Gordon Smith: Celtic captain Broony must have a short memory of red cards

I must start by saying I think the two-game ban given to Andrew Davies was insufficient punishment for what he did to Scott Brown.

The Ross County captain’s lunge on his Celtic counterpart was excessive, rather than violent, conduct.

It was on a par with punching an opponent and the authorities should have penalised him accordingly.

You hear talk about certain reckless tackles having the potential to inflict lasting damage. That was one of them.

I had to laugh, though, at Brown’s reaction to news of the suspension.

Not the bit where he said that stamping on opponents when the ball is nowhere near is not the action of a hard man. That’s fair comment.

Rather, his claim that had he been the player who committed the foul and not the victim, he would have been banned for five or six games.

He must have a short memory.

This time last year, Brown was himself sent off for a wild challenge on, yes, a Ross County player.

He sent Liam Boyce flying up in the air with a very bad challenge. Not perhaps as shocking as what Davies did, but poor nevertheless.

Celtic chose to contest the decision in what was initially seen as a strategic move to ensure the midfielder could face Rangers in the Scottish Cup semi-final.

He played, and they won the match 2-0 to take what was a big step towards lifting the trophy.

But, remarkably, his red card was then rescinded – something he appears to have forgotten about.

There was no doubting the significance of Celtic’s successful appeal as it allowed him to face Rangers in the league.

Once again, with the Rangers manager at the time, Pedro Caixinha, completely failing to heed the tactical lessons of the first game, Celtic won even more convincingly, 5-1.

By the time the Old Firm meet again next Sunday in this year’s Scottish Cup semi-finals, the row about Davies should have been, if not been totally forgotten, at least put to one side.

Both Brown and his manager Brendan Rodgers, who also made his feelings on the issue clear, will have enough to be getting on with.

I was very interested, but not surprised, to learn Rodgers argue Kris Boyd should come into consideration to be Scotland’s Player of the Year.

As a shrewd analyst of the game, Rodgers knows very well the importance of having an in-form, prolific goalscorer in your team.

And that is something Celtic, for all the enviable strength of their squad, haven’t really had this season.

I am talking about the Moussa Dembele of last season, Leigh Griffiths the year before. A striker bursting with confidence and bristling with goal threat.

Both men are still there, of course, and available. Plus there is Odsonne Edouard, the young Frenchman in on loan for the season from Paris Saint-Germain.

All are very talented, but none of them have had that good a year.

That Scott Sinclair is Celtic’s top scorer in the league this season with just nine goals speaks volumes.

Despite not really getting going before the arrival of Steve Clarke as manager in mid-October, Boyd has six more goals to his credit.

Perhaps even more significant is the fact that Ross County’s Alex Schalk has 11.

He is playing for a club struggling to avoid relegation, and was used sparingly by Owen Coyle prior to his resignation last month.

So while Rodgers won’t be panicking about Celtic’s lack of a free-scoring forward – he has too many players chipping in with goals from midfield and the wings for that to be the case – it will be a concern.

Long-term, Griffiths looks the answer.

Dembele is very strong and a great finisher, but his form is in and out.

He’s also exactly the type of development project Celtic have to be looking to make their money on before his stock potentially falls even further.

And while is Odsonne is promising, PSG may well have other plans for him.

Griffiths is Scottish and his talk of staying a Celt for life shows his commitment to the club. They should make it happen.