THE DEAD-EYED STARE THAT HIDES CELTIC SKIPPER BROWN’S INNER FIRE
Brown’s stare straight into the face of the Rangers manager? Strachan has seen it before and it left him quivering
DIGGING deep into his Alex Ferguson Book of Angry Outbursts, Gordon Strachan directed his strongest fire straight at Scott Brown. And wondered if the midfielder was even going to blink.
It didn’t seem to matter what Strachan said to the new boy who had cost Celtic a medium-sized fortune at £4.5million from Hibs.
High praise or blistering criticism, it was all received with a deadpan, dead-eyed, frankly unnerving stare that remains a key part of the Scotland midfielder’s psychological armoury. Witness Brown’s weekend
tête-à-tête with Pedro Caixinha at Ibrox. That cold glare being directed by the Celtic captain straight into the face of the Rangers boss? We’ve seen that often enough.
It would have been all too familiar to Strachan, who yesterday recalled half-jokingly asking a colleague whether this raw bundle of on-field energy was in need of specialised medical attention. Just to find out if he was actually taking anything in.
Asked if he had ever lost his rag with Brown, either during their time together at Celtic Park or since being reunited with the national team, Strachan declared: ‘He has no reaction to whatever you say to him.
‘I remember saying to Garry Pendrey (Strachan’s No2 at Celtic): “I think we should get a doctor to see him”. He just kept staring at me! Doesn’t matter if you were calling him the best player in the world or the worst player in the world, his expression would stay the same. It’s a bit off-putting at times.’
All of this is great knockabout stuff, of course. Big Bad Broony. The Intimidator. Nobody, least of all Brown himself, is going to play down such a useful image.
But the 32-year-old’s reputation appears to have travelled full circle in the past year, with his ability to dominate with the ball appreciated as much as any destructive qualities.
While one drag-back and pass down the line stood out in his performance at Ibrox, his overall control of midfield was no more than most have come to expect from him.
Strachan is pleased with his renaissance, pointing out: ‘He started off as a guy who could defend or attack. I remember he scored a great goal for Hibs against Celtic, running past people.
‘He’s figured out what he’s good at and other coaches have helped him — and he’s taken it on board. Through the years, he’s picked up information, kept it in his head and got better.’
Brown’s leadership skills have also improved, although Strachan was reluctant to agree that the fact he didn’t tangle with Caixinha represented a surprising show of maturity from a player re-energised under Brendan Rodgers.
‘To be honest, I’d only be nodding to agree for the sake of it,’ said the Scotland boss, who yesterday named six Celtic players in the squad for next month’s crucial World Cup qualifiers against Slovakia and Slovenia.
‘I haven’t seen that much of a difference in him. I don’t see much difference to the guy.
‘But I see more professionalism off the park. He realises now he’s a role model to everyone, being the captain of Celtic and Scotland. His overall professionalism is better.
‘I keep going back to a training session we had before the England game. The fitness coach was having a heart attack. I wanted to see how fit some of them were and we did a running session.
‘Broony asked me what I was doing. I told him he should know as he’d seen it many times at Celtic.
‘He then joined in — but he didn’t need to as he’d been told to rest.
‘But, when he did it, others did it — Robert Snodgrass joined in, others joined in and before I knew it we had 22 running when it was only meant for eight.
‘That was down to the leadership of the captain. I see his maturity more off the pitch than on it. The boys and coaches love him. That’s why nothing was made of him coming back (out of retirement) with us. Nothing at all.’
Strachan didn’t travel to watch the Old Firm game, arguing that he would be ‘daft’ to waste his time checking up on players he knows inside out.
Brown, Craig Gordon, Kieran Tierney, Stuart Armstrong, James Forrest and Leigh Griffiths will almost certainly all feature in a World Cup double-header where the stakes could hardly be higher.
There is only one new face in the squad announced for the Slovakia game at Hampden on October 5 and Slovenia away three days later, Leeds United skipper Liam Cooper adding an option in central defence.
Strachan insisted he will sleep easily on the eve of both matches because he now has so much trust in his entire squad. He knows them as well as any club manager knows his first-team group, and has little time for distracting thoughts about his own future beyond the next two fixtures.
Yet the prospect of six points, the possibility of a play-off and even the outside chance of a return to a major finals, all of these things still provoke a reaction — a typically Scottish one — from him.
‘I have never planned anything in my life — but I’m not daft,’ he said of the longer term.
‘The excitement of where we are and what we’ve done to drag ourselves back into it outweighs any other worries I’ve got.
‘Oh, I dream. But I also have that Caddyshack thing with the devil on one side and the angel on the other. I’ve always been a bit like that. I try to keep a balance.
‘When I first set out, I said in my first interview what a fantastic thing it would be to make five million people happy.
‘We’ve done it on many occasions. We’ve also made quite a lot of them unhappy at times! But it’s not for the want of trying.
‘It’s different from a club side, where the supporters decide who they support. With your country, you support your country.
‘To be able to take them, the players, the staff and all the rest would be just fantastic.
‘But you’re not daft, you guys. You know how hard this is going to be. The two hurdles are very hard.’
Clearing those barriers will take something special. Not least from Strachan himself.
If he isn’t quite moved to deliver a managerial address which is Churchillian in its eloquence, there may be a few choice — fiery, even — words to the players.
He knows by now which ones will respond to praise and who needs the odd verbal blast.
And he’s absolutely sure that his skipper is fully tuned into everything being said. Even if his game face shows no flicker of a reaction.