KEVIN THOMSON has leapt to the defence of Scott Brown after some harsh criticism of the Aberdeen skipper in recent days.

Former Rangers and Scotland star Colin Hendry was the latest high profile name to take a dig at the Celtic legend - claiming his conduct was not fitting for a club captain. 

Brown was at the centre of it all last week as Aberdeen and Rangers played out a 1-1 draw, which was the match in which Hendry was referring to. 

He wound up several players throughout the game, most notable Ryan Kent - who would eventually be sent off for a tackle on Brown. 

And while Broony certainly made the most of the situation in order to help influence referee Kevin Clancy in brandishing the red card, Thomson has defended his old Hibs team-mate. 

And the Kelty Hearts boss admitted he's riled up some sections of the Rangers support for his opinion on Brown. 

Thomson told BBC Sportsound: “Anyone can knock him but the reason he’s done so well is the reason there is so much animosity towards him from other fans.

“If you’re not big enough and brave enough handle Scott Brown winding you up then that’s on you.

“He does what he does and has had a brilliant career and continues to do and if ever you wanted a chance to knock him off his pedestal then this would be it and some of them still struggle.

“It’s not the way I was or what I would do but Scotty is his own person and gets to do what he wants to do.

“He’s had an unbelievable career that anyone in Scotland could only dream of.

“You need to be big enough and hard enough to deal with it. If you can’t deal with Scott Brown winding you up then that’s your problem.

“I played with and against Scott and he’s one of my good mates – I’d go to the gutter for him any day of the week and vice versa.

“I love him to bits and I’ve had to say that in front of 500 Rangers fans in a social club before and get booed but I won’t change for anyone and it’s the same for Scott.

“When we played in Old Firms against each other there was no banter - we want to war. When I played with him we went to war together.

“You would want him in the trenches with you and Aberdeen have landed on their feet getting Scott Brown.

“He’s been on one side of the Old Firm and one side doesn’t like him and the other love him.”

Hendry had commented on Saturday: “That's not what captains do. There's players in the game, in the teams that I've played in, will do that.

"But take the armband off, hand it to somebody else and go and do your Robbie Savage stint."