BRENDAN Rodgers has confirmed Scott Brown will continue in the role of Celtic captain and hopes the midfielder can be as influential for him as Steven Gerrard was at Liverpool. Rodgers is still mulling over what changes to make to his squad after being confirmed as Celtic manager last week but revealed that he was “150 percent certain” that Brown would continue as his on-field leader.
The Scotland captain will turn 31 next month and has struggled with injury over the past season, resulting in him sitting out the last few games once the championship had been secured. Rodgers, though, revealed himself to be a long-standing admirer of Brown and drew comparisons with Gerrard who was also into his 30s when Rodgers became manager of Liverpool back in 2012.
“I saw Scott at Hibs as a young player and I thought he was a great athlete, very mobile and competitive,” said Rodgers. “Obviously he’s come here and is a real warrior. He’s up for every single game. Last year towards the end of the season he was maybe hit a little bit by injury and what not, but he’s 30 years of age and I think he’s still got his best years ahead of him.
“When I went into Liverpool Steven Gerard was 32 years of age. There was talk that his best days were maybe gone but Steven went on for the next two years and was brilliant for me – a great leader and nearly went on to pick up the title. His performance level went up again.
“So I’m really looking forward to working with Scott. I’d obviously come across him in some of the friendly games we had played and I’ve always been impressed with him as a player and I’m sure he can be a really big help for me.”
Rodgers revealed it was probably too soon to talk about tweaking Brown’s position to acknowledge his advancing years as he did with Gerrard but underlined the significance of having leaders in the dressing room.
“I look at the individuals and see where I can help them improve and where they can develop and I’ll have a good chat with Scott and take it from there,” he added. “There’s a way of working and a way of playing that I want to bring in here with flexibility and tactical ideas based around the players.
“It’s important to have a few leaders. I had a group of players who were brilliant for me at Liverpool who were important for me in that capacity – Steven, Luis Suarez, Jamie Carragher, Daniel Agger, and Pepe Reina. Those were guys who were strong personalities and whenever I wasn’t there they looked out for us. And that’s important.”
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