Scott Brown launches stinging attack on Tony Mowbray as Celtic captain opens up on how his former Hibs manager told him to find new club
The pair enjoyed a close relationship during their time together at Hibs but things turned sour at Parkhead
CELTIC captain Scott Brown has launched a stinging blast at former Hoops gaffer Tony Mowbray.
Broony – on the verge of signing a new deal at Parkhead – lifted the lid on how Mogga told him to find a new club.
The pair enjoyed a close relationship during their time together at Hibs.
But things turned sour as ex-Celts stopper Mowbray’s Parkhead reign reached crisis point.
Speaking to the Daily Record, Brown revealed he was forced to weigh up his Bhoys future amid interest from Newcastle and Spurs.
He said: “It hit me like a hammer when he told me to find a new club.
“I didn’t want to leave. I enjoyed playing for Celtic and all my family were here.
“But now I’m being told to find myself a new club.
“I had to get back on the phone and tell people I think I might be free to leave in January.
“Then all these offers start coming in and I’m thinking to myself, ‘Well, whatever happens happens’.
“I had an offer from Newcastle. There had been also interest from Harry Redknapp at Spurs and I was waiting to find out if he was still wanting to do something
“So I’m sitting there thinking if I should go or not.”
In a bizarre twist of fate, Brown ended up Celtic captain after being BENCHED less than a month later.
He said: “Fast forward a couple of weeks, I’m on the team bus going to Kilmarnock away after recovering from an injury.
“Mowbray has named me as a substitute.
“In the second half he tells me he’s sending me on at left back and then says, ‘As soon as you get on you take that armband. You’re going to be the captain now!’
“What was going through my head? I was thinking there was obviously no one else on the park for him to give it to.
“The armband had been given to about six players in the previous few weeks.
“Then it somehow eventually ended up with me. It felt a bit like Russian Roulette.
“Looking back, as absurd as it all was, that was the moment that changed my entire Celtic career.
“I suppose I’ve got to thank him for that.
“If he doesn’t give me that armband on that night then, after he was sacked, we’d have got a new manager in.
“Mowbray would have talked to the new guy and told him, ‘You need to get rid of this guy Brown. He’s no good, he’s a bad egg,’ or whatever.
“Can you imagine if he said that?
“I’d have been trying to find a new club, I wouldn’t have been Celtic captain, some other manager would be in charge, ripped the whole team up and started again.”
Brown – alongside the likes of Kevin Thomson and Steven Whittaker – had been at the heart of Mogga’s swashbuckling Hibs side just years earlier.
The Double Treble-winning skipper said: “It was a strange thing. Tony and I got on unbelievably well when we were together at Hibs.
“I don’t know if that was because we were young and he wanted us to do really well at the time.
“He wanted to make us do our best so that he would be doing his best.
“These things work both ways. We were all fine with that.
“I was devastated when he went to West Brom because we didn’t think we’d get another manager of the same class.
“It turned out we didn’t get a manager of the same class but that’s another story!
“So it was a hard one for us to lose him.
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“When Tony joined Celtic I had been injured at the end of the previous season.
“So I came in early that summer to meet with Tony and his assistant Mark Venus.
“I was like, ‘Brilliant, we’ve got the partnership back together’.
“It all started well but when the s*** started to hit the fan somehow all the blame came back to me.
“And I was the guy who tried to help him out at Hibs.
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“Now I was playing through injuries, trying to play in games when I shouldn’t have done.
“And it all backfired.
“I was trying my best to help him out but obviously he just wanted to help himself.
“That’s football - it happens and you learn your lesson. But that’s one lesson I’ve learned.”