'Celtic stay quiet and Rangers talk too much' - Scott Brown stirs Old Firm pot with no-holds-barred derby assessment

Former Celtic captain can see only one winner in battle for title

Former Celtic captain Scott Brown holds up the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup. Pic: Steve Welsh

There is a typically biting, big-ladle-stirring-the-pot-style, assessment from Scott Brown over the latest derby win for his old club. Which essentially can be boiled down to Rangers having run their mouths before Celtic were able to run over the top of them on December 30.

There was a trap into which the Ibrox club too easily fell for the 38-year-old. A man as familiar as just about any individual on the planet with the swirl whipped up by Scotland’s sporting tsunami in having carved out a special place in the history of Celtic with his 13 years – 10 as captain – and 22 honour-garnering stint at the club that closed in 2021.

In the days leading up to the meeting at the turn of the year, Philippe Clement and his Rangers squad didn’t make any grand claims about how the contest would unfold when they headed across the city unbeaten in 16 games at the helm. But in the weeks leading up to it, as Brendan Rodgers’ men lost back-to-back league games for the first time in a decade, the Ibrox squad and their manager didn’t disabuse anyone over the notion that they could capitalise on Celtic vulnerabilities. Indeed, the Belgian, in the wake of lifting the Viaplay Cup within two months of taking over a Rangers team in disarray, made the claim that they would “win back the title”...offering only the slight caveat that this would be attempted “as fast as possible”.

Former Celtic captain Scott Brown enjoyed a successful record in the Old Firm derbies against Rangers. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

Intoxicating to a Rangers fanbase who haven’t followed their team’s progress to a title in the flesh since 2011 – the 2021 unbeaten league championship coming in the fanless covid season – this faction were convinced Celtic were there for the taking on their own patch in the closing game of 2023. Brown considers such hyping up of prospects to have been misguided, and which seemed to pay little heed to the capabilities of Rodgers and his wounded squad.

The now management-orientated Celtic icon isn’t wise after the event about all this. On Sky at the end of his old team’s 3-0 win in Dundee the midweek before the derby dust-up he stated flatly – deploying no ifs or buts – that a home win would be the outcome of the two tribes tussling in Parkhead. In no small part he sees this as having panned out because none actually within the Parkhead camp were making any such bold predictions. “Celtic are quiet,” Brown said of what made him so certain of the outcome. “They don’t speak too much, they don’t get too excited. They stay kind of mellow all the way through and I think that’s the best thing that Brendan ever brought to the football club. He’s always just made sure things are ticking over quietly and working towards the game ahead. It sparks you a little bit more as well [if there is talk from the other side]. You let them speak and then you go and dictate, win the game and then you’re like, ‘Yeah mate, there you go!’. The Celtic press was exceptional compared to Rangers. You look at the front six from Celtic and they’ll go and press and work hard. That’s the difference between the two teams. If you look at the distance covered by both of them, nine times out of ten, whoever works the hardest wins the game.”

Brown, who has hardly been averse to mischief-making, offered an emphatic ‘yes’ when asked whether Rangers were “putting pressure on themselves by saying too much”. Even if any natter from the Ibrox camp in the past – which has been more expressions of confidence than any braggado – has been a world away from the trash talk that the then Celtic seemed to thrive on when such as Joey Barton and Pedro Caixinha were the all-too-willing indulgers. “Then you see all of the fans jumping on the bandwagon as well,” said a man hardly a favourite of this blue faction. “But, for me, Celtic got it spot on. They knew how to go and play against Rangers, they knew what they were going to do. Rangers had a couple of chances, yeah, but Celtic dominated the game.”

In his inimitable manner, Brown gave short shrift to the issue that dominated post-match conversation for about a week-and-a-half. Rangers railing against VAR official Willie Collum and the SFA over the former’s failure to adjudge a clear handball by Alistair Johnston as a penalty and what proctors were being followed with the latter releasing images during the encounter alerting to an offside in the phase of play that led to the incident. “It was offside so it doesn’t really matter,” he said. “There’s always going to be a lot said after they get beat but, for me, it was offside.”

Ultimately, Celtic’s win merely prevented them handing the title initiative to their bitter rivals. An eight-point gap to a Rangers that have played two games fewer equating to a title race that is firmly in the balance. But Brown sees that tipping one way over the next four months as his club for more than a decade chase a record 12th title in 13 years. Nine of which he played a pivotal role in delivering. “I think Celtic will win the league because, overall, they are the better team,” he said. “Especially when it comes to the front three. They look more likely to score goals than Rangers do. They have more legs round the whole park and probably have better defenders.” Brown, never mind anyone else, rarely says anything by half.

• Scott Brown was speaking at a Scottish Gas media event. Scottish Gas is the proud partner of the Scottish Cup.