Scott Brown piles on 'unbelievable' Hearts praise and makes Derek McInnes statement after impressive transfers
The former Celtic and Hibs star has been looking over the Premiership title race involving Hearts.
Scott Brown believes Hearts boss Derek McInnes is a Manager of the Year frontrunner, as the Celtic hero assessed the Premiership title race.
The ex-Hoops and Hibs midfielder was on punditry duties for BBC Sport Scotland as Falkirk put Stenhousemuir out of the Scottish Cup at the last 16 stage. It came after Rangers had destroyed Queen’s Park 8-0 earlier in the day and Celtic had eliminated Dundee 2-1 after extra time on Saturday. They will meet each other at Ibrox in the quarter-finals next month.
Now manager of Ayr United in the Championship, rivalry with Rangers still runs deep for Brown. When asked for his verdict on the Rangers thumping that came almost a year on from Queen’s stunning the Ibrox club in the Scottish Cup, he said: “Yeah, obviously, devastated when I seen it! I was hoping for a take two and Queen’s to do it again!
Scott Brown on Premiership title race
“Look, it's always hard to go to Ibrox, especially when you're a league below as well. They've hit a vein of form at this moment in time and they're scoring goals and winning games. Rangers have put themselves in a great position. They're in the hat now and we'll see how far they can go in the competition.”
Brown wasn’t having host Jonathan Sutherland’s Premiership assessment soon after. The BBC presenter said: “Rangers safely through, and looking in great form right now, Scott. A lot of attention on that top three in the Premiership and they look like, potentially, the most in-form side of those three.”
Ayr’s manager responded by Hearts are very much in the mix alongside Rangers and Celtic, with some of his most glowing praise reserved for the current league leaders in Gorgie. Brown reckons McInnes should be in the conversation for top boss alongside Falkirk gaffer John McGlynn, with impressive transfer work aiding Hearts’ rise to the summit.
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He responded: “Don’t say it, you can't say that! Celtic and Martin, obviously... Hearts have done unbelievable this season. Derek's done a fantastic job with them. The players that he's brought in with his budget as well. I think he's done a fantastic job and we're talking about managers of the year. Del's got to be up there.
“John McGlynn’s got to be up there as well but Rangers are, sadly to say, they're in a good bit of form. They're finding their feet. They're winning games and sometimes it doesn't have to always be pleasant on the eye. They're grinding those results out and that's what top teams do. Motherwell have done really well (they face Rangers on Wednesday night).
“They play some fantastic football as well. They've got some fantastic players. It's going to be interesting but Rangers have to win those games. It’s the old saying of you've got to make sure you continuously win, after win, after win. They're doing that now and it's good for them but Celtic are grinding results out as well. Hearts are grinding results out. This is what you do when the pitches aren’t great at this moment in time. All teams are going to have injuries and it's about how you deal with that.”