Scott Brown v Paul McStay

It's only 8 people that think Brown is better and 67 that think McStay is better! That tells you something. It's not young and old, it's 8 people that are wrong and 67 that are right.

 

All about opinions at the end of the day.

Stuff like this will run on for years.

 

McStay was a good player in a latterly * team competing against a shower of cheats

Browny isn't the greatest but he's seems to be getting better every year. The most influential player we've had in our team in years, love watching him getting tore into them in the huddle. Reminds me a wee bit like Roy Aitken who l thought was a big diddy but we didn't half miss him when he left

 

I have voted for Paul " The Maestro " McStay , but I count Broony as the beating heart of the current Celtic team .In fact , he's been that for several seasons . I was fearful that when his form took a serious dip , a couple of seasons back , that he was finished as consistent , forceful midfield dynamo . He's come roaring back to top form , and his captaincy is a real plus . IMHO the Maestro was not cut out to be a Celtic captain , he was an introvert and burdened with the role . It's better if the captain is a larger than life character , and he can stir up his team mates with passion and drive , plead the team's case with Ref's , and stand up to any intimidation . He also has to be comfortable with media work and be a leader who knows his team mate's personalities . Broony has grown/blossomed in the role . He's more of an extrovert than most , and certainly can't be labelled as a shrinking violet .

 

Doubt we'll ever see another player have the kind of impact Broony has on a team at Celtic again.

No matter what era, how * the team was, or how dominant the Huns were. If Brown was part of the team we'd have been more successful in my opinion and won a lot more.

 

Watch is tackle in his first Hun game..


(Some Scotland side )

 

Did McStay not look a better player as he was in a worse team though than the teams that Brown has featured in?

I can’t really comment as I’m not old enough to have seen McStay play, for the record. I do however think history tends to give us over-romanticised opinions on players and their attributes, especially when they are/were one of our own. So a true comparison is often difficult. And even moreso when the footballers in question have completely different style style and positions!

 

He was a fantastic player, pretty much from day dot. Right from the start he never looked out of place, was a natural pulling the strings playing alongside the likes of Aitken, Burns, McGrain, McClair etc and these high standards remained always, even when the quality around him evaporated in the dark days in the early 90's. That was McStay the player.

The one thing he wasn't that Brown is, is a natural leader. Be that as it may, as this was a role he was forced to grow into, he absolutely did. I'm sure he would have been more than happy to have stayed away from the limelight that the captaincy brings, but it became more or less a situation of looking around and there really wasn't a viable option elsewhere in the dressing room.

So if anything, it is fair to say is where you may say that there is a romanticism about what McStay was able to bring to the team - on the park he could really only lead by example. Let alone deal as best he could with the stress of everything that was happening off the field at the time - which naturally lead to journos constantly sticking a microphone under his nose, wanting comments about things outwith of his control, etc. This was a pressure that Brown has never really had to contend with.

The thing is though, he may not have been a natural fit, but he did it and grew to became the leader that we needed; a symbol of hope on the park, and an avatar that the Jungle could adopt in trying to understand the difficulties the club was facing. He did it all. On the park as well as off of it. I have nothing but the highest admiration for the man, in he handling all of these pressures and carrying the hopes and dreams of the Celtic support on his shoulders.

 

I didn't deconstruct your post because I thought you might have been at the wind up. But your obviously serious so here goes.

McStay was with us for 15 seasons yet you concentrate on his last two when he did have injury problems.What about his other 13 seasons.

You seem to mock fellow Celtic supporters who genuinely believe McStay was world class. You disagree, that's fine, but to many McStay is a legend and to laugh at people that think that is strange.

When McStay decided to stay at Celtic when it seemed he was certain to leave, (throwing his jersey into the jungle after the last game of the season, "please don't go" getting belted out over the tannoy, put every supporter I knew on a real downer) the Rangers propaganda at the time was that he only stayed because no other team wanted him, mirroring the point in your post. How do you know that bearing in mind that Wullie McStay later stated he had the option of signing for several Italian clubs.

Can't mind your whole original post but I think this covers most of it.

 

I’ve got footage from the main stand of that day, i’ll try and upload it

 

The farewell that wasn’t....

Context for young ‘uns. 2nd May 1992. Last game of the season v Hibs. Needed a win to qualify for Europe. Rumours were rife that McStay was for the off that summer. We got beat 2-1.




We snuck into Europe through the back door (Fair Play rule) and the Maestro stayed

 

Juventus he was supposed to be away to then, wasn't it?

 

Yeah that was the headlines I’m sure!

 

Aye Juve was the rumour and apparently Liverpool were interested too..

 

Just reading that after Euro ‘92 Inter we’re interested too.

No offers were ever made according to Kelly.

 

Would have liked to have seen him at Juve, but the die-hard Tim in me is only just glad I got to see him continue on as a Celt, despite the rapid decline in both team and he.

Off the field, I had the great pleasure of doing some work for him many a moon ago when I worked as a landscape gardener - was extremely pleasant and humble, and didn't shy away from answering a tonne of questions from me.

Also, where he stayed at the time, the wee "scheme" was full of current Celtic players, Big Hartson popped around to his for a chat, got the honour of chatting away to him too.

That wasn't long before he ended up moving to Australia.

 

Needs to be made into a gif.

 

NAW.

 

A wee insight into his character with an interview with Spiers in the Herald..

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/...rs_at_Ibrox__in_1994__talks_to_Graham_Spiers/

 

That’s great mate

I contacted him when he was looking at doing his book and reminded him of that day and explained I was the mascot etc, he replied within a day with a really great message saying he remembered it well and thanked me for my support throughout the years. Absolute class act.

 

Shut up.