THE Scottish Champions are back training at Lennoxtown this week, following seven days at the club’s mid-season training camp in Dubai. Scott Brown underlined the benefits of the club's annual winter break regime, and now can’t wait to return to competitive football this weekend.

The Hoops travel to Firhill to play Partick Thistle in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup this Saturday, wherein the captain aims to transfer the squad’s hard work abroad to matchday.

“The Dubai camp was good, we knew what we had to do and what we wanted to work on over there, and we did that,” said Brown in an exclusive interview with this week’s Celtic View. “The manager and the backroom staff worked us hard, but it was enjoyable as well. Training in the heat is difficult, that’s the point of our regime over there, but at the same time you can’t complain.

“With the time off – both immediately after December’s games, and after training over there – we use that to recharge the batteries and get ourselves ready and raring to go again.”

Brown underscored the importance of the next few months ahead for he and his team-mates, and wants to hit the ground running from this weekend onwards.

He added: “We’ve got a big second half of our season to focus on now, but it was good to get over there, to have more time on the training pitch, to work on new training methods, our positioning, shape, pressing and other tactical elements. By the time Partick Thistle comes this weekend, we’ll be fully-recovered and ready to go again.”

For the full interview with Scott Brown, see this week's Celtic View, out now.

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Scott Brown: Dubai was brilliant but now we focus on Thistle