Sport
Scott Brown accepted Rangers fate
Scott Brown always knew he’d have a tough job on his hands taking his Ayr United side to face Rangers in the Scottish Cup.
That proved to be the case as Philippe Clement’s side ran out 2-0 winners but it could have been more albeit the Honest Men put up a good fight. Brown was convinced the moment he took the manager’s job that Clement would never play a lesser starting XI against the Celtic icon as fans would never accept it.
But, with a chuckle, he admits the gulf in quality was evident when Rangers brought on highly-paid players compared to Brown’s own subs of youngsters making debuts.
Brown told the Celtic State of Mind podcast: “You get the job and it was already in the works, the draw had been made. You’re going to Ibrox. It made the club a lot of money, it was great for the budget. But I’m sitting there thinking ‘Yep. I’m sure they’re not going to play their second team against me.’
“As they did, they played their strongest team. But the lads competed well and defended well, we were in the game for 78 minutes until they scored their second goal. You had to be proud of the lads, some of them had never played at Ibrox, and you can see the difference.
“But Rangers were bringing on players on 30k, 40k per week. We brought on a young kid at 17 for his debut. We actually brought on two 17-year-olds, whereas they brought on Lundstram and somebody else. It shows you the levels.”
