CELTIC skipper Scott Brown has claimed former Hoops boss Ronny Deila’s training sessions as being “slow and not hard enough”.
The 31-year-old midfielder is playing some of the best football of his career and has credited the Norwegian’s replacement Brendan Rodgers and his staff for their major role in his revival.
Brown said: “I think it all starts going into training. The training has been great, as have the physios and coaches.
“It wasn’t always like that last year. It didn’t always put a smile on your face when going into training.
“It was difficult, it was slow, the training itself wasn’t hard enough. This season all the lads are enjoying it, they want to work hard.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday – training has been exceptional.”
Brown was injured for much of the the first half of last season and came back for the League Cup semi-final loss to Ross County. He saw out the campaign, leading Celtic to 5 in row but seldom performed to his best.
He had a particularly poor game in the Scottish Cup semi final draw against the Sevco Rangers,which Celtic lost on a penalty shoot-out. Brown was at fault for the opener when a lazy touch set up former Celtic striker Kenny Miller.
That day effectively settled any debate about Ronny Deila’s future as Celtic manager and led to Brendan Rodgers arriving in May. One of the first tasks undertaken by the Irishman was to invite club captain Brown to visit his London home for a heart to heart.
That conversation seems to have turned around Brown’s form and his commitment to Celtic was recently re-enforced when the player announced that he was retiring from international football to concentrate on Celtic.
