2019/20 · Home

There are captains and there is Broony. Scott Brown arrived at Celtic in 2007, took the armband in 2010 and never let go, becoming the face of a decade of absolute dominance: more than twenty trophies, a list of cherished enemies across Glasgow and the bearing of a man running the midfield and the war at the same time. This is his 2019/20 shirt, New Balance's farewell, designed with an old fashioned collar and a Celtic cross on the nape evoking the crest of the original 1888 strip. The season entered history for how it ended: with the pandemic suspending everything in March, a ninth consecutive title was declared with Celtic thirteen points clear, nine in a row sealed without a ball rolling. Before that the League Cup had already been won against Rangers thanks to an impossible Fraser Forster save, and the Scottish Cup, postponed to December, would also end up in green hands to complete a fourth straight treble. An iron captain, a cross on the neck and a title won at home: only the crowds were missing to applaud it.

Here at Hoopster this is the shirt of a captain who was a whole decade: Broony's 8, the 1888 Celtic cross at the neck and the ninth straight title declared with the world at a standstill. When history is interrupted, the armband remains.