Brown joins his former Hibernian team-mates Gary Caldwell and Derek Riordan at Celtic

The Scotland midfielder, a �4.4m recruit from Hibernian, said: "The chance arose, so why not join Celtic?

"They are a good club, they have won the SPL and won the Scottish Cup a couple of days ago.

"Once I spoke to Gordon my mind was made up - Celtic made the last 16 of the Champions League last season so you can't say no to that."

Interview: Gordon Strachan and Scott Brown

Brown was speaking at a Celtic Park media conference before joining up with the Scotland squad for training ahead of Wednesday's friendly in Austria, and the Euro 2008 qualifier in the Faroe Islands seven days later.

Our priority was to get Scott so I thank the board for allowing us to do what we set out to do Celtic manager Gordon Strachan

His signing represents a record transfer between two Scottish clubs, and Strachan was delighted to capture the 21-year-old on a five-year contract.

"Our priority was to get Scott, so I thank the board for allowing us to do what we set out to do," said the Hoops manager.

"It doesn't always happen that you get your top target, so it says a lot about the club and what we want to do."

Brown agreed the deal almost two weeks ago as the Scottish Premier League and Scottish Cup winners fended off competition from Reading, Middlesbrough, Everton, Tottenham and Bolton.