Scott Brown reveals the Celtic icon that delivered his dramatic transfer switch

Scott Brown has revealed the key role that Tommy Burns played in steering him to join Celtic in 2007.

The Hibs midfielder was the big emerging talent in the Scottish game, part of an exciting crop that had come through the ranks alongside Derek Riordan, Garry O’Connor, Kevin Thomson and Steven Whittaker.

When Thomson moved to Ibrox in January 2007 it was assumed that he would soon be joined by his mate Brown but there was another club in contention for his signing.

Hibs agreed terms with both Glasgow sides leaving the final decision upto the midfielder who had worked with the coaches on both halves of the city while on Scotland duty.

It would take a £4.5m Scottish record price tag to get Brown out of Hibs with Ibrox assumed to be his destination until Burns turned salesman and swung the deal Celtic’s way.

In the Daily Record, Brown recalled the biggest decision of his career:

Both bids had been accepted so it was up to me as to where I was going to go. So I went and met Walter and I went and met Ally (McCoist). I knew them from the Scotland set-up and obviously I knew Tommy (Burns) as well.

When I went to meet Rangers I was getting text messages from Tommy saying, ‘Come on wee man, you know the place to go! You know where your heart belongs, I’ll look after you,’. It was the usual Tommy.

Then I went to meet Celtic down in London and I was getting all the same stuff from Coisty! It was like you were jumping in between two of them – two great guys and two great coaches. I still get on well with Coisty now when I speak to him.

But as soon as I went down, I spoke to Gordon (Strachan), I spoke to Peter (Lawwell) and I spoke to Tommy and I knew there was only one place that I wanted to go – the way they treated me and the way they saw me playing in the team. What they expected of me for the next four, five years of my contract.

Gordon set demands on me straight away. He told me how to go and play in different positions. He said, ‘You’re not just going to run about like a headless case wee man. I’m going to turn you into a holding midfielder or an attacking midfielder – whatever you want. But you’re not getting a free role like you did at Hibs.

You’re going to understand the game and you’re going to learn the game as well,’. For me to get that understanding from a top quality player as Gordon was – and a good manager as well, it meant a lot.

After 14 years at Celtic Brown enjoyed a brief spell at Aberdeen before moving into management at Fleetwood Town.