SCOTT BROWN insists he cannot be compared with Celtic legends such as Billy McNeill.
The Hoops skipper has won 21 medals and is edging closer in the haul of fame of the club’s iconic former onfield leader and manager as well as the Lisbon Lions.
Brown has been with the Parkhead side all the way through the glorious nine-in-a-row achievement and this season’s Premiership crown was his ELEVENTH successive honour during the historic sequence.
It’s a feat which leaves him behind only McNeill, with 23 medals, and Bobby Lennox, who has two more, as he piles up the silverware.
But the 34-year-old midfielder, who was bought by Gordon Strachan from Hibs for £4.4million in 2007, refuses to believe he should be ranked with such famous and revered individuals.
Brown, speaking to the Daily Record, said: “To be fair, I am nowhere near what those guys did for Celtic. What they achieved for the club was frightening and they are legends.
“It’s not really right for anyone to even consider I’m anything like those guys because of the medals won. Those legends are on a different level to me.
“I never imagined at the beginning I’d be in the situation of captaining Celtic to nine in a row, winning a treble and to be pushing for a quadruple treble.
“We’ll need to bide our time with that one, but, on the whole, it has been fantastic.
HOOP HOOP HOORAY…Scott Brown celebrates his late winner against Hamilton Accies with a little help from team-mates Ryan Christie and Callum McGregor.
“All through the years we have had belief in each other and it’s the same again with this current group of lads.
“Maybe one day when I finish playing, I’ll look back on it all, look at the success we have had as a club and the trophies we have won together and think it is an incredible achievement.
“But things like that can only happen when you finish. You can’t have thoughts like that when you are still playing.
“You can’t take your eye off the ball for a single second at Celtic. So, for me just now it’s about still looking forward, still pushing on and still trying to keep achieving more because I feel as though I have a lot of games left in me.”
The champions are due to return to Lennoxtown a week tomorrow following the go-ahead from the Scottish Government after the game had gone into cold storage in mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Premiership is due to kick off on August 1 which means Brown and his team-mates will have been out of competitive action since the 5-0 win over St Mirren in the east end of Glasgow on Saturday, March 7.
Brown added: “Usually, we would get two, three or maybe even four weeks in the summer tops to recover from the previous season before it’s back into pre-season training to go again for the next campaign.
“There are still one or two little aches and pains when you go back in that situation, but they should all be gone.
“The longer I am off, the harder it is going to be for me to get back, but you always have to look at the positive aspects of things if you can and that is what I have tried to do.”
