Scott Brown insists he will bring the same passion and determination to his new role as Aberdeen’s captain as he did when he was the on-field boss at Celtic.

The midfielder, a major summer coup for the Dons as manager Stephen Glass set about a summer rebuilding and recruitment programme, underlined his commitment to his new club with a pledge to persuade the Pittodrie fans, for whom he was sometimes seen as a kind of pantomime villain, to love him.

And, when he leads Aberdeen out for the first leg of their Europa League Conference second qualifying round tie with Swedish side BK Hacken at Pittodrie tonight, he expects to feel the same emotion and adrenalin surge he experienced during his decade and a half of European nights at Parkhead.

The Dons have been allowed to admit almost 6,000 supporters for the game, enough, says Brown, to excite him and make him “dig deeper”.

The 55-times capped Pittodrie player-coach has not performed in front of a crowd for almost eighteen months so is pleased to have at least some fans at tonight’s game.

“It will be great for my first game at Pittodrie,” he said. “It's not the same without fans. Football needs that passion and supporters drive you on. They are the 12th man and they help you out. The make you dig that bit deeper.”

Addressing the issue of being a hate figure among some of the red army when he strutted his stuff for the Hoops at Pittodrie, he assured them they would see someone fully dedicated to his new club’s ambitions.

He famously sparked an angry reaction from the Dons supporters eighteen months ago as he walked alongside the then Aberdeen front man Sam Cosgrove after the striker was red-carded following a brutal challenge on Kristoffer Ajer.

"I've had arguments with a few fans, not just at Aberdeen,” he said. “There have been a few at Celtic, Rangers; you name them. I'm not going to change my game for anybody.

“They know what I bring. I tackle and I'm there to win no matter who I play for. Now I'm at Aberdeen, I'll give 110 per cent. Winning drives me on and gives me that passion.

"I came here to keep playing as long as I can and to come here at 36, to a club that pushed Celtic all the way for the last ten or 11 years, is great.”

It was no surprise when Glass named Brown as his captain as he sought greater drive from a side that almost limped towards the end of the last campaign following a period when many supporters deemed their team boring and predictable.

Joe Lewis, the goalkeeper who was skipper, was given a sideways move and named club captain and immediately dubbed Brown “hybrid”, a label that seems to have stuck in the Pittodrie changing room.

“He started the nickname because I am getting the best of both worlds,” Brown said. “I am in the dressing-room with the lads but also in with the coaches doing all the work that goes into it.

“I am trying to learn as much as I can now. I am at the stage of my career where I want to play as much as possible, but also want to learn.

“That’s what the opportunity to come here gave me and I couldn’t turn down the chance to be a coach in a first-team dressing-room.

“Stephen and coaches Allan Russell and Henry Apaloo have been fantastic with me and I am getting to see the other side of things and how much the coaches put into it, the hours they work and the things they do.

“It’s not just about organising training; it’s watching things, working on shape, looking at opponents, players.

“The day before a game I have to switch on to being fully focused onplaying. Stephen said that himself, the day before a game we are hopefully ninety-five percent organised.

"So, straight after training he was like ‘you go home, switch off, rest and get ready for the game’. So, that’s what we’re doing. From there I am a player. I go into the changing rooms with the lads before the game and I am part of it.

“We are all together and that will be the case even if I am not starting a game, we are all in it together. Whether it’s the eleven who are starting or the subs who are there as well, everyone is in it because they could change the game for us.

“That’s why you all have to stick together and that’s what the management has brought to us.”