Brown made the right call in snubbing Oz opportunity
SCOTT McDONALD has backed his former Celtic team-mate Scott Brown’s decision not to join him in Australia.
Brown was the top marquee target for Western United as the fledgling A League club’s owners pieced together a squad to compete in next season’s championship.
Given room to make his decision by then manager Brendan Rodgers, Brown thought long over his decision before eventually opting to stay in Glasgow, signing a new twoyear contract at Parkhead in the process.
Western have since announced former Socceroo internationalist McDonald as a headline signing for next term and, although the 35-year-old admits he would have loved to join forces with Brown again, he endorses his decision to remain in Scotland.
He said: ‘It would have been amazing to have Scott there but I can see why, in his shoes, he has chosen to stay at Celtic.
‘If he had decided to move and Celtic go on to win nine and then 10 in a row, how would he be feeling? He would regret not being a part of it for sure.
‘Whatever happens, Scott will go down as a Celtic legend but he has a chance to be standing next to Billy McNeill if he can achieve these milestones.
‘That’s the level he is at and I can see why he would not wish to walk away from that.’
Signed by Gordon Strachan from Motherwell, McDonald spent two-and-a-half years at Celtic before following the manager to Middlesbrough when things started to turn sour under Tony Mowbray.
‘I know how it feels to leave Celtic, you do it with a heavy heart,’ he continued. ‘As much as I would want Scott to be part of Western, he has to think about the bigger picture.
‘He would have played a huge part here, helped with the profile and been a really pivotal player for us.
‘But he is still very much the leader at Celtic and a huge influence on the team.
‘I think he has made the right decision.’