John Brown faces hearing over Rab Douglas views

Dundee manager John Brown will attempt to put two SFA notices of complaint behind him to focus on tonights clash with Forfar. Picture: SNS

Brown has been accused by the SFA of breaching several rules including “not acting in the best interests of association football by making public comments of an insulting nature in a newspaper interview accusing Robert Douglas, former goalkeeper at Dundee FC, of telling lies”.

Brown hit back at Douglas in a newspaper interview in June after responding to comments made by the former Scotland goalkeeper about his acrimonious departure from the club.

Hit with two notices of complaint yesterday, Brown has also been issued with a similar charge relating to comments made in an extensive interview about Rangers earlier this month. Brown has been accused of making “offensive” comments “suggesting the use of violence”.

Brown spoke out after former Rangers chief executive Charles Green, just after his ill-fated appointment as a consultant at Ibrox, repeated his claim that last season’s Rangers team was the worst in the club’s history and that manager Ally McCoist faced a problem if he did not win a major cup competition this season. Rangers were knocked out of the League Cup by Forfar on the day the interview appeared.

The following week, Brown gave an interview which appeared in several newspapers, including The Scotsman. In it, he said: “Green’s comments were a disgrace. If my own directors had said that about me, I would have taken every one of them by the throat.”

Brown has until tomorrow to respond, with a hearing date provisionally planned for 5 September. But the manager’s focus this evening will be the League Cup clash with Forfar, who are expected to field Douglas between the posts.

Dundee knocked Forfar out of the Ramsdens Cup last Tuesday at Dens Park 3-1 after extra time and they are looking to do the same tonight. “Forfar made it difficult last week and in fact they led for a good part of the second half,” said a wary Brown. “I fully expect them to make it difficult again.”

After beating Rangers, Forfar have suffered three defeats and a draw and manager Dick Campbell said: “We have not built on the Rangers game in the manner we hoped to but it is early days in the season.”