Scott Brown exemplified what Celtic v Rangers rivalry should be about

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“Love or hate the p***k, he at least made it interesting”

Confirmation of Scott Brown’s impending departure for Aberdeen hit Celtic fans hard, but there may also be some Rangers supporters lamenting his absence from future derbies.

Scott Brown hates Rangers and Rangers hate Scott Brown.

Good.

That’s exactly as it should be.

Since joining Celtic in 2007, Scott Brown has accumulated a vast stockpile of trophies and enemies.

The midfielder inspired his team-mates and frequently dragged them to victory, and no-one revelled in those victories more.

Throughout Celtic’s nine-in-a-row run, fans became accustomed to the sight of Brown celebrating in front of rival supporters with arms aloft and a grin that could best be described as ‘pure snide’.

All too often, opponents and supporters took the bait.

There are two ways to react to this.

The first is to act like this somehow contravenes the spirit of the game, as the SFA did in April 2019 when they charged Brown with failure to “act in the best interests of Association Football”.

His crime? Laughing at Rangers players and mocking their supporters. 95% of Scottish football could have been charged with that offence over the last decade.

The second – and correct – reaction is to embrace it. Derbies are supposed to be about getting it round your rivals, not some po-faced idea of respect and sportsmanship.

Brown’s iconic ‘Broony’ celebration has since been used against him by El Hadji Diouf and Scott Arfield, while any Rangers fan who revelled in 1999’s post-match huddle at Celtic Park can hardly take the moral high-ground when it comes celebrating in front of opposing fans.

Indeed, despite their visceral hatred of the Celtic captain, there cannot be many Rangers supporters who wouldn’t rather have had him on their team over the last 14 years.

That ‘Hate him, but would take him in my team’ attitude is known by experts in the field as ‘The Steven Naismith Effect’, and no-one embodies it more than Brown (aside from Steven Naismith).

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As Rangers fan @UrbanMyth13 recently tweeted: “Love or hate the p***k, he at least made it interesting. Never a dull moment.”

Brown exemplifies everything that football rivalry should be about. Pettiness, immaturity, mind games and, ultimately, success.

With a maximum of two derbies remaining in Brown’s Celtic career, the only player who looks capable of inheriting his mantle in these fixtures is Alfredo Morelos, and there would be little shock if he too departed in the summer.

It’s the right time for Brown to move on. He’s no longer able to dictate games on a regular basis, with his impressive performance against Rangers earlier this month a reminder of what used to come naturally rather than an indication of what’s in store for next season.

More significantly, that occasion will primarily be remembered for his pre-match show of solidarity with Glen Kamara following the racist abuse he was allegedly subjected to by Slavia Prague coward Ondřej Kúdela.

In the scheme of things, the face-pulling, needling and grandstanding aren’t important. No-one understands and revels in these games more than Brown, but in making time before one of his last ever derbies to go over to Kamara he demonstrated that he knows where the line is and that some things transcend that rivalry.

Brown and Rangers will meet again. He’ll goad their players and noise up their fans, but in a red shirt. I’m sure Rangers supporters will be capable of hating an Aberdeen player.

Derbies shouldn’t be about tactical discipline, post-match pleasantries and ‘5 Things We Learned’. They should be a thoroughly tacky blend of rashness, schadenfreude, anger and hilarity.

No-one understood that more than Scott Brown, and these occasions won’t quite be the same without him.