Time has not caught up with Scott Brown
Danny Swanson has dismissed as “clueless” the critics who claim Celtic captain Scott Brown wouldn’t be able to cut it in the English Premier League.
At the age of 33, the Hoops midfielder has won every domestic honour several times over, and amassed 55 caps for Scotland before finally calling time on his international career in February last year.
Yet, if his dominance in the Scottish game is inarguable, the news that he has decided to reject the chance to go to Australia in favour of signing a new two-year deal with Celtic has prompted fresh comment about the perceived lack of interest in the player from big English clubs over the years.
Newcastle United nearly took him south in January 2010, after he had a row with the then Hoops boss, Tony Mowbray, and Spurs were also interested around that time.
Publicly, anyway, that is about as far as it has gone.
However, having spent Wednesday night fruitlessly chasing Brown round the Celtic Park playing surface – and with another tussle to come at Mcdiarmid Park this afternoon – St Johnstone midfielder Swanson is in no mood to hear his opponent talked down.
“Listen, I know Broony well and he is a top, top player,” he said.
“A lot of people are saying his legs have maybe gone, but I am here to guarantee you they have not.
“The way he leads them when he is on the pitch is massive.
“I think the difference shows for Celtic when he is in the team. Some people say he slows it down – but he makes everybody tick.
“He is a class player. If he starts controlling the game, then you have got a problem.
“You maybe don’t see it off the pitch, but the way he gets a hold of everyone, they definitely have more about them when he is playing.
“When you have him there, and have guys like Ryan Christie and Callum Mcgregor playing off him, well, it is scary.
“I know the standard in the league isn’t excellent, and I know people are saying he hasn’t tried England. But he is captain of Celtic. Why would you try England?
“People who say he couldn’t play down there haven’t got a clue about football, to be honest. “I wouldn’t mind him going down there or abroad to be honest – just to get rid of him!” While the offer extended by Western Melbourne to come to Australia and play in the A-league might not have been a retirement package as such – it would, nevertheless, have represented a step down from the high-tempo, high energy, at times frantic, Scottish game.
“I honestly don’t think Broony’s even close to being done here yet – and that is me being honest,” said Swanson.
“He could play for another five years easily.
“I enjoy playing against him, although I didn’t get close to him on Wednesday.
“My job was to kind of get close to him and I couldn’t.
“Sometimes when you come to Celtic Park you think: ‘Ooft, blow the final whistle’. But we didn’t feel like that this time.
“When they got the goal and the fans got behind them it was difficult. And I thought they were excellent against us last midweek, to be honest.
“I thought they pressed us really, really well. And when teams press the ball against you, you have to keep the ball better than we did. “But tomorrow is a chance for us to put on a better showing than we did then. We will go again and the gaffer will come up with something differently probably. We will try to get the win.
“We need to keep their stars quiet and try to nick something. We have got the players to do it. It is whether they turn up on the day.” Burns’ Night has come and gone, but the Saint needs no reminding what can happen to the best laid plans of mice and men.
Specifically, what happened when the clubs last met at Mcdiarmid. The Hoops ran out 6-0 victors in a game which saw Swanson red-carded early in the second half.
“I’d say it was a bit of a fluke, because, normally, we do pretty well against them in Perth,” Swanson said.
“It seemed like every shot they hit went in, and, obviously, I got sent off, which didn’t help. “It was worse at Hamilton when I came off. At least the game was already over against Celtic.
“To be fair, I was a bit hot-headed at halftime, I probably should have come off.
“The gaffer asked me if I wanted to come off. But I stayed on and ended up doing something stupid (he lunged at James Forrest, the scorer of four goals in 30 minutes).
“I can’t really remember doing it, it was one of those things. I felt bad, knowing the boys were running about mad out there. But the game was gone.
“This will be a new day. We will be on the front foot and ready to give it everything we have got.
“It is definitely possible to get at Celtic, but everybody is going to have to be at it.”