Michael Stewart has called on Celtic to reduce Scott Brown’s playing time, whilst still admitting that the Hoops captain will have a major role to play this season, the Scottish Sun reports.
Stewart, a Celtic TV pundit, believes that Brown can play on for a few more seasons, but doesn’t need to start every week. He also believes that David Turnbull is the ideal player who can replace Brown in the Celtic side and flourish.
“He will want to play every minute”
“I get that this reduced workload would be hard for Brown to adjust to. Even at 35, he will want to play every minute of every game” Stewart said, writing in his column in the Scottish Sun.
“What it also does is free up space for other players in the Celtic squad to get more game-time. Brown playing 90 minutes three times a week while other midfielders sit on the bench isn’t helping anyone. The likes of (David) Turnbull need space and time to develop and you can see him stepping in and really blossoming” Stewart concluded.
It is fair to say that Brown hasn’t been at his very best this season. However, he has performed reasonably well in recent weeks. It has to be said though, that the Hoops did look better in midweek against Milan when Brown was taken off.
Won’t know how good midfield is until he gets run in team
However, that does not mean that he won’t still be a key man for Celtic this season. Stewart is right though about Celtic’s other midfielders. We won’t know just how good David Turnbull can be unless he gets a run of games in the team.
Brown has been a Celtic mainstay for many years. As Stewart says, he will still feel that he can play every game for Celtic. However, it is time that the club realised that can’t be the case. Neil Lennon and Brown himself will surely know that.
Hopefully Turnbull gets the chance to show what he can do, as he gradually replaces Brown in the middle of the park.
In other news, Ryan Christie is still annoyed that he had to self-isolate and missed the Glasgow derby.
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