Scott Brown believes Celtic could fill their stadium twice if they were playing in the Premier League as he backed his former club as one of the best-supported clubs in Europe.
The former Hoops skipper spoke to William Hill and Footy Accumulators’ No Tippy Tappy Football, a series in which Sam Allardyce and Natalie Pike are joined by a special guest each week to discuss the big stories surrounding the 2023/24 Premier League season and beyond.
Brown was keen to launch a defence of Scottish football on the show and he insisted that supporters down south can’t comprehend just how big Celtic and Rangers are, and they would only be able to if the two sides were to join the Premier League.
He explained: “Celtic is a huge club. I’d say they’re easily in the top 10 biggest clubs in Europe, especially when you consider the size of the fanbase. The only way English people would be able to understand the full extent of the size of Celtic and Rangers is if they were to join the Premier League.
“Celtic have 60,000 season ticket holders and another 28,000 on standby, they could double the size of their stadium if they were playing in the English leagues. They’ve got such a strong fanbase in Scotland and obviously you have the fans coming over from Ireland as well, but they’ve also got fans all over the world. Wherever the players go they’re always recognised, but if you played for a mid-table Premier League team and went on holiday to Dubai, for example, you might not get noticed as much as the Celtic players.
“There is no better ground to play at on a Champions League night than Celtic Park. A lot of players go to Celtic to have the opportunity to play in the Champions League and the support in those European games is unbelievable.”
Brown also hailed Celtic's performance in this year's Champions League after the club picked up a victory in their final match of the group against Feyenoord.
He added: “It’s hard to rank Celtic against other European teams at the moment because they had the record of 15 Champions League games without a win which is not a great record to have, but luckily they managed to put an end to that.
“I probably actually started that because I think the run began in my final season at the club.
“The Champions League is a different level and we always found it difficult playing away from home in Europe. We had a decent record at home but the competition is only getting harder because of the amount of money that is going into the game in England and other countries compared to Scotland.
“They will continue to punch above their weight and Brendan Rodgers will want the opportunity to put their poor record right next season.”
