Mccrorie won’t rule out Glasgow goal double for Brown on Parkhead return

It couldn’t happen, could it?

Aberdeen’s Ross Mccrorie certainly believes so. It seems outlandish to consider that Scott Brown could complete a rare Glasgow scoring double by netting on his first return to Celtic Park following his decision to end his 22-honour, 13-year association with the club last season. But after the midfield anchor dropped Rangers in it with a headed strike at Ibrox in the 2-2 draw for Stephen Glass’s men there last month, Mccrorie is ruling nothing out about tomorrow’s confrontation.

And even if the occasion couldbringaswirlofemotions for Brown on a day the Celtic faithful will pay tribute to him and the recently-departed Bertie Auld, Mccrorie rebuffs any suggestion the encounter could be awkward for the Aberdeen captain – even in the week Glass admitted substituting the 36-year-old for the only time this season when he first faced his old club, at Pittodrie eight weeks ago, came about from Brown cramping up through being unconsciously affected by the personal significance attached to the game. It feels that this longawaited return, with Brown, inset, unable to say his farewells to a support with which he had experienced so much because of the pandemic shutout of fans last season, has even greater resonance. “I certainly hope he can get another goal,” Mccrorie said of Brown scoring. “We’ll wait and see. If anybody can tap in the goals at any point, that would be welcome. You never know, maybe Broony can do it again this weekend. It will be a special occasion for him because he’s obviously had a great history with Celtic. But me knowing Broony, I know his mentality will be to go in focused on Aberdeen and trying to get the three points like in any other game.

“That’s just the mentality that Broony has. He wants to go out and win. I don’t know about it being awkward. Whatever team he plays in, he’s going to give you his all and show a high performance. It’s not going to affect him. He’s a top pro and an Aberdeen player now, and that’s his full focus.”