So I’m sure most of you have seen the pictures of a drunk Scott Brown by now.

You can’t look past it, they just don’t look good. The Celtic captain shouldn’t be papped legless on the street, especially just before the Scottish League Cup final.

I was actually quite surprised to see the pictures this morning, Brown doesn’t seem the type to get that hammered. Yes I believe he enjoys the odd pint but nothing before today suggests that he loves going out on the lash. I really doubt that is the case, he was the player who was adamant not to live in Glasgow and be caught up in the Glasgow goldfish bowl (Yes I know Edinburgh can still entertain the likes of Gary O’Connor and Leigh Griffiths).

So let’s take this as an isolated incident. It’s still not good enough.

I know people will come back at me and say ‘he’s only human’ and ‘who doesn’t like a night-out in Scotland?’. Others will point to Celtic’s greats like Jimmy ‘Jinky’ Johnstone who also liked a drink or two.

Ok first point, he’s paid very handsomely to play football. Ask any serious professional athlete or sports scientist and they will tell you the danger of alcohol. So if you are getting paid tens of thousands a week, then you should be able to stay sober enough not to slump to the pavement while eating greasy fast-food, after a midweek bender.  I said the same in 1998 when Paul Gascoigne was photographed on the sauce and eating a kebab! Now to compare Brown with a player from the sixties is very naive and a weak argument. We are in an era that we know the dangers and have been educated to perform better as athletes. Jinky and the rest didn’t have that luxury.

The photographs should be used as a deterrent to the younger Celtic players too. As a reference point, showing why they shouldn’t use alcohol to excess. But mainly it should be used to show the dangers of the Scottish media, with a tagline saying ‘They are watching you!‘. I’ve worked a wee bit with an FA to help train youth players about the art of dealing with the media. I am sure Celtic have a similar process at Celtic Park. The media love this kind of story, but at the end of the day it’s Scott that’s given it to them on a plate (or greasy wrapper).

What punishment does Scott Brown deserve?

Well that’s completely up to Celtic. I’m sure they have protocol for this sort of thing. Maybe a fine or slap on Brown’s wrist.

Should he be dropped for the cup final? Stripped of the captaincy? Transfer listed?

Of course not, don’t be ridiculous. As I say, I’d tend to treat it as an isolated incident that can be dealt with by a word or two in his ear.

Also let’s not go over the top with this and state this is a Scottish problem. I worked, in a Glasgow nightclub a decade ago. We had plenty of footballers in and plenty of the foreign lads that stood out, in terms of being a drunken mess. We’ve also seen a lot of photos of multi-milionaire English Premier League footballers staggering out of bars over the years.

We shouldn’t forget that ScottBrown is having an extremely good season on the pitch. For a long time I was unconvinced about Brown’s ability to pass, shoot or tackle.

But in the past few seasons he has come to the fore for both club and country.

Yes he’s still a wind-up merchant but Brown is much better at the basics and geeing his team up for the big games. I’d go as far as to say he’s hitting the peak of his career. Which is another reason why I was so surprised to see him steamboats in the streets of Edinburgh.

Brown is a leader on the pitch and someone who young midfielders can learn from as he gives his all and is a winner on the park. He’s also been revelling in his holding role in midfield, that new Celtic gaffer Ronny Deila has given him.

I for one will not be surprised to see Brown lift the League Cup on Sunday after a typical fiery but inspirational performance.

Yes he was extremely stupid to be drunk at this stage in his career and he should know better. But we can’t go over the top and vilify him.

Posted on March 13th, 2015 by scott
Filed under: Article