I enjoy people saying that I am rotten... I am here to keep proving them all wrong
PORTRAYALS of Scott Brown are like caricatures. They exaggerate his least flattering features. In a tribal landscape, Celtic’s captain is routinely painted as an uncultured footballer; a limited midfielder prone to rash acts. Amongst opposition fans, there is little respect for his talents.
When he announced his brief retirement from the national team, there there was no gnashing of teeth. No outpouring of grief or appeals to stick around a little longer. When he changed his mind before an England game at Wembley last year, he was accused of picking and choosing his Scotland games.
Despite all this, Brown is on the verge of a Celtic testimonial. A new contract beckons and Brendan Rodgers describes him as a great club captain. It’s clear both can’t be right. So who is?
‘I couldn’t care less,’ shrugged Brown ahead of tonight’s friendly with Czech side Slavia Prague. ‘People can think whatever they want of me.
‘I do my job for Scotland and I do my job for Celtic. I work as hard as I possibly can. I do whatever I need to do in training — and outside training — to be the best I can be.
‘People can write on Twitter or Instagram or whatever. It doesn’t really bother me.’
This is not strictly true, of course.
Growing up, the Celtic skipper could see a statue of the late Jim Baxter from his bedroom window in Hill O’Beath.
A footballing maverick, Baxter was another Fifer who claimed to care little what people thought.
While the Rangers icon’s career ended on a bitingly cold day in Aberdeen at the age of 30, however, Brown is still going strong at 32.
Under Rodgers, he feels totally rejuvenated. His dedication to prolonging his career was such that he retired from the national team to dedicate himself to the club which pays his wages. But he cared enough about Gordon Strachan — the man who signed him at Celtic — to return to the fray.
The evidence might suggest, then, that Brown cares a good deal more than he lets on.
‘I enjoy seeing the wee comments like: “Scotty, you’re rotten”,’ he admitted.
‘I think: “I know, mate, but I’m still playing and I’m 32”.
‘I’m just here to prove everyone wrong — even the sports science guys here.’
Last summer, the detractors had a field day as tendonitis took its toll on his limbs. With his game based on energy and running, the obituaries began taking shape.
‘When I went and met the current gaffer (last summer), I said I had a couple of seasons left at the top level,’ recalled Brown.
‘But now I think I am looking after my body and understanding how to look after it off the park as well as on it. I can play for another three or four seasons at the top level the way I’m feeling just now.’
Rodgers, then, has prolonged
his career. So, too, has the advice of Strachan, the Scotland manager who remains a positive role model and extols the benefits of bananas...
‘I was speaking to Gordon when we were away with Scotland and he was talking about how much fitter I looked compared to the season before when we met up just before I retired,’ said Brown.
‘Gordon played on until he was 40, 41. That is phenomenal.
‘The main thing he did, and he told wee James Forrest this one day, was he ate two bananas a day. That is what kept him going.
‘Ever since then, wee James has been eating two bananas a day. It’s brilliant.
‘Wee Stracho has just chucked the grenade in there. He doesn’t even like bananas, by the way...
‘But you do look up to people like that. Even now, Gordon still goes out for a run and is still moving well.
‘When we were at Celtic, he got his hips done. He came and did pre-season with us.
‘He still wants to work hard. It is in your body if you want to work hard.
‘I enjoy running. It is a part of the game some people don’t like. In the off-season, I will go and run on the treadmill.’
To some, the treadmill is a form of torture. The reason shiny gym membership cards lie gathering dust in a drawer.
It’s clear, however, that Brown wants the Celtic treadmill to keep rolling as long as possible.
He lives for the training, the running, the dressing room jokes and joshing.
‘Yeah, that’s huge,’ he admits. ‘I understand how people leave football and then struggle to get another job.
‘Football is a great place, a great environment to work in. And to be working with this manager has been brilliant. It puts a smile on everyone’s face.’
Knowing when to stop is the hard part. For any footballer living the dream, it’s the biggest decision they will take.
For many, playing football and being a is as good as it gets, the defining experience of their life. The desire to keep going, to savour every moment, is natural — but unrealistic.
’It is only a matter of time before somebody wants to kill you off,’ said Brown. ‘It has been that way in my career for the last 15 years.
‘People have done that. People can’t wait to knock you down. But, for me, I just need to maintain my levels of fitness.
‘As soon as I can’t chase the lads at training, I will know I am letting them down and will know it is time for me to go.
‘It won’t be a decision that anyone else will make.’
He might drop down the leagues to keep playing. Ideally, his career will finish in a similar way to that of Billy McNeill; on the shoulders of Celtic team-mates at Hampden after another Scottish Cup victory.
‘I would like to finish my career here,’ he said. ‘Whether it is at the end of this season when the gaffer patches me (drops me), or whether I get a new deal or not. But I would like to finish my career here.
‘Going down levels wouldn’t really bother me. I enjoy the changing room, I enjoy turning up to work every day.
‘But, for me, the enjoyment is playing at the top level. Whatever I have to do to do it for as long as I possibly can, I will do.’