Celtic captain Scott Brown has urged the SFA to “step up their game” in a bid to raise the standard of the Scottish game.

Speaking in reference to the recent incident at Tyneastle where Hearts didn’t water their pitch and kept the grass deliberately longer in an attempt to make Celtic change their style, Brown insisted that it is up to the governing body to insist on a certain standard.

“If you look down in England, I think that’s where we’re going wrong in Scotland,” he said.

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“Everyone will try anything [to stop us] – they’ll grow the grass, they don’t water it but down in England, there’s rules for these things. “They want to see top quality football and that’s maybe where the Scottish game has gone wrong and that’s where the SFA maybe have to step up their game to be perfectly honest.”

Brown, meanwhile, has insisted that the Parkhead side are capable of getting into the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League.

Brendan Rodgers’ side will look to make their way into Europe’s premier competition again this term but will have to negotiate their way through four qualifying rounds in order to do so.

But if they can get themselves into Europe’s premier tournament then Brown believes that Celtic have the capability of making into the latter stages.

“Yes, I don’t see why not,” said the 32-year-old. “The manager wants us to push and we want to push as well. We’ve looked after ourselves so well this season, we’ve pushed in the big games especially where we’ve done really well and domestically, we’ve cleared up again.”

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And Brown has maintained that there will be no let-up from Celtic once they get back down to business.

This season’s work reaped a back-to-back treble as Rodgers’ side followed up last season’s Invincibles campaign with another chapter in the history books but Brown’s appetite has yet to be satiated.

The midfielder has so far won 16 major honours with Celtic but he remains intent on delivering further silverware.

“The first one for us is that we’ve got to try and get the Champions League, we’ve got to push on for that,” he said. “And keep this trophy, and keep the league as well, just push on from there. You never know what can happen. Nobody expected us to do it once, nobody expected us to do it twice and who knows about the third time.

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“The stats were maybe not as impressive this year as they were last year but we got Europe after Christmas, that was a goal that we ticked off. There were too many draws this season for us for our liking and too many defeats as well. So next season, we’ll work on that, we’ll get better. And there’ll be a few additions to the squad as well so we’ll kick on from here.”

Much is expected from Rangers this coming season following the arrival of Steven Gerrard but Brown is reluctant to look over the fence.

“We respond by winning games,” he said. “We’ve been to Ibrox a few times and we’ve won a lot. We’ve enjoyed that place as well. And we bring it back to Celtic Park, it’s going to be a better pitch next season so that’ll suit our game.”