Exclusive: Celtic hero Jackie McNamara on battling Scott Brown

By Euan Davidson

May 13, 2021

Former Celtic captain Jackie McNamara has played against plenty of feisty footballers.

Chief amongst those, as it turns out, was Scott Brown. Brown, who waved goodbye to Paradise after 14 outstanding years and 22 trophies, was a mouthy teenage player. At Hibs, where he moved from a forward role into the right of midfield, Broony was a combative, gallus player.

How things don’t change, hey?

McNamara, speaking on a video due later today on the 67 Hail Hail YouTube channel, detailed exactly how Brown was to play against.

Jackie told us:

“[Scott Brown] was quite a chirpy young lad at Hibs. He was going around, saying [all sorts] to a few of us – we were playing Barcelona midweek. There was a couple of games he was a bit tasty and Bobo [Balde] got sent off with him.

“He was going around laying it on, putting the boot in. Running about saying he was going to do some folk. There was a few of us saying “I’ll get him!”. Alan Thompson was the one that got him, he got a bad injury and came off.

“Senior players at the time didn’t take kindly to a young lad saying what he’d do to us to keep us out of the Barcelona game!

“I always like him. He had that little bit of gallusness when he was younger. I think he’s matured a lot, going into Celtic, and understands the club. He’s been a great servant.

“You had players throughout my career that would annoy you on the pitch. As a young lad, he was that. Darren Jackson before he came to Celtic was very annoying, he ended up becoming a good friend. Sometimes you get that when you’re up against people, they can irritate you.”

Scott Brown in his Hibs days / (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Fantastic insight on Scott Brown from a former Celtic captain

Jackie McNamara always has good stories, that’s why he’s such good value for 67 Hail Hail. But this is particularly funny. You wonder if, in those moments, Jackie could’ve imagined Broony at the forefront for Celtic. Especially since, after all, he was trying to injure some of our players ahead of a meeting with Barcelona.

People talk about how big characters are a scarcity, but is that particularly true in Scottish football? It’d be fascinating to know for sure who the more combative, needly figures are in the current Celtic squad. Darren Jackson being mentioned was a bit of a surprise, after all.

67 Hail Hail will be speaking to Scott Brown later today, and you can catch our full video on the channel later this afternoon.

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