Scott Brown insists playing to empty stands won’t alter Celtic’s focus

Bundesliga has been a ‘weird’ watch and Parkhead skipper will miss fans but drive to win remains

Celtic captain Scott Brown has been watching the return to action in Germany on TV and found it odd hearing players' voices echoing in empty stadiums. Picture: SNS.

Celtic captain Scott Brown admits he isn’t relishing the prospect of playing behind closed doors but insists the Scottish champions’ winning mentality will not be diminished by the absence of their supporters.

Brown has been watching Bundesliga action with interest since German football led the way in returning to action after their suspension for the coronavirus pandemic.

The SPFL have pencilled in a start to the new Premiership season on 1 August, dependent on the progress of the Scottish Government’s easing of lockdown restrictions.

“Hopefully, it won’t be too long before we can get started again as well,” said Brown.

“When the Bundesliga came back, I watched the first games and I have to admit that it was a little bit weird watching it.

“With the games being behind closed doors, you could hear all of the lads shouting for the ball and things like that. It didn’t feel normal.

“But the strange thing is that, if you watch golf as I do, you can appreciate a sport where people aren’t shouting and singing when the players are playing.

“There’s no shouting and cheering in the middle of someone’s swing or anything like that, so it can happen in other sports.

“But, of course, it’s different in football. You miss the cheering and the shouting and the way people can push you, especially for us at Celtic Park when 60,000 fans inside there can be the 12th man for us at times.

“They can help you get over some tricky times and tough moments in games and when you get that goal, you continue and go on and they put that faith in you by pushing and spurring you forward.

“They have dug deep for us at times and that has led to us scoring late winners or late equalisers in matches. It’s kind of what football needs. It really needs the supporters.

“But don’t get me wrong, we’d deal with it. We have to deal with whatever situation faces us.

“It’s not something we haven’t experienced. For example, in training, you have 11 against 11 matches and they are still very fierce and very competitive.

“That edge is still there because you still want to win as you play. It’ll just be exactly the same situation as that for us and it’ll mean that games will be on telly so that fans can see us and watch us.

“The stadiums might be empty or they might be able to get some fans into them, I don’t know. I’m not sure how it is all going to work, but for me it’s still a game and you go into it with that winning mentality.

“We’ll want to start the season off strongly just in the manner that we did last season and that’ll be the sole focus, regardless of the conditions in which we are playing.

“Whatever comes and is put towards us, we need to deal with it. We’ll deal with whatever way it is safe for us to get on to the park. Once we get on to the park, the mindset will be to win.”

Brown celebrates his 35th birthday later this month and is aware that it may be more challenging for him to regain full match sharpness after such a lengthy lay-off at an advanced stage of his career.

“The longer that I am off, the harder it is going to be for me to get back,” he said. “But you always have to look at the positive aspects of things if you can and that is what I have tried 
to do.

“It was another long and hard season and the rest has been good for the body. Usually, we would have two, three or maybe even four weeks off in the summer tops to recover from the previous season before it’s back into pre-season training to go again for the 
next season.

“There are still one or two little aches and pains when you go back in that situation, but they should all be gone.”

Brown claimed his 21st major honour when Celtic were declared nine-in-a-row champions last month, with only the Lisbon Lions duo of Bobby Lennox and Billy McNeill now ahead of him on the club’s all-time list.

“To be fair, I am nowhere near what those guys did for Celtic,” insists Brown. “What they achieved for the club was absolutely frightening, they are absolute legends and it’s just not really right for anyone to even consider I’m anything like those guys because of the medals I’ve won. They are on a different level to me.

“Maybe one day when I finish playing, I’ll look back at the success and trophies we have won and think it is an incredible achievement. But that only happens when you finish. You can’t have thoughts like that when you are still playing.

“You can’t take your eye off the ball for a single second at Celtic so, for me, it’s still about looking forward, pushing on and trying to achieve 
even more.”

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