BROWN SPARKS AN OLD FIRM FIRE
Skipper says Dons — not Rangers — will be main challengers to Celtic
SCOTT BROWN last night lit the touchpaper ahead of the new Scottish Premiership campaign starting this weekend by predicting Aberdeen — and not Rangers — will be Celtic’s biggest challengers for the title.
Rangers are back in the top flight after a four-year absence after Mark Warburton’s men cruised to the Championship title last season. The Ibrox side have since strengthened by landing nine new summer signings including star names Joey Barton and Niko Kranjcar.
Asked whom he thought would be the biggest challengers to the title, however, the Celtic skipper did not name Rangers.
Brown said: ‘I think Aberdeen after the last
couple of seasons. They are really exciting to watch and they came to Celtic Park last season and took points off us and we struggled up there. ‘So we will need to do a bit better this season.’ In fact, Aberdeen lost twice at Celtic Park last season, 3-1 and 3-2, but did beat Celtic in both encounters 2-1 at Pittodrie. Derek McInnes’ men ended up finishing 15 points behind Celtic, who cruised to five titles in a row. Brown admitted he is relishing the return of the Old Firm games this season but declined to speculate on how Warburton’s men will fare in their first season back. However, he feels Celtic are well placed to claim six in a row under new boss Brendan Rodgers. ‘We’ll see (about Rangers) when it comes,’ said Brown whose side kick off the season with a tough trip to Tynecastle to face Hearts on Sunday. ‘That (Rangers) is our fourth game of the season and we have a few before that. ‘Aberdeen and Hearts have been great in the last few seasons and we expect more of the same from those two. ‘They (the Old Firm games) will be good. A Rangers-Celtic game is always good in a packed stadium but we have a lot of big games. That’s down the line. ‘But training has been excellent under the new boss. He’s a great manager to work under. ‘He had Swansea and Liverpool playing good football and we are trying to do that, too. ‘We have a long way to go but everyone is enjoying it. The manager has already strengthened the team with Kolo Toure and Moussa Dembele coming in and, hopefully, we can improve. ‘We are determined to defend the title this season. Last season was a little bit disappointing overall — but we still got the job done. ‘Hopefully we can do the same this year. We have started off well in the Champions League qualifiers and, hopefully, we can push on in the league. ‘But the league is always the No 1 priority. It’s huge for us to get six in a row.’ However, Rangers captain Lee Wallace last night laughed off Brown’s assessment of the Ibrox side’s title credentials. Ahead of leading his side out against Hamilton at home on Saturday, the 29-year-old vowed that Rangers are ready to compete in the top flight. Responding to Brown’s comments, Wallace said: ‘That’s fine, this is the scenario we are going to be faced with. We are going to get that now we are back in the top flight, but we are ready for the challenge. ‘We are going to make sure we are highly competitive, that we are the best prepared we can be every match and we’ll see where it takes us. ‘Can Rangers be expected to mount an immediate title challenge? What you can expect is what Rangers always do. That’s to be highly competitive, to make sure we go into every game being hard to beat, playing the right way and make sure we can be the best we can every single time. ‘That comes from how we train, that comes from our working week. ‘There’s no doubt we have added well and we are training well. ‘Preparations have been great and we’ll certainly go into every game hoping to win and making sure we are highly competitive.’