Celtic captain Scott Brown's only thought against future club Aberdeen will be to scalp them

Not a moment’s consideration has been given by John Kennedy to the possibility of leaving Scott Brown out of the Celtic team to face Aberdeen.

Scott Brown will be as committed as ever against Aberdeen despite the fact he will soon be setting up home at Pittodrie Celtic interim John Kennedy has no doubts. (Photo by Rob Casey / SNS Group)

The veteran midfielder may have already committed to a two-year player-coach deal that will see him embark on a new career chapter under Stephen Glass next season. Yet, the Parkhead club’s interim manager believes this will only be an added motivation for a no-quarter-ever-given Brown to perform at Pittodrie. Kennedy accepts it will be an invidious enough task for Celtic to operate without their hugely decorated captain and heartbeat for almost a decade-and-a-half when he makes his move north in the summer, and doesn’t seem of a mind to usher in this era prematurely.

“Scott never goes into a training session half-hearted, never mind a game,” he said of being assured of a fully committed display against his club-in-waiting. “So, I wouldn’t expect it to be any different and Scott would tell you the same. Scott maximises everything he does both in training and in games. He’s absolutely all out for everything. He parks all the ego stuff, he parks what might or might not be next season. He’s purely focused on doing the best he can for every game and winning. He’s an absolute serial winner. So it would be a scalp for him if he could go out and get one over his future employers. He would see that as a positive, never mind thinking about anything else. He is purely motivated to win for Celtic – and nothing else at the moment.”

Kennedy concedes that Brown’ ability to set the tone on the pitch, run the dressing room, and inject into the squad a winning mentality across a Celtic career that has yielded 21 honours makes him an irreplaceable figure and a captain for all ages at the club. And that the disasters that have befallen Celtic as they failed miserably on all fronts this season - most recently in losing their four-season grip on the Scottish Cup as the result of Sunday’s last 16 exit to Rangers - won’t tarnish his legacy.

“For the club, more than anything but, from a sentimental point of view – and with Scott having given so much to Celtic and, after the season we’ve had - it would have been good for him to go out on a high. Obviously, that won’t be the case now but he’ll swallow that and make sure we finish as best as we can. He’ll still receive a huge send-off and great support from anyone. He won’t be judged on this season – Scott will be judged on what he gave to this club through all the good years and I’m not sure that any other captain of this club will ever bring that amount of success.

“There’s very few like him in terms of how he comes in and conducts himself every single day. He’s one of the most driven players I’ve ever seen to be successful and maximise what he has. He’s a great role model, he’s been a terrific captain and obviously a huge success. It might not even be a case of replacing him, you might just have to adapt and adjust with other players and whoever else you bring in.”

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers. If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.