After over 400 Celtic appearances Scott Brown has decided to pick the best XI that he has played alongside.
In a feature for hoops sponsors Dafabet the Celtic skipper has come up with a few surprises in his best ever Celtic XI.
Brown joined Celtic in the summer of 2007 in a £4m deal from Hibs, interestingly that transfer fee hasn’t been matched in almost a decade as the big spending days are reigned in.
Gordon Strachan was the man that signed the midfielder from Hibs who went on to play a major role in Celtic’s revival under Neil Lennon after being handed the captaincy by Tony Mowbray.
Brown retained the captaincy under Ronny Deila and has become a completely different player under Brendan Rodgers who has compared his influence on the team with the impact Steven Gerrard enjoyed at Anfield.
This season Brown is on course to pick up his seventh title medal making him one of the most decorated players in the club’s history, as a Fifer his best ever Celtic XI has a strong Scottish influence- plus a couple of surprises.
CRAIG GORDON
Recently the subject of interest from Chelsea the former Hearts man makes it into Team Broony ahead of Artur Boruc and Fraser Forster.
Brown reveals that Gordon does most of the driving through to Lennoxtown and compares the keeper to a fine wine.
Gordon’s remarkable career hit some turbulence earlier this season but he has emerged stronger for it and is in line for a new Celtic contract.
MIKAEL LUSTIG
There has been a few short term rivals to the Swede such as Adam Matthews and Mark Wilson but none have managed to dislodge the former Rosenborg defender.
Despite his golfing problems Brown has a lot of respect for the defender who has been used increasingly as a central defender this season.
With a new two year contract signed and sealed Lustig will be looking to add to his considerable medal collection.
VIRGIL VAN DIJK
Spent just two seasons at Celtic but pretty quickly showed the class that has turned him into a £50m plus signing target.
It appeared that van Dijk was playing within himself in the SPL but he has shown the exact same playing style for Southampton.
Alongside Jason Denayer in his second season at Celtic they formed one of the club’s best ever defensive pairings.
CHARLIE MULGREW
As Brown highlighted Mulgrew was Neil Lennon’s first signing and viewed as a squad player on arrival.
Halfway through the 2010/11 season the former Aberdeen man started to exert himself and remained a regular throughout Lennon’s time in charge.
He only had one full season in central defence and filled in various midfield roles, he scored some great free kicks during his time at Celtic.
KIERAN TIRNEY
Ronny Deila and Brendan Rodgers have picked Tierney ahead of Emilio Izaguirre with Brown following that policy.
Game by game the teenager has got stronger and now forms a lethal left wing partnership with Scott Sinclair.
Tierney is destined to play at the very highest level- hopefully after picking up four or five title winners medals for Celtic.
JAMES FORREST
Has had his work cut out to convince the Celtic support of his worth but has turned in consistently excellent performances this season.
After finally shaking off the injury strains that haunted him he impressed Rodgers into handing out a new contract and has repaid his manager many times over.
Another Scottish choice in Team Broony
JOE LEDLEY
Arrived at training every day with a smile, grew an impressive beard and scored some impressive goals.
Ledley was beside Brown as Celtic were transformed under Lennon and played a major role as the hoops became Scotland’s dominant force.
His recovery from a broken leg to play at Euro 2016 was remarkable but no surprise to his old skipper at Celtic.
VICTOR WANYAMA
Brown paints a scary picture of Vic, the player that everyone wanted as a team-mate in training.
Like Tierney you could see Wanyama develop on a weekly basis, by the time of the head to head matches with Barcelona in 2012 he could just as easily have been wearing a red and blue jersey.
Spurs are now enjoying the benefits of his skill and imposing physical presence after strolling it at Southampton.
SHUNSUKE NAKAMURA
As well as his stunning ability Brown paints an awesome picture of an athlete with total dedication to his profession.
Before joining Celtic the midfielder sat among 60,000 fans that witnessed his signature moment- that Champions League free kick against Manchester United.
Brown and Nakamura were polar opposites in many ways but the appreciation is obvious.
ROBBIE KEANE
Perhaps the most surprising choice in Team Broony but it says everything about Keane’s four month stint at Celtic.
His goals propped up the failing Mowbray regime then played a big part in an eight match winning run that got Neil Lennon the managers job.
It was short, sweet, eventful and never short of goals.
GARY HOOPER
Leigh Griffiths and Anthony Stokes get overlooked for Hooper who bagged plenty of important goals during three seasons under Neil Lennon.
Not many pedigree players come out of Scunthorpe but Hooper was the ultimate striker- he knew his way to goal and didn’t mess about when it came to putting chances away.
Transfers to Norwich and Sheffield Wednesday didn’t work out as he’d have liked on the park but for three seasons Celtic had a top notch striker- and it’s taken the arrival of Moussa Dembele to properly replace Hooper.