemble a brilliant team with new faces and we start afresh.

‘There is also big John Kennedy there on the coaching staff and he knows Celtic inside out.

‘ He has worked with t he Under-20s and Under-19s and has been really positive in how he wants it to be done.’

Returning to pre-season training on Tuesday, Deila takes his squad to Austria for a training camp on Sunday.

The Norwegian needs a central defender, a striker and a wide man, but has no plans to add new signings until after the Champions League qualifying games with KR Reykjavik in mid- July. ‘The main thing is that the new manager gets a chance to see how we are building up and see how we are performing and gets a settled team formation,’ added Brown.

‘It’s only been one day we’ve been back, but everyone looks in good shape.’ Deila is also keen to hang on to his best players, with Fraser Forster and Virgil van Dijk t i pped to l eave i f the Scottish champions receive strong bids. Spanish newspaper Estadio Deportivo c la imed yesterday that Europa League w inners Sevilla are interested in signing defender van Dijk, also linked with Ronald Koeman’s Southampton.