Scott Brown on the Rangers 'no pressure' lesson he takes into next Ayr showdown in touchline spar with old pal
Sharing a touchline with David Gray on a Friday night is a staple of Scott Brown’s week.
But the Ayr boss says this week’s change of venue will bring with it pressure for both – because Somerset expects to be entertained when Hibs pitch up. Not only are the gaffers on the same UEFA Pro Licence, their kids’ football means the pair see plenty of one another. There will be no awkwardness at their next get-together, regardless of Friday’s Scottish Cup fifth-round outcome, as the Championship leaders crave a scalp. Former Easter Road stalwart Brown said: “I see Dave quite a lot, to be fair. Our kids are at the same football on Friday nights so we’re missing the kids’ football to come to our game!
“We’ve not had time to chat about it but it’s probably better because you don’t really want to chit-chat before the game. Dave will be in the exact same position – we’d have just kept it low key, he’d stand at one side, I’d stand the other. ‘Big man, how you doing? See you next week’!
“I’m sure Dave and I will scream at each other and at the players this Friday, it’s great to win and to be a part of everything. But kids’ football is second to none, we just go and watch, sit, chill and we both stand way far back... hopefully nobody notices us!
“It’s brilliant to see how far we’ve come this year. We played Rangers last year in the Scottish Cup and yes we might have done all right but there was no pressure because Rangers expected to win.
“This is a little bit different, Hibs coming to Somerset. There’s still a lot of pressure on them to win – there’s always pressure on us to win here as well for our fans.
“They want to see entertaining football, they expect a good standard as well, so we need to make sure we do that for them. Hopefully they can support us for 90 minutes and show the 12th man matters.”
A trip to Ibrox at this stage followed two-and-a-half weeks after his appointment last year. Brown undoubtedly feels better prepared for this crack at the cup and believes his boys have shown they’re ready to fight for each other in front of the cameras.
He added: “The first couple of games were interesting – Rangers away, Queen’s Park away at Hampden and Dundee United. It was wild but sometimes you’re better getting chucked in at the deep end and finding out which players you can trust, what shape they’re in and how they can deal with going to Ibrox.
“It is an intimidating place. If you want to go in there and play, on a good football pitch, there’s a lot of good players that can do it but not deal with the criticism they’re going to get, week in week out.
“But everyone did really well that night. We’re playing with a wee bit of freedom but there’s a structure behind the freedom as well. The final third is, yes, go and showcase what you can do, link up play, combinations.
“We’ve got some really good individuals in 1v1s, players who want to cross the ball and George (Oakley) in the box who wants to score with his head, foot, knee, you name it – he just wants to put the ball in the back of the net.
“So for us it’s great we’ve got individuals that can do small things but togetherness in the team is just really good. They are socialising, they eat together, go to the cinema, so they are a tight group.
“We’re not the biggest squad in the world so you have to bring that togetherness to them. They’ve done that themselves and that’s nothing to do with us, that’s the leaders in that dressing room all wanting to be the best they can possibly be.”
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