GREAT SCOTT
‘He will go down in Celtic’s history as a fantastic captain... but it may take years for people to realise how good he was’
SHOULD Scott Brown collect the Scottish Cup from the podium at Hampden today it will be the 20th trophy he has lifted as Celtic captain. That he has lasted a decade in the job as Parkhead skipper is remarkable in itself but Roy Aitken knows from experience that it may be many more years before his contribution to the club’s history is fully appreciated.
Going into today’s showdown with Hearts there is a question mark over Brown’s very place in the team.
Brown’s junior by 13 years, Ismaila Soro has taken on the midfield anchor role for back-to-back wins over Lille and Kilmarnock and staked his claim for the position long term.
At 35, the boundless energy that once defined Brown is a memory but while his form has mirrored the team’s wider struggles this season, Lennon’s comment about remaining loyal to the players who got him to the final could be taken as a hint that the veteran will lead the team out this afternoon.
He won’t go on forever of course and Aitken, who in 1990 left Celtic for Newcastle under some intense scrutiny of his own performances, just hopes Brown is remembered properly.
‘Anybody who underestimates Scott Brown is not really analysing him,’ says Aitken. ‘He has been a top player from Hibs right through. His whole career is something to be proud of.
‘People forget that Celtic are going for a 12th consecutive trophy. Potentially four Trebles. That’s incredible.
‘But everyone wants to live in the day. It’s only now that people look back at my career and say I played so many games, captained the team at 18.
‘Scott will be the same. 20 trophies? That would be incredible. He will go down in Celtic’s history as a fantastic captain and player. But it might only be in years to come that people give him credit.’
Judged officer material by Jock Stein in his teens and leader of a Double-winning team in the club’s centenary season, Aitken is perhaps uniquely qualified to judge the credentials of any would-be successors to the Celtic captaincy.
While it would be a stretch to say he identified Brown as a future Parkhead skipper when he first encountered him at a Scotland training session in March 2007, he saw all the required components in kit form.
Brown had lifted the League Cup with Hibs just a few days earlier and was already well down the road to securing a £4 million transfer to Celtic when Aitken introduced himself as a member of Alex McLeish’s backroom team.
From that first training session, Brown’s drive and enthusiasm made him a stand-out and Aitken had no hesitation in encouraging McLeish to select the midfielder for his competitive Scotland debut against Georgia.
Brown thrived in a run of fixtures that saw the team just miss out on qualification for Euro 2008 and was a key member of the team that defeated France in the Parc des Princes.
‘I worked closely with Scott back then and he played a slightly different position, wide of that midfield four,’ recalls Aitken. ‘We had Barry Ferguson and Darren Fletcher in the middle of the park, so he had that role on the flank and his level of performance and attitude in training was perfect.
‘He was a box-to-box player, he could create. I think he always wanted to slot in as a central midfielder but in those early days he had to play outside.
‘Scott was a big part of the performance the night Faddy got that wonder goal in Paris but that’s just one game from a great year when we came so close.
‘The one thing that might bother him is that Scotland never qualified for a tournament when he was in the team.
‘Over the years he’s dropped into the central midfield role, pulling the strings and dictating the pace of the game.’
Before that renaissance under Brendan Rodgers, Brown had been six years in the role of captain, his former Hibs boss Tony Mowbray handing him the honour after Stephen McManus was sold to Middlesbrough in early 2010.
Aitken’s promotion to the role was a more phased affair as he deputised for the long-serving Danny McGrain before eventually taking the honour full-time.
‘I was only 18 when Big Jock first made me captain. Danny was injured and he maybe did that with a view to the future, just to give me a bit of experience.
‘And when I became captain on a more regular basis in the 80s I had a lot of good leaders round me, players who were captain material.
‘I’m sure Scott would be the first to say that too but the team went on an unbelievable run of success after he became captain — it came hand in hand and he was obviously a big driving force.’
Signed by Gordon Strachan in 2007, Brown arrived at a point in time where the captaincy no longer seemed like a long-term job.
Ever since Aitken’s successor Paul McStay hung up his boots in 1997, the job had rotated every few seasons with Tom Boyd, Paul Lambert, Jackie McNamara and Lennon all taking a shot through the Noughties.
Brown’s ten-year stint has coincided with an unprecedented spell of dominance that has yielded nine titles in a row and three consecutive Trebles.
His last appearances against St Johnstone was his 600th appearance for the club but it seems highly unlikely he’ll reach Aitken’s final tally of 672.
Yet when all is said and done only McNeill, Celtic’s European Cup winning leader, has achieved more as captain.
‘All Scott will be looking at is what he can achieve this season,’ added Aitken. ‘And I don’t think you can look any further than the next competition.
‘It will be a tough game against Hearts, but it’s a cup final. Neil and Scott will have them ready for that.
‘He’s been criticised but so what? He just keeps winning.
‘That’s what he can throw back in anybody’s face — here’s the number of games I’ve played, here’s the number of trophies. Yes, people will point out that the level of competition has not been as high in recent years.
‘But you still have to go out and win the games in front of you and Scott has risen to that challenge consistently well.
‘They are going for 12 trophies in a row. It’s never been done before, not even close, and I doubt it will ever be done again.’