It was fascinating if also a little frustrating listening to the Celtic skipper screaming at his teammates at Tannadice at the weekend as he shouted instructions, orders and advice as he attempted to carry out the manager’s orders on the park and secure the vital breakthrough to give Celtic the much needed three points.
Brown moans and groans were echoed no doubt by the hundreds of thousands of Celtic supporters watching the stalemate on Sky Sports or Celtic TV and they all would have shared the sentiments of the Celtic captain when he gestured to the devastated hammer thrower on the deck after super sub Albian Ajeti’s late winner. Referee Dallas of course produced a yellow for that ‘offence’ but Broony has been over the course and distance before and knows the score with these strange refereeing decisions.
The Celtic captain was a little embarrassed afterwards as he realised that his vocal ‘encouragement’ were clearly overheard by the large TV audience, given the lack of supporters inside Tannadice.
“You don’t usually hear that, do you?” Brown said to the media, as reported by Glasgow Times. “Get the fans back, eh?”
And he may get his wish as early as Sunday with a selection few hundred supporters likely to be in attendance when Motherwell visit Celtic Park. That should be enough to drown Broony out and spare the Celtic cations blushes next weekend.
“Everyone knows the standards the gaffer and his staff set in training. It’s about how we react to that,” Broony continued. “They give us everything possible in training. They show us how the other team is going to play and how we need to build up.
“You’ve got Callum McGregor who talks all the way through the game, Nir does as well. We’ve got guys like that all through the team.
“Then we’ve got quality like Ajeti to come on, Ryan Christie, James who came on, Patryk has scored a lot for us in pre-season. It’s great to have that strength in depth.
“The club is trying everything to make it as safe as possible to get fans back in. Because football is difficult without fans for us. That’s what makes it special. Especially when you score goals, you run, you celebrate with them.
“For us to get them back would be amazing, whether it’s Sunday or not.”
The Celtic captain was also mightily impressed with the impact that Albian Ajeti made at Tannadice and predicts big things from the £5m striker. “He’s a strong boy who wants to turn people,” he said. “But he also wants to get in the box and score goals. He’s shown his quality in training, he’s shown it in games now.
“We have a lot to thank him for because we couldn’t get the ball in the net against a very well organised Dundee United team. The good thing is they’ll always get chances here. We create a lot of chances in most games. Saturday was a little bit different. But he’s had a great attitude and he’s worked hard after having four weeks off.
“So for him to come back in, do a wee mini-preseason, play a game three or four days after coming in, then play a bit of the game against United, it shows you his attitude is spot on.
“He will score goals for us. That is what we’ve been looking for, that penalty-box striker who will score those tap-ins. He took that goal really, really well. He’s scored some great goals in training. It’s just that little bit of movement in the box. I get up there and I don’t know what to do; there’s a few people like that.
“But these boys have this natural knack. Him, Odsonne, Griff, they just know how to get the ball into the back of the net. It’s great to have those players.
“He’s very quiet, he’s very modest – and he’s happy to be here. Those are the people you want around. You want people who want to be here, who want to put the hard work in – and who can score you goals.
“He’s one of those guys, a nice guy around the changing room. Here’s hoping there’s a lot more goals to come from him, that’s for sure.”
ALSO ON THE CELTIC STAR…Celtic’s incoming £3m man David Turnbull is “destined for the top” but is it time up for Wizard of Oz?
