Scott Brown

https://mobile.twitter.com/_AndrewAngus/status/892091356415393793/video/1

 

IT IS Scott Brown’s stare-way to heaven.

Eyes fixed, veins almost popping out his head.

No one quite has a game face like Scott Brown

No one quite has a game-face like the Celtic and Scotland skipper.

But that is the way it has got to be for the midfielder whenever he is preparing to go into battle for club or country.

Which is why Brown will be at his focused-best ahead of Celtic’s Champions League crunch with Rosenborg in Norway.

Brown said: “I do the same things every time. I sit and focus and that’s that. That’s the way I have to get ready for a game.

“If I start joking or messing around or shaking the referees’ hand and having a bit of banter with them, it means I’m not properly focused on the game.

“Even when I was younger I was always kinda wired — as soon as I went on that park.

“I’ll sit thinking about the game in the hours beforehand but then, when you go out there it’s game face.

“You make sure you know your job and make sure you help your mate out as much as possible.

“Yeah, I’ll mess around the training ground and stuff but as soon as we go on the training pitch I work hard.

“I enjoy my job so I need to make sure I’m improving every day and it’s not about messing about.

“This is huge for us. This is Celtic, it’s not about going down and playing with your mates and having a bit of banter with them.

“This is life or death. You have to win games. That’s why I’m here and still here after 10 years.”

Celtic have come through a period when they found European away games tough to handle.

For years they didn’t do themselves justice on trips abroad but Brendan Rodgers has instilled a confidence and belief in his squad that they fear no one.

Like last season when they went to Israel to qualify for the Champions League.

Their gritty performance that night proved to Brown and Co that results can come on the road.

They hope there is another one in Norway tomorrow night.

Brown added: “For us, it is a totally different team from any that I have played in.

“We have that belief that we can go anywhere and score goals, even when we are playing against some of the top teams in the world.

“We played against Manchester City away last season and pressed them up the park, made them make mistakes and we got a goal from that.

“It is totally different from the old Celtic where we used to sit back and get 12 per cent of the ball against Barcelona — although we won that game 2-1.

“It is a different manager with a different philosophy and he believes we have enough energy to go and press teams and create chances.

“There’s a belief, even from the fans, that we can go through whether we are at home or away.

“That’s brought in from the manager and his backroom staff.

“That’s been battered into us, to relax and take the ball under pressure when there are two or three men on you and keep possession when you are away.

“Before, people would maybe press us and we’d just look for big Samaras up the park and play off him.

“It’s different now, we don’t have that 6ft 5in centre-forward you can just ping balls to so we need to make sure we keep possession.

“The manager’s teams have always done that and it’s working well for us.

“We’re very structured the way we press, everyone has got a position they need to be in, you’re always tight to your mate as well.

“So it’s not just one v one, it’s on our terms, two v one or three v two for us.

“We’ve worked so much harder than other teams probably do, we’ve got that fitness and that comes from belief too.”

Whatever happens against Rosenborg, there will be no mad panic.

Brown added: “We have a manager who is very relaxed and understands what we have to go out there to do.

“He knows that if we go out there and deliver then we’ve got a great chance.

“I know we didn’t have any strikers last Wednesday but we still created chances and we need to put the ball in the back of the net.”

It may be that Celtic require patience before scoring. As long as they can keep a clean sheet they only need one goal to go through — and that can come any time.

Brown added: “We’ve got 90 minutes, so we need to make sure we control the game.

“If it’s in the last ten or five minutes we need to make sure we’re in control of the game.

“I don’t know if they’ll come out more.

“Here’s hoping they do and open up a little bit, but if they don’t we just need to move the ball a bit quicker, create chances and get in behind their midfield and here’s hoping someone can put the ball in the back of the net.

“But there is pressure on both teams.

“There is always pressure on us no matter where we go, there’s always expectations from the fans and from the media and we need to deal with that.

“I’m sure they’ll have the same in their country.”














After 10 years at Celtic and over 15 as a professional footballer, it is perhaps the stark contrast between the two that makes the latter as terrifying as a stroll through Edinburgh Zoo’s Lion enclosure dressed in your maw’s mink coat. Many far greater, bigger and more important than this feartie of a scribe have been intimidated by the glare of the man who has captained both club and country, while surely not many have shared a training ground dressing room with the Fifer and not been on the end of a boyish joke or prank. El Hadji Diouf probably lies somewhere in the middle…


Often described as ‘a bit of a character’ it is clear that the camaraderie, togetherness and, above all else, drive that Brown brings to the Celtic cause is a combination of the facets above. According to the man himself, though, the two will never meet when he gets his game head on.

“Yeah, I’ll mess around the training ground and stuff,” said Brown ahead of tomorrow’s Champions League qualifier in Rosenborg. “But as soon as we go on the training pitch I work hard and I enjoy my job so I need to make sure I’m improving every day and it’s not about messing about - this is huge for us.

“This is Celtic, it’s not about going down and playing with your mates and having a bit of banter with them. This is life or death. You have to win games. That’s why I’m here and I’m still here after 10 years.”

Analysing his own preparations for a big match, such as the one he will walk Celtic into tomorrow in Trondheim as the Parkhead club aim to get beyond Rosenborg in a third round qualifier that sits at 0-0 following the Glasgow first leg, Brown says his intensity on the field is nothing new.

“I sit and focus and that’s that. That’s the way I have to get ready for a game,” said the 32-year-old. “If I start joking or messing around or shaking the referees’ hands - not just shaking their hands, but having a bit of a banter with them - it means I’m not properly focussed on the game. Even when I was younger I was always kinda wired. As soon as I go on that park. I want to win, they want to win and they have to do what they need to get ready for a game just as I need to get ready for a game.


“For me it’s not about mates, it’s about winning games and whoever I come up against I want to be better than they were. When I was playing against Kevin Thomson in the middle of the park for Rangers Celtic matches we never really spoke before it, but jumped in the car after and talked, chatted, got back to the house and chilled out as normal.”

Brown confesses to suffering nerves before a game, something that barely registers beneath an intimidating exterior of calmness, confidence and perhaps a dash of crazy. Well, at least to the poor sod lining up next to him. But it is no surprise that the influence of Brendan Rodgers on the man many thought was on the decline under Ronny Deila permeates much deeper than in a training park drill.

It is the Northern Irishman’s composure that seems to have had a big impact on Brown who, ever the joker off the park, continued to exude a maturity on the biggest of stages.

“When people are booing you and shouting at you, you need to be composed and keep the ball,” said Brown of tomorrow night’s game following the 0-0 first leg in Glasgow last week. “You always get nervous because I want this as much as any fans does and the manager wants as much as any fans does. So you get nervous, but you also have to have that wee bit of belief and if we get a wee bit of luck we can get that away goal.


“We’re very structured the way we go and press, everyone has got a position they need to be in, you’re always tight to your mate as well. So it’s not just one v one, it’s on our terms, two v one or three v two for us.

“The gaffer has installed that and we’ve worked so much harder than other teams probably do, we’ve got that fitness and that comes from belief as well.

“We have a manager who is very relaxed and he understands what we have to go out there to do. He knows that if we go out there and deliver then we’ve got a great chance.”

Turning to the immediate concern of tomorrow night’s second leg, Brown is unwavering in his pursuit of the Champions League Holy Grail. While some may subscribe to the school of thought that a prolonged stint in European competition would have Rodgers’ team best suited to the Europa League in terms of realistic progression, the notion does not even register with his captain.

“No, we want to get into the Champions League. This is the big one, this is a cash windfall for the club as well and this pushes us onto the next level yet again.

“If we can get into it two years in a row it’s great for the club and great for the players confidence as well.”

 

Surprised no one has said it but thought he was brilliant tonight, always in control.

 

Always in control? Seriously?. Him and armstrong were * poor for large periods and getting dominated in midfield.

 

You were in the bathroom from half time to griffs arrival I take it

 

These * would do anything to spoil a good night wouldnt they * sake, thoughts with Broony.

 

A 10 minute spell where the home side has the better of possession in a European tie doesnt equate to our midfield being dominated. Not by any stretch.

I must have missed them opening us up and creating chance after chance, which is normally what happens when your midfield is being dominated.

 

Jesus Christ.

 

Please delete that mate, it's sick and disgusting from the evil, twisted, creature that created it. The perpetrator behind this should be looking at years in prison and it's a good job his twitter is there hope he is * * himself now.

 

I thought he started brilliantly, but there were a few lacklustre touches/stray passes that gave away possession and better teams would have punished us with.

All in all he had an average game, certainly wasn't outstanding nor was he terrible. He played a couple of neat dinked through balls to KT in the first half, sprayed passes along midfield and got involved in some 1-2's. Had a shot on target too. Average game for him.

 

You missed a lot of things if you thought he was always in control

 

I honestly didnt want to post it and wouldnt of if not for the fact Broony himself had highlighted it.

 

After seeing that I'm not even going to comment on his performance which I was about to and will leave it for another day.

All I'll say is I loved the passion on his face as he celebrated Forrest's goal.

 

Thought he was great, buzzing around and winning balls back.

Passing wasn't back to it's best yet but to say he and Armstrong were dominated was nonsense. Armstrong's poor game meant Brown had to do a bit more and he delivered for me.

 

I don't even want to see that ffs, hate that Scott even had to look at that

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Hope that fiend gets jailed for that

 

Fair enough mate but that is quite possibly the sickest thing I've ever seen created even from a Sevconian which as we know are of a different breed altogether.

Tbh though I think even most Sevco fans will condemn such a post.

 

Sickening. Over a game of football as well for * sake.