WHEN Celtic returned from their annual mid-season training camp this time last year, they enjoyed a 20-game unbeaten domestic streak that paved the way for the Treble Treble. Now, Scott Brown wants to replicate similar success as he and his peers prepare for the second half of the 2019/20 campaign.

The Hoops club captain stressed the importance of rest and family time ahead of fitness-driven drills in Dubai, and praised the positive progress and work-rate of the squad on the training pitch so far.

“Our mid-season training camp can give us a huge boost, and it’s done so in the past,” said Brown. “We came over here last year and the returned to a run of 11 wins straight off, and nearly double that unbeaten domestically. We need to be ready, we need to work hard, and learn from our mistakes in the first six months of the season. That’s what we're doing and what we've always done.

“When we go out to Dubai, we reflect and we work on the things that we’ve maybe not had the chance to work on during a busy December. It’s always a tiring schedule, we had nine games last month, then it was about getting a little bit of refreshment, spending time with the families, recharging our batteries and then going again.”

Going again involves working hard at the camp, where Brown underscored a ‘fitness first’ attitude to the regime. Free of December’s intense fixture schedule, the winter regime likewise lets Neil Lennon and his backroom staff focus on specific training elements ahead of January's games and beyond.

Brown added: “No one thought we’d be coming out here and it’d be slower-paced, getting the ball out and playing five-a-sides – it’s fitness first. Then it’s about technique and technical aspects, and then it’s games at the end where it’s all about shape and possession and things like that.

“Ultimately, we need to maintain the levels that we’ve hit in the last three years coming here, and then we’ll be ready for January.”

Scott Brown: We want to replicate past post-training camp success