Callum McGregor has gone against the tide by reminding the media that Scott Brown was the victim of two assaults during Sunday’s Glasgow derby.
Since the final whistle went at Celtic Park the hoops skipper has been vilified across the board by a procession of pundits and experts who are happily given platforms for their views.
The crimes committed by Brown appear to be smiling, laughing and celebrating.
In return he was elbowed off the ball, punched to the ground then jostled by around six players as he took the acclaim of the home fans at the final whistle.
While Alfredo Morelos has attracted attention for his fifth red card of the season, more than Brown has collected in 12 years at Celtic, Ryan Kent’s punch has gone relatively uncommented on after being missed by all four match officials.
McGregor was side by side with Brown throughout the match and didn’t hesitate to put the case for his skipper when he was in front of the cameras today.
“I don’t think Scott did anything wrong,” McGregor told Sky Sports. “Tactical, mind games, whatever you want to call them, are part of football.
“He never actually did a lot wrong. The Morelos one, he runs across the path of him and he gets that reaction. People can say what they want about Scott Brown but that did not warrant the reaction it got.
“He was basically assaulted twice in the game, for a bit of mind games and a bit of tactics. That’s nothing for anyone to speak about Scott and his behaviour, it is obviously the other side.”
By the weekend Brown could have claimed his ninth championship winners medal with Celtic currently 13 points ahead at the top of the SPFL with just seven matches left to play.