CELTIC captain Scott Brown has revealed that he turned down big-money offers to move to the English Premier League as he wanted to repay the Parkhead club for the faith they had shown in him.
Brown was often linked with moves down south during his time in Glasgow but the midfielder always felt his loyalties lay in Glasgow’s east end.
Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur came the closest to prizing Brown away from Celtic, the club captain admitted – but the 35-year-old insists he never seriously entertained any alternative offers of employment during his heyday at Celtic Park.
He told Sky Sports: “I had offers from Spurs. I spoke with Harry Redknapp but it was too soon for me. I wanted to come to Celtic and enjoy it, and I was starting to really enjoy my football at a club that had put a lot of faith in me – in hard times as well.
“They stuck by me so it was great to give a little bit back as well. Neil was the manager at the time and I had an opportunity to go to Newcastle. I was out of contract but Lenny [former manager Neil Lennon] told me he wanted to keep me as captain and build the team around me.
“He felt we could push on and keep this winning mentality going because we were actually doing quite well at the time. It was one of those where I was wondering if I wanted to stay at a fantastic club like Celtic or did I want to go and have a fresh start? Or do I want to show everyone that I am a good player and that I can deal with all this, that I’m captain quality.
“I think that was the little bit of fight and hunger within myself. I wanted to prove everybody wrong and that’s stuck with me for the last 11 years.
“A lot have people have written me off and I just want to come back and make sure that I show them I’ve got another couple of years here. It will continue until I retire probably but it’s just an ongoing thing with me and the press. It’s lovely!”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel