Celtic captain Scott Brown may still be sporting Steven Naismith’s stud marks in the most sensitive of areas, but he will not cold shoulder his former international colleague the next time their paths meet.

Naismith’s crude stamp on Brown as Celtic came from behind to win 3-1 at Tynecastle at the weekend is expected to result in a retrospective ban for the 31-year-old. Despite the incident between the players, Brown has maintained that his respect for the former Rangers and Hearts player has not been compromised.

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“I get on brilliantly with Naisy and still will to be fair,” shrugged Brown. “It’s one tackle. I’ve had a lot worse from a lot of other people and still speak to them. We both want to win. He was playing in a kind of number 10 role and I was sitting in front of the back four so something was going to happen.

“It is what it is. He wants people to win. He’s played in the English Premier League so he knows what top standard is and he’s maybe not getting it where he is.”

Hearts manager Craig Levein defended the tackle as well as the decision to make the surface as difficult as possible to play on, something that didn’t go amiss on Brown. Levein claimed Hearts would challenge any potential ban for Naismith which prompted a wry reply from the Celtic captain.

“Craig’s banter is getting better as he gets older,” he said. “If he was younger and had this sort of banter I’d have been buzzing! Craig can say what he wants. It’s all speech play to deflect from the result and how well we played them at our own game and the fact we beat them on a shocking park.”

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The flashpoint with Naismith was the third excessive challenge on Brown in as many months but the Celtic captain is unperturbed at suggestions he has become a target because of the way in which he plays.

“Keep letting the bad tackles happen,” he shrugged. “The more people that get sent off the better. It will help us. That’s if they get sent off!

“I don’t care about the tackles but it’s always going to be like that because people think I’m a hard tackler, unfair and lunge into challenges.

“But that really isn’t my game any more. My game is to get on the ball, keep a hold of it and dictate play and play other people in.

“I cover positions and look after everyone on the park sitting in front of the back four. I break up play but I stay on my feet and don’t lunge in, slow the play down for my team-mates to come in and help me. If you look at touches in the game, I’m probably up there with most players in the team.

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“It goes through myself, Tom (Rogic), Callum (McGregor) in the middle of the park. We try and dominate games from start to finish. We try and play football the proper way on a nice, short pitch with loads of water on it.

“We try and slow it down a bit. We know when to come back in and defend but also know when to speed it up. We’ve got pace everywhere in the team.

“Sometimes I’m deeper than the two centre halves.”

Meanwhile, Brown believes that his own open-mindedness about his position and place within Celtic has enabled him to take his game to a new level since the arrival of Brendan Rodgers at the club.

Prior to the Irishman’s arrival there was a feeling that the midfielder’s days at the club could have been numbered but over the course of the last few campaigns he has been pivotal to the success enjoyed by the Parkhead side.

“It’s more the gaffer – to be fair,” said Brown. “When he came in he wanted me to play in this different position – sitting in front of the back four instead of trying to be a box to box player and run about all over the place, tackling everybody and staring world war Three in the middle of the park.

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“It’s about learning the game, enjoying having the ball at your feet and keeping control of it for 90 minutes rather than launching into tackles and getting suspensions.

“Football is changing all the time. There are new formations and new areas for players to play in.

“There’s the one I’ve been playing plus the false nine that no one had heard of three or four years ago.

“So there are different positions and different roles. A new manager comes in and he has his philosophy. Luckily enough for me, I fit into it.”