When it came to thoughts of Scott Brown leaving Celtic, I think most of us believed as Oliver Twist said it would be a case of ‘’Please, sir, I want some more.’ Sadly, as with the musical it wasn’t to be.
Scott Brown made a habit of proving me wrong over the years and it seems he’s gone and done it again. In a sea of uncertainty, I told anyone who asked that Scott Brown would be going nowhere at the end of the season. With a new CEO coming in, a managerial vacuum that to all intents and purposes has been in place since Celtic lost to Ross County at home (how long does due diligence take when your admin team is on furlough Dermot?) and a multitude of underperforming and disinterested teammates likely to be exiting stage left, it surely meant some continuity would be needed. Brown was certain to stay for the transitional handover season at least was he not?
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Had Celtic had a successful season and a record breaking Ten-in-a-row achieved then I’d have fully expected his timing in leaving the club he captained would have been as exact and executed for maximum effect as a clip of the heels to Alfredo Morelos in a Glasgow Derby. However, when the season has unravelled quicker than your cat getting a hold of your grandmother’s knitting, I was expecting Scott Brown to hang around, albeit in a somewhat reduced capacity as a player, with perhaps a foot in the door as a coach. But like I say he’s made a habit of proving me wrong.
When he signed from Hibs for a still record fee between Scottish clubs some 14 years later, I would have preferred the cultured style of teammate Kevin Thomson, and my opinion was both players please, or no deal. Indeed, from the impressive Hibs team he left I’d also have had Steven Fletcher, Derek Riordan and Gary O’Connor ahead of signing the red Mohican with a gob I didn’t believe matched his talent.
When he arrived, I can’t say I warmed to the guy in his first season either. He appeared to have as much workplace awareness as the Ibrox mailroom receiving a tax demand, and when he was made Captain, I thought Tony Mowbray had lost his marbles far in advance of signing Edson Braafheid. Then again it should be noted I also didn’t want Neil Lennon at £6million, as I worshipped the ground Paul Lambert walked on and didn’t see room for both. Nor did I see the point in signing John Hartson and having his ego sitting on the bench impacting squad harmony as Sutton and Larsson ripped through all who tried to stop Martin O’Neill’s revitalised Celtic.
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All of those players gave me the greatest pleasure by ridiculing my judgement and Scott Brown eventually did the same. Even then it was a rocky road of good to indifferent seasons, as for some of those he had damn good reasons for having his priorities elsewhere. And by the time Ronny Deila left, a manager I felt had been undermined somewhat by characters including Brown, I was ready for Celtic to cut their losses again.
When Brendan Rodgers came in, he was apparently advised by many that Scott Brown would need to be shipped out if wished to mould the dressing room to his way of thinking and playing. Had Rodgers asked me I’d have given the same response – his legs have gone, he can’t do box to box and he’s not disciplined enough to simply sit and allow the good players to flourish, he’ll want to get involved and it will be to the detriment of the team. Instead, he became the Nine-in-a-row Captain, a Quadruple Treble winning Leader and a player I have no qualms about calling a bona fide Legend. Scott Brown has made me look a fool on so many occasions and for over 600 appearances 10 league titles, six Scottish Cups and six League Cups I enjoyed every last second of eating my misjudged words.
Now I’m going to say it again and prepare to be proved wrong once more. Scott Brown should have stayed for at least another year. Celtic need the experience, nous and continuity the departing Broony would offer as a bridge from the old as we cross into the new. Indeed, as seismic changes envelope the club it is hard to see how such a chasm can be bridged without the guiding hand of someone who has been there, done it and is fully respected in the changing room for doing so.
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Off the field what should have been an evolution, had it been suitably planned for, is now looking like revolution. Whilst on the field an exodus seems likely where a gentle transition should have sufficed.
He may have had little impact on matters off the field but there would have been few better to bed in a team of new recruits in a dressing room likely to be full of strangers next season into the ways of the Celtic cause. Considering that season will conclude with a league title ensuring automatic champions league qualification it makes Brown’s decision to leave all the more questionable, even more so when it’s to head to the Granite City to play for a disgruntled group of supporters, a rookie manager and an underperforming group of professional footballers – come on Scott you could have got all that at home.
When all is said and done, the decision has now been made, and if there is one thing Scott Brown has earned it is the right to leave Celtic on his own terms. And as with so much of his career – particularly the decision to remain at Celtic and ignore the fortunes offered from the prestigious league down south – he certainly knows his own mind whilst unlike my own, his judgement has rarely been questioned.
For me our Captain, Leader and Legend has got this one wrong, but I’ve a feeling this is more cheerio than goodbye. When it comes to the Celtic and Scott Brown story the final chapters have surely yet to be written. As Fagin said ‘Be back soon’ Broony.
Niall J
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