Brendan Rodgers suggested that Craig Levein is obsessed with Celtic’s Scott Brown after the Hearts manager once again commented on the midfielder.
Levein was furious with Brown over his challenge on 16-year-old Harry Cochrane that left the youngster with a broken collarbone during Hearts last meeting with the Hoops, and opted to tell the Scottish Sun that everyone needed more “protection” from Brown.
The Celtic 32-year-old then responded by accusing Craig Levein of getting his way as the midfielder was booked in the Hoops’ next game against Kilmarnock.
“He has done his job, hasn’t he?” said Brown, as quoted by the Scottish Sun.
“I was booked with my first foul and I think that is exactly what Craig was looking to do.”
However, it didn’t end there, as the Hearts manager decided to fire back an accusation of his own by suggesting Brown got booked on purpose against Kilmarnock.
“On that front actually, Scott Brown mentioned last week that he got booked because of me bringing attention to his proclivity to foul people,” said Levein, as quoted by the Scottish Sun.
“I disagree with that completely.
“If Scott didn’t get booked against Kilmarnock last week and got booked against St Johnstone then he would have missed the Rangers game.
“I’ll leave that to you to deduce, I’m just pointing out things that are obvious.”
Levein’s latest comments forced Rodgers to give his opinion on the exchange and he suggested that Brown take the Hearts manger’s continuation to talk about him as a compliment.
“He is a wee bit obsessed with Browny, isn’t he?” suggested Rodgers, as quoted by the Scottish Sun.
“I think it’s a huge compliment for Browny that Craig keeps talking about him.”
OPINION
The war of words between Levein and Brown shows no sign of stopping especially with Rodgers opting to give his thoughts on the argument. As the Hoops manager suggested that Levein is obsessed with Brown, this will no doubt lead to the Hearts manager responding through the media one again. Rodgers should probably have opted to say no comment when asked about the pair’s exchange as it had a better chance of ending without his comments. Hopefully, despite it looking likely, the Hearts manager will opt to make no further comments on Brown or Celtic and just focus on doing his job.