Celtic legend reveals he had the opportunity to join Tottenham

Celtic midfielder Scott Brown has revealed that he had the opportunity to join Tottenham Hotspur earlier in this career.

The Scottish international was wanted by the North Londoners while Harry Redknapp was in charge but decided to remain loyal to Celtic.

The 35-year-old will bring down the curtain on his career at Celtic Park against his former club Hibernian on Saturday after 14 years at the club, having made 610 appearances in all competitions, scoring 46 goals (transfermarkt).

Brown was asked if he ever considered leaving Celtic while also revealing that there was interest from Newcastle United when he was out of contract but was persuaded to stay north of the border by former boss Neil Lennon.

Brown signed a pre-contract with Scottish Premiership rivals Aberdeen in a player-coach role in March where he will work as part of Stephen Glass’ backroom staff.

He told Sky Sports: “I had an offer from Spurs, from Harry Redknapp, but it was too soon for myself. I think I wanted to come to Celtic, I wanted to enjoy it.

“I was starting to really enjoy my football at the club and they put a lot of faith into me, especially during hard times as well, and they stuck by me so it was great to give a little bit back and Neil was the manager at the time.

“I had an opportunity to go to Newcastle and I was out of contract but Lenny was like: ‘I want to keep you as captain, I want to build the team around you, I think we can push on and keep this winning mentality going’.

“We were doing quite well at the time and it was one of those things. I was thinking ‘do I want to talk and stay at Celtic, do I want to go down [to England] and have a fresh start, or do I want to keep winning and show everyone that I am a good player, that I can keep winning and deal with this’.

“That was the little bit of fight inside me that I wanted to prove everybody wrong and it’s stuck by me for the last 10-11 years.

“There have been a lot of people writing me off and I want to show people that I’ve still got another few years and I’ll continue [thinking] like that until I retire.”

SpursWeb Opinion

Harry Redknapp had an abundance of midfield talent during his time at Tottenham with Wilson Palacios and Tom Huddlestone typically playing in the defensive midfield role, to allow the likes of Luka Modric and Jermaine Jenas the creative licence.

Whether Brown would have been able to have an impact in the Premier League will never be known, having decided to remain at a Celtic side who at times had little competition for domestic silverware.