When I was 30, people said my legs had gone and I was finished. I love proving them wrong
DISPOSSESSED by Dylan McGeouch. Rumbled by Danny Swanson. By any measure, Scott Brown was not himself at Easter Road last weekend. The sight of the Celtic captain losing a couple of 50-50 tackles was a sure sign of Hibs’ dominance on the day but also of Brown’s inability to fend off an opponent craftier than any midfield foe in the SPFL.
‘The kids had the bug last week,’ says the 32-year-old. ‘I got it the day before the game. First half I felt fine and then I sat down at half-time and my head started spinning.
‘I had a wee sore head, dodgy stomach and stuff like that. The last ten to 15 minutes I was struggling. But it’s part and parcel. Man up and deal with it.’
By the end of the game, Brown could barely raise his hands to applaud the travelling Celtic support who had come to Edinburgh for a title party and instead witnessed Celtic’s third league defeat of the season.
Today, Brendan Rodgers’ players will have another go at clinching seven in a row and Brown insists he will be restored to full power as a certain team in blue visits with dreams of spoiling the Parkhead party.
Brown has bullied the Rangers midfield over the past couple of seasons and was never more in control than in the clubs’ last meeting when Celtic strolled to a 4-0 win in the Scottish Cup semi-final.
As Hibs proved, disrupt Brown and Celtic do not function with the same fluency. It has been suggested that Graeme Murty ought to detail someone specifically to occupy Brown today, much as Neil Lennon did with Swanson last Saturday.
‘That’s fine,’ retorts Brown. ‘If a team man marks, then I can just pull people out of position. If a player wants to play centre-forward, I can go and sit at centre-half — and that will suit me absolutely fine!
‘It’s great that people say that about me but we have some fantastic players. People forget we have James Forrest, Kieran Tierney, Scott Sinclair, Moussa Dembele, Leigh Griffiths...
‘You can’t always play well as an individual and that’s when you need the other lads to dig you out. But I always turn up 100 per cent and I fight to the death.’
The ease of Celtic’s win at Hampden illustrated the gulf between the squads, but Brown has not forgotten the much closer league fixture at Ibrox in March. Nor the two draws Rangers have secured at Parkhead under Murty.
‘They are a good team,’ says Brown. ‘I think it’s more about our movement and how we create space and try to pass the ball.
‘As soon as we start the game on Sunday, we will be on it. We had a bad day at Easter Road and now we have to go and make sure we get the title back to Celtic Park for seven in a row.’
Last weekend, Brown showed all the resilience of a bouncing toddler to claim the Player of the Year mantle at the club’s annual awards night on Sunday. Tonight, he is in the running for a second accolade after being shortlisted for the PFA Scotland award. Also in the running is Hibs’ John McGinn, another who seemed to enjoy getting the better of Brown last weekend. There are those who remain convinced that McGinn — grandson of former Parkhead chairman Jack — is a Celtic player in waiting. The fact he casted his own vote for the 23-year-old suggests Brown might well agree.
Whether Rodgers accords is the unknown and crucial factor. Should Stuart Armstrong be sold rather than be allowed to drift into the final year of his contract, the acquisition of McGinn’s energy would seem to make sense for the balance of the Celtic squad but Rodgers has been reticent when asked about the player in the past.
‘That’s for the manager, it’s not for me,’ says Brown. ‘We’ve played together for Scotland in a couple of games and done really well, and it’s great for me to watch John playing because I get on so well with him.
‘He is a nice, honest guy and for me it’s great to see young Scottish players coming through and getting the recognition they deserve — especially at Hibs. It puts a smile on
I’m one of the fittest in the team and that keeps me going
my face to see players coming through there.’
Comparisons have been drawn between Brown’s buzzbomb midfield play as a kid at Easter Road and McGinn’s dynamic style.
‘John is his own player,’ says Brown. ‘He is a lot younger than me — I sit in front of the back four while John bombs forward.
‘He has that energy and drive. If people want to compare us, that’s up to them.’
Given the fact Kris Boyd is the top scorer in the Premiership and that Brown and Forrest stand on the cusp of securing backto-back Trebles with Celtic, McGinn is probably the longshot to secure tonight’s award.
Should Brown win, he will see it as another one in the eye for his critics. ‘A few years ago, everyone was telling me I was finished but I keep bouncing back and proving people wrong,’ he says. ‘That has put a smile on my face and probably made a few people miserable, too. ‘I’ve shown I can still go and play 60 games a season at a top-quality standard. I’ve been playing in the Champions League and also the SPFL, dominating games from start to finish. ‘When people say that your legs have gone and you’re finished at 30 years old...
‘I turn up and train, and I’m fully fit again. I’m still one of the fittest in the team and that’s what keeps me going and feeling as young as I do.’
Many sports stars, and especially their coaches, gain results by manufacturing a psychological edge. In Brown’s case, there’s that pronounced determination to prove his doubters wrong.
Yet those who questioned his physical state when he quit the Scottish national team two years ago were only echoing the thoughts present in his own mind at the time.
A persistent hamstring problem had lessened his mobility but, with Ronny Deila’s team still able to dominate the league, Brown decided to play on. ‘There were a lot of games and I was playing with injuries,’ admits Brown.
‘I played through and that’s always hard work as you want to do the best you possibly can.
‘You try to help the manager and your team-mates out but it didn’t always look great on me.
‘I still turned up because I’m willing to play through thick and thin for anybody. At the end of the day, I should have taken six or seven weeks out. Hindsight is a great thing and we still managed to win the league.’
The appointment of Rodgers signalled a change in approach. Brown was summoned to Rodgers’ London home for a heartto-heart at which the two men discussed the way forward. While Brown confessed a desire to improve his physical fitness, Rodgers warned that he would tolerate no repeat of the newspaper coverage depicting the captain slumped in an Edinburgh street days before the League Cup final during the first of Deila’s two seasons in charge. Brown went on to be the pivot as Celtic claimed all three domestic trophies without losing a game in Rodgers’ first campaign. His form has maintained the same standards of excellence this season even as plenty around him — notably last season’s multiple award winner Scott Sinclair — have suffered big dips in form. ‘Consistency has been the key for myself this season, just to make sure I am injury-free and there for selection,’ he explains. ‘I think I have only missed one or two games due to suspension. ‘The manager has given me an understanding of the game more than anything. It’s not about just bombing on and trying to be a box-to-box player. ‘It’s more about positional sense, understanding how other teams are playing and how we can open them up.’ Brown lifted the first trophy of his career in 2007 when he helped Hibs to League Cup success under John Collins. His £4million transfer to Celtic quickly followed and he has gone on to collect a further 14 winner’s medals ‘That’s why I came to Celtic,’ he says. ‘I had a wee sniff of it at Hibs, winning the CIS Cup. You get greedy, you’re hungry and you want more. I want to continue doing it and I still have that drive to win as many trophies as possible before it’s time to call it a day.’ Brown will turn 33 next month but expresses no inclination to wind down. ‘I just concentrate season to season,’ he insists. ‘That’s a few years away yet but I feel I can play for another three or four seasons. ‘Whether that’s at Celtic or not, I don’t know but I would love to stay here for the rest of my career. ‘I’m in no rush.’
John has energy and drive. It puts a smile on my face to see players come through at Hibs