George Overhill

Sat 29 October 2022 9:46, UK

Chris Sutton has rounded on criticism of Scottish football from England and slammed Rangers while defending his old club Celtic in the Champions League.

The Hoops have picked up two points from a pair of draws with Shakhtar Donetsk but are guaranteed to finish bottom of Group F, while the Gers have had a miserable European campaign and have lost all five so far, but still have a chance of getting into the Europa League with a win over Ajax in their final group game.

talkSPORT pundit Jason Cundy loudly denounced Scottish football’s quality after Celtic were eliminated, and Ally McCoist begrudgingly agreed the morning after, which has led a very upset Sutton to round on everyone involved, apart from his beloved Bhoys, criticising English pundits, McCoist, Motherwell, Dundee United, and of course Rangers.

In his Daily Record column on Saturday (29 August) he said: “People are generalising Scottish football and just lumping results all into one bracket. Wrong. Coming out with phrases like disaster and humiliating for all. It is lazy and it is stupid.

“I’m hearing pundits south of the border making statements about the Scottish game being fourth tier and it’s just plain ignorance. If that wasn’t bad enough, my old pal Ally McCost agreed with one of them this week.

“Are you joking, Ally?”

On the fortunes of his former side he said: “Could you look at any of the five performances that [Ange] Postecoglou’s team have put up and called them a disaster? Or a nightmare?

“If you do, if you match them up and lazily stick them in the same basket with Rangers’ weak performance in Amsterdam, or lack of ambition at Anfield, or capitulation at home to Liverpool, or Motherwell losing to Sligo, Dundee United’s seven in Alkmaar, you either didn’t watch the games or you don’t have the first clue about football.”

Flop

Okay, Celtic have picked up a couple of draws but they have been knocked out faster than the Light Blues either way, and off the back of a pretty pathetic Europa Conference League performance last season it’s hardly anything to rave about.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst, after a memorable run to the Europa League final, has admittedly now presided over a dismal Champions League campaign featuring multiple heavy defeats.

That can’t be dressed up as a positive in any way but they were drawn in the same group as Liverpool, who have been in three of the last five finals, and Napoli, who are arguably the most dangerous team in Europe currently and hammered Jurgen Klopp’s side as well.

If they can get a strong win over Ajax they could sneak into the competition they lit up last year, although on current form that does not seem especially likely.

Pundits in England too often know far less about the game north of the border than they like to think, and Cundy in particular was clearly trying to get a reaction, which Sutton has duly provided despite often doing the same himself.

Postecoglou’s side are in better form right now, which is certainly a concern at Ibrox, but the results haven’t gotten them anywhere in Europe where they can hardly claim to have set themselves apart in recent seasons.

Despite the failings under van Bronckhorst both this season and last, the Europa League campaign did set the Gers apart from the rest of Scottish football, although the collective performances on the continent this year have brought everyone back down to earth.

In other Rangers news, a rival club legend wants to get all their games against the Bears in now because they are doing so badly.