THE SFA compliance officer might regard Scott Brown as a naughty boy but Timo Weah reckons he couldn’t have asked for a better role model. That is why, even though he didn’t make it off the bench for his Old Firm debut last Sunday, this impressionable American youngster thought nothing of taking his captain’s cue and getting stuck into the shoving match which ensued after the final whistle to defend his team-mate Mikael Lustig.

Brown faces a hearing on May 2 after being served with a notice of complaint for a breach of disciplinary rule 77 which asks players to “act in the best interests of Association Football”, a charge - presumably levelled for an apparent 'get it up ye' gesture towards the visiting fans - which could carry a two-match ban. Celtic and Rangers were both served with notices of complaint too for failing to control the conduct of their players, with Steven Gerrard also offered a one-match ban for misconduct. Weah, a scorer on Wednesday night at the Simple Digital Arena in Paisley, insists that his captain and the rest of his team-mates did nothing wrong.

“I saw players attacking Mikael, he’s like a brother to me now and the right thing to do was defend him,” said Weah. “That’s what Scott Brown does best, fighting for his team-mates and fighting for his club and that’s rubbed off on me. I saw players going to Mikael and my first thought was not to let anyone hurt him. I tried to separate him … but I couldn’t save his top, that was ripped.

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“Is Scott Brown a role model?” he added. “100-per-cent. You feel his presence in the team and in the dressing room and he’s a huge reason why this team has gone so far as he keeps pushing us.

“On the field you can hear him - he talks to me 24/7 on the field. If I am doing good things then he tells me “good job”, if I can improve on something then he tells me. But he’s always positive and is a real role model for me. I look up to him a lot and I think every player should be a Scott Brown.

“I didn’t see anything wrong with the way he acted on Sunday. He did everything he needed to do to get his team to win and that is what a captain does. My team-mates and I respect him to the fullest and look up to him. He is our leader and he was the main reason we got the win.”

Weah wasn’t at the club back in December when Brown and his team-mates tasted humilating defeat at Ibrox but he would dearly love to be involved when they return after the split. He didn’t see anything wrong in the celebrations. “It was a derby win and we’ve been looking forward to this match,” said Weah. “Things get heated, it is a derby – it happens. But I feel like everyone was positive. Nobody got a red card, we kept it really clean.

“I wasn’t at Celtic in December but I watched the game and we fell short. But coach Neil got us in the locker room and told us we had to go out there and give blood, sweat and tears. That’s what we did and I think it just showed the passion Scott Brown has for Celtic. If you think about it, everyone said he was done. But he showed that he has years left in him and that he play at a high level. It’s always been a dream of mine to play in the derby - but I want to play in every game.”

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If it was a source of regret for Weah that he didn’t make it onto the field on Sunday – at least during the 90 minutes on Sunday – the same can’t exactly apply to his mother Clar, who was watching events back home in New York. “I didn’t speak to my dad [George, the President of Liberia] after the Old Firm game,” said Weah. “Running a country is hard work so I don’t really bug him too much.

“But I spoke to my mum. She told me to keep my head up and that God will find a way to get me onto the field. She keeps my head straight and she’s my backbone. She watched the game and saw the elbows, the punches being thrown and was probably glad I wasn’t out there. But I told her I wanted to be out there.”

Perhaps Weah may have more chances next season to taste the Glasgow grudge match. While his status at Paris St Germain will only be assessed during the summer, he left the door ajar last night when it comes to the notion of returning to the Parkhead side for a further loan next year. If the departure of Brendan Rodgers, the man who brought him to the club, for Leicester was a jolt to the system, scoring goals like the one in midweek – his first ever senior headed goal – will help endear himself to Neil Lennon.

“I feel like it [coming back on loan next season] is a possibility,” said Weah. “It’s something me and my family have to go over at the end of the season. I am loving it here so far so we just have to see what happens. It was kind of disappointing to see Brendan leave, but we got back into training the next day as if nothing had changed.”

“Is Scottish football mad? I would say it is a bit different! It is very passionate, as a young player you need to see that, to develop. You see a different side of football, that the guys are really hungry, it’s really good for me to see at this point of my career. I think Scottish football is awesome.”

**Timo Weah was speaking at the launch of the Lions’ View Sensory Room