Celtic captain Scott Brown explains why he turned down Australia move

Given the current sub-zero temperatures in Scotland, it would be understandable if Scott Brown had opted for a new life in south Australia.

Celtic's Scott Brown has signed a new contract. Picture: SNS

However, the heat of battle is infinitely more appealing than the climate of Melbourne and that was the reason the lavishly successful Celtic captain chose to pledge another two years to the club.

Western Melbourne are a new club with a great vision and ambition but Brown, who has won 17 major 
honours, feeds off the intensity of delivering more success for Celtic.

Brown said: “At the end of 
the day, I love the club, I love winning trophies and playing in the Champions League, which is why I signed here in the first place.

“I want this club to get back in the Champions League and I want to win more trophies.

“For me, it’s about winning mentality and it would have been hard for me to go to a club and not expect to win week in, week out and where the fans aren’t as passionate.

“It was a lovely opportunity
Western Melbourne gave me but, when Peter Lawwell offered me two years, I was over the moon to sign.

“It was tempting but I didn’t want to rush into it and say ‘Right, I’m off’ which was 
why I took so long to make the decision.

“I love it here and the last four or five weeks has been hard wondering whether to stay or go and eventually I made my mind up because staying is the best move for me and my family.

“When you go to Celtic Park and see a full stadium it was going to be hard to move to a new club with no fans and they were going to lease a stadium for the first two years.

“They were going to build a fanbase, so it’s pretty much starting from nothing and hoping you get up to 20,000 after a season.

“They might do that but it was going to be hard, whereas at Celtic you’ve already got the history and I didn’t want to miss any of that.”

Brown recently made his 500th Celtic appearance and says that he has proved a lot of people wrong since moving to Parkhead. “I am 34 in the summer and I feel as good as I have done for a long time,” he added. “I have stayed here for 12 years and not a lot of people would have expected that when I first signed.”