Brown: Why would I ever leave Celtic?

Scott Brown has declared no interest in ever quitting Celtic to move to the English Premier League.

The 28-year-old Hoops skipper insists he is hoping to finish his career at the Parkhead club.

And, unlike many of his team-mates, the lure of playing south of the border is not one that particularly interests him.

Brown said: “Does it appeal to me leave Celtic and go down to England? Not in the slightest.

“I don’t see why I would swap winning trophies, winning leagues and playing in the Champions League.

“I know English people will want to go back home and that’s understandable.

“But for me this is a great club, my family is here and I’m not going to beat the occasions I get in the Champions League.

“Everyone knows that England is where the money is. But if I put my heart before the cash signs, it’s Celtic for me.”

Brown has been linked with a move to England at various stages of his Celtic career following his £3.5m move from Hibs in 2007.

Spurs were one of the leading clubs rumoured to be in pursuit of the midfielder’s signature but instead of running down his deal Brown took the decision to extend his contract.

“What made me stay? Champions League football was the main thing, plus the gaffer was here and he’d shown a lot of faith in me,” said the Scotland internationalist.

“Neil Lennon (right) made me captain and it was one I maybe owed him.

“It was a huge decision in my career to either stay at Celtic or go to England.

“I didn’t want to be a player who moves down to England and maybe goes missing.

“At the time, I was injured and didn’t have a lot of offers. It was good that Celtic came in and kept faith with me.”

Brown now has no intentions of playing anywhere other than Celtic Park as things stand.

He added: “I’ve been here for nearly seven years now and I can see myself staying for a lot longer.

“It’s a great club and everyone looks after each other.

“When you see what the club did for John Kennedy after he finished playing. it shows how much they look after you.

“In modern football, people don’t tend to stay at the one club for a long time. I’m the longest serving, then Georgios Samaras and Lukasz Zaluska.

“The rest came a few years later, so it’s good that we have that core of players still here.

“You need that and if we can tie guys like James Forrest down, that would be massive for the club.”

Brown is also looking forward to facing Hearts this afternoon in the Fourth Round of the Scottish Cup.

And he laughed: “I probably get more stick from Hearts fans as a Celtic player than I did when I was at Hibs.

“But that’s part and parcel of football. They want to beat Celtic, they wanted to beat Hibs but I’ve been lucky enough to get some good results there.”