Scott Brown vs Neil Lennon will de dynamite and I've seen both at their explosive best - Tam McManus
I never thought I’d use the term box office to describe a showdown between my two old clubs Ayr and Dunfermline.
But then I never thought I’d see the day the opposing managers would be Scott Brown and Neil Lennon. Throw those two into the mix and, make no mistake, this Saturday’s game at Somerset Park has just become blockbuster.
Nothing else in Scottish football touches it this weekend and I bet every Hibs fan will have their eye on the scoreline too. The battle of two hugely successful Celtic captains - and two guys who will always go down in Easter Road history too.
I’m lucky to know both guys really well. Broonie as an ex-Hibs team mate and Lenny as a now former punditry colleague.
Everyone knows they share a mutual respect from their time together at Celtic Park. But more than that they both have a real fire in the belly.
They are two of the most driven characters Scottish football has known in the last 25 years and friendship won’t get in the way of that on Saturday afternoon. Broony was only 16 or 17 when I first saw what he was all about as a player.
It was a reserve game with Hibs against Hearts at Easter Road and he had that daft red stripe through his hair. He looked like a shrunk down Andre the Giant!
Our right back Mathias Doumbe got injured in the warm up so Broony got flung in against a French winger called Jean-Louis Valois who had joined Hearts from Luton.
I feared the Jambo was going to run riot. Nobody really knew who this young boy from Fife was but that changed after just five minutes. The ball got payed out to Valois who took one touch and… wallop!
Broony stuck him six foot in their air. And the thousand or so fans absolutely loved it. Welcome to Hibs. Fair to say Broony set out his stall that