Scott Brown’s Celtic Hydro night forces Charlie Mulgrew into perfect defence amid stinging backlash

Charlie Mulgrew has defended his controversial decision to attend Scott Brown’s tribute event this evening.

The defender has come in for some stinging criticism from elements of the Dundee United support for agreeing to be part of ‘A night with Scott Brown and Mikael Lustig’ at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow. Mulgrew was given permission from United to attend the charity fund-raising event and to honour his friend. He also insisted he wouldn’t be going if it was going to have any impact on his football and his main focus of keeping the Tannadice club in the Premiership.

Mulgrew insisted: “I can totally understand the fans’ point of view. I did think about putting something out there (through social media) but this is probably the best way to deal with it and hopefully it helps supporters to understand where my full focus is, and where my priorities lie. It’s an event celebrating a good friend and his career at a club that I so happened to be at. There is no way that it will interfere with my preparation for the game on Saturday and my full focus is on Dundee United.

“It always has been since I came here. I’ve knocked back events and charity games. I was asked to play in the Liverpool charity game recently. I’ve knocked back multiple things because they don’t suit Dundee United — and rightly so.

“This is a Thursday night for half-an-hour, to speak about a friend of mine and his career. That’s as far as it goes. The proceeds go to charity — and I’m not getting a penny, just for the record! It isn’t for any gain of mine whatsoever. It’s for a charity and for a friend.”

The United star played alongside Lustig at Celtic and with Brown at the Hoops and for the Scotland team. He will go on stage along with a star-studded number of