Tam McManus has revealed the unconvential way Scott Brown won his first deal at Hibernian - by smashing a Hearts star in a reserve game.
Brown was still a schoolboy when he was named on the bench for a derby reserve clash. But when Mathias Doumbe pulled out of the side with an injury, he was elevated into the starting XI.
McManus was playing for Hibs as he worked his way back from injury, with Hearts first-team player Jean-Louis Valois doing the same.
Brown lined up at right-back, directly up against the French winger, and let him know what he was up against within minutes of the game starting.
McManus told Let Me Be Frank podcast: "My first encounter with Scott Brown was when we played a reserve game for Hibs against Hearts, I was coming back from injury. We always played in the stadium, at Easter Road.
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"It was a couple of first team boys playing and one of them, a French boy Mathias Doumbe pulled out injured in the warm-up. Broony was still at school, was on the bench, and I remember Gerry McCabe and Jim Clark having a wee confab - 'who we going to play right back?' And he says, 'we'll play him (Brown)', and he had a red stripe through his hair. I'd never seen him before, he wasn't full-time.
"So he came in, and I remember he started at right back, and they had a left-winger called Jean-Louis Valois, he was a first team player, very, very good player, French boy, and he was just coming back from injury as well. And I seen him lining up on the left-hand side against Broony, and I'm going 'this wee boy's going get a doing tonight.'
"ll never forget it, the ball got played out to Valois and Scott Brown just came out of nowhere - bang, smashed him, put him in the stand. The Hibs fans, there were maybe about three or four hundred, they were all jumping out their feet 'oh, brilliant wee man'."
😂 Tam McManus remembers the first time he saw a teenage Scott Brown play for Hibs. Broony was still at school, but after clattering Hearts’ Jean-Louis Valois early on, Valois switched wings within three minutes. And Broony was just as sharp off the pitch, joking Tam’s boots were easy to clean because they only had gravel on them from warming up as a sub 😂 🎙️ Full Tam McManus episode available now on Let Me Be Frank. @MaccaFrank @simonhouston68
— Let Me Be Frank Podcast (@LMBFPodcast) October 29, 2026
Within minutes of the challenge, McManus claims Valois had to move across to play on the other flank to avoid the young upstart.
He added: "I'll never forget it, because Jean-Louis Valois, after about three minutes had to switch wings, didn't want to go near him. And he (Brown) had a brilliant game, he had so much energy, down the channel.
"We came off the park and and we were all raving about him, 'who's that wee boy?' Then Hibs got him right in, and signed him right away."
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