WE GO AGAIN

As Scott Brown prepares for his 14th campaign in green and white, his ubiquitous message rings truer than ever before

- JOE DONNELLY

We’ve heard Scott Brown utter these three words so many times over the last nine campaigns, and on each occasion he’s meant it.

This is a man who, since first donning the captain’s armband in 2010, has clinched 19 trophies. He’s led the Hoops to three consecutive domestic trebles. He’s won nine league titles in-a-row, becoming the first skipper to do so since the club’s greatest ever captain Billy McNeill in 1974. He’s made 575 appearances in Glasgow’s green and white so far, and has bagged 45 goals along the way. And yet his message remains the same.

Which is to say – our talisman never rests on his laurels. Nor does he look to them.

The season ahead is like no other in modern memory. Last year’s Scottish football calendar was cut short as a result of the global Covid-19 pandemic, and Celtic were rightly awarded the 2019/20 title two months into national lockdown. Beforehand, they’d forged a 13-point lead between themselves and second-place Rangers, and were looking good to extend that gap further still in their remaining eight games.

After doing the rounds on the doorsteps of the players, the Scottish Premiership trophy was returned to its rightful place at Paradise, yet Neil Lennon’s men and the club’s fans were denied the in-person celebrations the team’s incredible achievement deserved.

World football has since taken slow and cautious steps out of its forced hiatus, but in Scotland, fixtures will initially take place behind closed doors. Last season’s postponed Scottish Cup competition will resume later this year, while qualifiers for this year’s UEFA Champions League will take place several weeks later than usual as single-leg affairs.