Former Parkhead boss, Brendan Rodgers, has revealed how close skipper, Scott Brown, came to the exit door when he first arrived at the club in an interview with The Daily Record.
Rodgers, who is never shy in trying to win back favour with the Hoops support after the nature of his departure in 2019, claims that he was told to move Brown on if he wanted to impart his style onto Celtic’s way of playing the game.
He explained how a meeting between the two encouraged Brown to refocus before leading the club to an unprecedented period of success:
“He was an incredible captain for me. But funny enough, before I joined, someone rang me and was telling me about the job and one of the first things they said was, ‘If you’re going to play how you want to play there Brendan, you’re probably going to have to move on Scott’.
“When I knew I was taking the job, I invited him down to my house in London and we had a chat, had a really good chat.
“I explained the ideas but I also was telling him about behaviour, because before I went in Celtic had lost in the Cup semi-final and they were well beat.
“And from that meeting on he was incredible for me.”
Rodgers talked about the infamous picture of Brown slumped against a wall enjoying – what looks like – a king rib supper just days before the 2015 league cup final and explained that if he wanted to extend his career, and continue to be Celtic captain, he had to behave as such.
Brown has, arguably, displayed his finest form for the Hoops over the last few years – particularly under Rodgers – and the fact that he managed to squeeze in 50 appearances before football was called to a halt in March is testament to how he now looks after himself – unless king rib suppers have a nutritional value not yet discovered by sports scientists that is.