Fired up Aberdeen captain Scott Brown aims to bring the fear factor back for teams visiting Pittodrie.
Brown wants to make Pittodrie a ‘fortress’ again that Premiership top clubs are wary of visiting.
Midfielder Brown insists visiting Pittodrie was always a hard game whilst Celtic skipper – and he wants that to return.
The 36-year-old has warned rivals the Dons aim to make home advantage count by going on the attack and playing with intensity.
Brown hopes that will inspire the Red Army to create an intimidating atmosphere to further sharpen the edge of home advantage.
The midfielder wants a return to the Pittodrie intensity of the 2015-16 season when Aberdeen twice beat the Celtic team he captained in the Granite City.
Brown admits Aberdeen gave Celtic a ‘huge scare’ in that 2015-16 league title race.
He said: “We will try to make this place a fortress.
“Coming up to Pittodrie was always a hard game no matter what.
“That’s what we want to bring back – giving teams hard games where we beat Rangers, beat Celtic, Hibs, Hearts – especially at home as well.
“Pittodrie should be a hard place to come especially with the wind, rain, snow, sleet – and the sunshine as well.
“It is going to be a hard place to come to.
“We want to play attacking football and play with intensity.
“We also want to squeeze the game and force it, and get the crowd behind us.”
Brown captained Celtic to a dominance of the Scottish top flight but admits Aberdeen came close to ending their nine-in-a-row run.
During that 2015-16 season Aberdeen began the league campaign with eight straight wins.
That incredible run included a 2-1 defeat of Celtic at Pittodrie on September 12 2015 to go top of the table.
On February 3 2016 the Dons again beat Ronny Deila’s Celtic 2-1 at Pittodrie to move to within three points of the defending league champions.
Asked how big a scare the Dons gave Celtic that season, he said: “A huge scare.
“Aberdeen are a great team, they really are.”
‘Fortress’ Pittodrie must start against Saints
Aberdeen will need to ensure Pittordrie is fortified for the visit of St Johnstone on Saturday.
A 2-0 loss at Motherwell extended the Dons’ winless run to six games in all competitions.
Brown has been influential since arriving in the summer on a two year deal.
Having won 21 trophies with Celtic he rejected the offer of a new contract at Parkhead to move to Pittodrie in a player/coach capacity.
Brown agreed a pre-contact with Aberdeen before the end of last season.
He captained Celtic on April 21st at Pittodrie in a 1-1 draw following confirmation he would be moving to Aberdeen in the summer.
Now firmly settled in at Pittodrie the influential midfielder is relishing experiencing both the playing and coaching side of the game – as well as working alongside friend and former Hibs team-mate Stephen Glass, the Aberdeen manager.
He said: “I kept in touch with Stephen the whole time and it great to come in and actually work with him and not just speak on the phone.
“Especially the last four, five weeks of the season it is not the same when you talk to someone about how training is going and how they are preparing on training.
“It was great to get in the building to work with Stephen, Allan (Russell, Aberdeen assistant), Henry (Apaloo, Aberdeen coach), Simmy (Neil Simpson, Pathways Manager) and I knew Gordon (Marshall, keeper coach) as well.
“I worked with him at Hibs when he was a goalie coach there.
“It is great being able to batter ideas off people but also to see what we can do in training and what works.”
Brown on evolution of club management
Brown first began coaching seven years ago at Celtic whilst helping the club’s U20’s alongside Stevie Frail and Tommy McIntyre.
He completed his UEFA B licence during that period and in 2019 secured the A licence.
Having played for almost two decades in the Scottish top flight and racked up more European appearances than any other Scot the midfielder has witnessed the evolution of management.
Driven by the philosophies of managers like Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho which have filtered through the game in Britain he believes management is far more multi-faceted than in the early 2000’s when he first started playing professionally.
It has changed for the good and Brown is determined to soak it all in as he works on the coaching side alongside leading the Reds on the pitch.
He said: “It has been good in the way football has changed and people like Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho coming over to Britain has definitely helped influence that as well.
“Football is played in a more attractive way than it used to be.
“It used to be ping the balls long as you can and play the percentage game in the box.
“Now it is about you trying to use the percentages of the ball to your favour and pull teams out of position.
“Once you pull them out of position you have to recognise that and have to build on it.
“It is good that football is always going to improve.”
Evolution in game extends to players
Brown, who has racked up 663 appearances for Aberdeen, Celtic and Hibs, believes football has also jumped forward light years in terms of players’ attitudes to the game.
He has seen that first hand at Pittodrie.
Brown said: “Football is always going to get better and people are going to get more professional as well.
“In this team we have people like Jonny Hayes, Andy Considine and Joe Lewis – the way we warm up, prehab, the way we look after our body it is night and day from what we used to do when we were younger.
“In another 18 years we will probably be sitting talking about how it has improved again!”