SCOTT BROWN would get to around about the hour mark of a game last season and then his body began to let him down.

We could all see it. He could certainly feel it. The many injuries, those times he played with a tight hamstring when he really should have been resting had caught up with him. Most supporters believed time itself had not only caught up with the Celtic captain but had left him for dead.

From the age of 17, Brown’s game had all been about energy, getting about the park, running games. That is difficult to do when you get to the last quarter of a match and find you can’t run at all.

Read more: Celtic's Brendan Rodgers: We will treat the Red Imps as if they were Barcelona

So is he finished? You try telling the now 31-year-old that and a glare will meet your eyes. Brown is far from done. Indeed, his claim is he feels better than he has for years after for once getting a proper summer holiday.

He will lead the team out against Lincoln Red Imps in Gibraltar tonight for what he hopes is the start of a long and successful Champions League campaign.

Brown is back. We shall soon find out whether it is to his best.

“What did I do last year?” Brown asked of himself as he tried to recall all his woes. “There were a few things, all different injuries. I did my knee, hamstring and calf; it was the hammy which stopped me from properly moving about.

“I would just sit in the middle of the park, I could get away with it for 60-70 minutes - but that last 20 minutes or so I was really struggling. So here is the new season, a fresh start and let’s push on.

Read more: Celtic's Brendan Rodgers: We will treat the Red Imps as if they were Barcelona

"We have all done it, this is out career, it’s football, you enjoy it and get paid for it – and if you are in the team you play as much as you can. I’ve come back, I feel fit, I played in three games in Slovenia, the first games for three months, and I feel good and ready for 90 minutes.”

In the matches so far, Brown has played a different role. Nir Bitton is the one who sat deep and the skipper has been to his right or left. He’s even ventured forward just like back in the day.

Whether Brendan Rodgers plays his most experience midfielder in every single game remains to be seen; however, Brown himself has enjoyed a more attacking role in a 4-3-3.

Brown said: “I’m now like a left-winger! It’s been good for me. I’ve been used to sitting just in front of the back four these last couple of seasons under the old gaffer, but now I’m being encouraged to push up more, breaking into the box more.

Read more: Celtic's Brendan Rodgers: We will treat the Red Imps as if they were Barcelona

"Now it’s about thinking about where the ball is going to bounce, and picking it up. Nir has sat in there, and so has Stefan. It’s a good system to play in, with the three of us having a role, and everyone creating space for each other. Movement is huge in the way the gaffer wants to play.

“When I first came to Celtic I think I played some kind of similar role – but Gordon Strachan tried to calm me down. But it’s good. I don’t mind where I play and we’ve got a lot of good players here. It’s great fighting for a place. I don’t mind where I play, whether I’m in central midfield or whether I’m further forward, either on the left or the right."

Training has been far more intense than before. Put it this way, Celtic won’t fade in games this season like they did in the previous campaign.

Brown is hardly going to have a dig at the new manager but you can tell he likes what he’s seen about Rodgers.

He said: “It’s been good. We’ve been training really hard, doing double sessions. It has been huge for me, just getting back into training, back into fitness, and getting back to games. I’m playing catch up with the lads, and I’m slowly getting there.

“The games are a lot longer, we’re pressing harder, we’re working more as a team than as individuals. It’s all been ball-work as well, and the gaffer has been stop-start, he’s been pushing us and telling us the way he wants us to play. It’s about pressing, and what to do with the ball.

“And once we get into the final third he wants us to go and express ourselves. All of it for me is the sign of a good manager, and the lads are all delighted with him. He has a lot of new ideas and that’s why he is a top manager.”

This is all very well and good but the only thing that really matters is the group stages of the Champions League, and Brown knows this.

“It is huge for the club, he said. “It is the reason I came here, and the reason I want to be here as well. It has been a hard two seasons not being in it, and watching teams like Malmo and Maribor go through. We know on our day we can give anyone a game at Celtic Park, but it just didn’t happen for us.”

This will be Brown’s tenth season as a Celtic player. He has done just about everything in that time, both good and bad, and after a almost a decade which has been anything but dull, the enthusiasm he has for the club and football has not diminished.

Indeed, you get the feeling he has got a second win with the arrival of Rodgers.

Brown said: “When I first signed I wasn’t sure how it was going to go, but the longer I stayed, the more I enjoyed it, and I’m still enjoying it now. It feel like home. New players have come in, and there is some great bonding, and the gaffer is bring us closer and closer.

“We sit at lunch and we chat away – it’s not like we’re together for five minutes and then away closing the curtains and closing the doors. We are having a bit of banter. We are chilling out together. The gaffer is often there, chatting away. He speaks really well to everybody.”

A Celtic team with the fit Scott Brown and strong team spirit is going to be difficult to beat.