'I had full faith in Brendan doing a fantastic job at Celtic'

Celtic's title success last season may not always have been plain sailing, but former skipper Scott Brown says he had "full faith" Brendan Rodgers would deliver on his return to the club.

Brown, who goes toe to toe with his former manager on the touchline on Friday night as his Ayr United side host Celtic in a friendly, told BBC Scotland: "It's the standards he sets, what he expects and the detail that he goes into with the players as well.

"He's got Callum [McGregor] there, who’s a leader and understands the way he wants to play from before. That's been obviously a huge help from him as well, and you can see the further on the season went, the stronger they got.

"For him to come back, it was obviously going to be hard, but he's managed to get through that little storm and showed what he can do at the end.

"I had full faith in Brendan doing a fantastic job at Celtic [again]. He has done it before, you know what he's all about, how well he works and how much he wants to be at the club."