Scott, Brian

When long-time Celtic employee and physiotherapist Bob Rooney decided to retire at the end of the 1978-79 season, Billy McNeill went back to his last employer and recruited Brian Scott from Aberdeen. Brian Scott had studied at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary School of Physiotherapy for 4 years. His first work in football was with Glasgow Perthshire. He then became part-time physio for Falkirk before moving on to Aberdeen as a full time physio with the Dons. He had been with them for a year when Billy McNeill persuaded him to come to Celtic.

He became the Celtic Physiotherapist and every-ready man in the dug out from the start of the 1979-80 season and was to be another long-term employee at Celtic following on from Bob Rooney. Brian was seen as maore au-fait with Sports Science rather than the old school hands-on approach of Bob Rooney. Indeed his use of apparatus would become an issue. He would be in place treating everything from short term niggles to long term injuries of all the Celtic players on the books for 24 years.

Towards the end of his tenure things began to go wrong when Martin O'Neill was the manager and Roddy MacDonald, the club doctor. There were allegations of Scott drinking heavily whilst the team were on tour and him not being available due to running his own private physiotherapy practise. This led to clashes with the club doctor who proceeded to bring in an assistant physiotherapist Tim Williamson. This further increased the acrimony behind the scenes and in August 2003 the club duly sacked Scott. Unfortunately, due process was not followed.

In a wave of increasingly bitter allegations from both sides, Brian Scott took the club to an Employment Tribunal alleging unfair dismissal. The case came to court in 2004 but did not reach a final outcome as both parties settled their disagreement before the end.

Further allegations re-surfaced in 2007.

Brian Scott now practises as a Sports Injury Physiotherapistr in private practise.

Links:

• Deal Ends sacked Celtic physio case.
• Overview