SCOTT Brown has insisted that he would accept a decision to end the Premiership season early – even if Rangers held a commanding lead over his side.
The Celtic captain was speaking after the SPFL board chaired a conference call between the 12 top-flight clubs and Championship winners Dundee United to discuss bringing the 2019/20 campaign to a close, thereby awarding Neil Lennon’s team a record-equalling ninth successive title and relegating Hearts.
Details of the meeting, which is believed to have been held for over two hours, have not yet been made public and there has been no update as to when – or if – the remaining fixtures will be scrapped.
Brown is adamant that he and his team-mates want the season to be played out in full but accepts that this may not be possible – and said that talk of a ‘tainted title’ doesn’t bother him in the slightest.
Appearing on BT Sport’s Football Extra show, the 34-year-old was asked what he would say to Rangers fans who argue that any title awarded without playing a 38-game season deserves an asterisk next to it.
“I’d tell them to come around and see my trophy,” came the laconic reply.
“We would have loved to have played the season, finish it and be crowned champions and to get the trophy in front of our own fans at Celtic Park, but it’s a difficult situation for everyone.”
When asked if the situation was reversed and Celtic trailed Rangers by 13 points if he would still support awarding the title to the top club, Brown asserted that he would – and joked that the title race was over last year.
“Obviously we want to play the games but it is a different situation for us,” he said. “We are in a strong position. We know that we were going to go 13, 16, 19 points clear because we’re a top quality team.
“They [Rangers] had a different hand. They came back [from the winter break], they were top of the league, they had their opportunity to push on and they didn’t continue their run. On my behalf, if I was in their situation then yes, I think I would have [accepted the decision], especially when the season was already won at the end of December.”
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