13. The Celtic Star of the Decade – 2010-To Present Day – Scott Brown…
There will be few arguments, I fancy, from anyone if I nominate Scott Brown as the Player of the Decade from 2011 to 2020.
Even those who had reservations about him originally,(I was one of them) particularly about his over-aggressive “in your face” style of play, must now be totally converted when they look at what he had achieved with Celtic.
Put it this way, Scott has been with us since 2007. During that time, Celtic have won a fair amount – the Scottish League title in 2008, and from 2012 to date, the Scottish Cup in 2011, 2013, 2017, 2018 and 2019 and the Scottish League Cup in 2009, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. Scott has been part of all that, so I make that 20 domestic medals, and he already had a League Cup medal with Hibs when he arrived!
He is thus rapidly closing in on McNeill’s total, and a comparison with Big Billy in other respects is no less valid. His leadership in inspirational, he has never been a shirker, and his ability to size up a situation is phenomenal.
He never seems to tire, and although he is now in his 35th year, there is as yet no sign of him giving up or even slowing down. An automatic choice for the team (which he has captained since 2010) apart from injury or suspension – his committed aggressive style of play had led to a few of the latter! – he has retained the love and affection of the fans who love doing his “Broonie”.
He has retired twice from the International side, but he has nevertheless played 55 times for them.
One of the greatest indications of how great a player he has been comes in the way that he is hated by opposition fans. He is not well loved by the frequenters of Pittodrie, Tynecastle and Ibrox. Now why is that, I wonder?
He is a very humble man, always willing to be photographed with the fans, particularly youngsters. He has now served under Strachan, Mowbray, Lennon (twice) and Rodgers.
He may retire soon. If and when he does, people might say “There’ll never be another Broonie”. That will not necessarily be true, but there certainly will be very few. Scott Brown deserves his place in any pantheon of Celtic legends.
David Potter
Some additional reading about Scott Brown on The Celtic Star…
“Captain, leader, legend”: These Celtic fans hail Scott Brown as he battled through injury to demolish Hibs…see HERE.
‘That puts a smile on my face,’ Celtic legend Scott Brown…see HERE.
Scott Brown tells Boastful Rangers, ‘People only remember the name on the trophy’…see HERE.
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