A Celtic of State of Mind was represented by Colin Watt at Scott Brown’s press conference yesterday to promote the upcoming Celtic FC Foundation “A Night with Scott Brown and Mikael Lustig” event on the 18th May.
Colin had the honour of opening the press conference and asking the former captain the first two questions of the day and, as expected, Brown’s answers did not disappoint.
First up, Colin asked the now Fleetwood Town manager what it was that separated Celtic from other clubs and whether this was the main reason that the stayed at the club for so long. Brown’s answer was one full of praise for the fanbase and the family ethos of the club as whole.
“I think it’s the fan base and how they welcomed me into the place, like a family. That was the biggest thing for me. I had bad times at the start and there was a lot of CEOs, managers, players that that kept me going; they wanted me to be about here and that helped me through that.”
Special praise was reserved for then CEO Peter Lawwell as Brown highlighted that “There’s not a lot of clubs that would do that (make the effort to help a player struggling off the pitch to settle in) and to have the CEO phoning you up to make sure you’re okay and ask if there’s anything else they can do for you.”
“It doesn’t take a lot to make you feel really welcome at a football club. It might be a phone call, it might be a sit-down chat, and that’s what this club does really really well.”
However, there was a grin on Brown’s face as he spoke about the fan base and the delight he still gets in seeing Celtic’s tops all over the world.
“You go Glasgow, you go Dubai, you go anywhere and there’s always a Celtic strip floating about somewhere. It puts a smile on my face knowing that they’re all over the world. It’s just a phenomenal fan base.”
It’s a great thing to have as a player because playing in front of 60 000 fans that go mental when you score is the best feeling in the world and to win trophies in front of them, for them, is even better.”
Now a manager in his own right, Colin asked Scott what, if anything, he has taken from the managers he worked under at Celtic Park into his own managerial career.
“I still speak to three of them quite a lot. I speak to Gordon (Strachan), he was the one that was daft enough to sign me, and then I had the opportunity to work with him again at Scotland. It was brilliant because I knew him really well.”
“Obviously I knew Lenny really well playing against him, him being the coach, and then him becoming the manager. It was great because you got the understanding of what he wanted from the lads. I still speak to him.”
“We also had some great times with Brendan (Rodgers) too who won a lot of trophies who had great success with as well.”
“It was those three managers that I worked with really well that we won a lot of trophies with and that were great with me. I look forward to like speaking to them and if I ever need anything I know I can always pick up the phone and they wouldn’t block me.”
The full press conference can be viewed on the ACSOM YouTube channel. Why not hit like and subscribe while you are there.
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