Midfielder sure pay delay will not faze rivals

SCOTT Brown yesterday expressed sympathy for those Heart of Midlothian players who continue to exist in a state of limbo as they wait to hear when the next batch of delayed wages will be paid into their accounts.

However, he does not expect the situation will impact on Hearts’ chances of success this Saturday, when they travel to face Celtic having won only once in their last six games.

“I don’t think when the game is played it will be hard for them,” said the former Hibernian midfielder. “It will be hard in training as they don’t know what might happen in the next couple of weeks, whether they are going to get a win bonus or whether they are going to get their full wages.

“I have a lot of sympathy for them. But, when they go on the pitch, they will definitely give as good as they have got. They could be playing for their careers, they could be playing for a move. If it’s not at Hearts then it might be somewhere else.”

Brown’s situation is rather different. Having signed a new three-year contract he feels settled and secure. Now all he needs to is reclaim his place in the first-team after another absence due to an ankle injury.

“We are very lucky to be at this club,” he said. “The way the club is run is brilliant and we are not in that much debt either.”

Brown hopes to be back in the first team before the crucial Old Firm clash with Rangers on 28 December. He has made cameo appearances as a substitute in Celtic’s previous two games against Atletico Madrid and Dundee United and has felt no ominous twinges.

“I just need to do more balance work and work on calf and ankle exercises,” he explained. “When it comes to games, anything can happen when you are going into tackles. If it happens again, it happens again. But I will come back stronger and stronger.”