Chris Sutton has taken to Twitter to aim a dig at Joey Barton, after the former midfielder criticised the standard of Scottish football.
Barton claimed he had a far better career than anyone in the Celtic team, but Sutton dismissed such boasts and suggested Barton “couldn’t handle the big club pressure” during his short-lived stint with Rangers.
You’ve got to love Joey..Good career but he was found wanting for Rangers and simply couldn’t handle the big club pressure so it was everyone else’s fault… So Scottish football is rubbish..And he’s had a better career than Lustig and Brown…mmm https://t.co/A2xJ88cGr9
— Chris Sutton (@chris_sutton73) March 19, 2018
The BT Sport pundit also questioned whether the former Burnley man had a better career (three Championship promotions) than the highly-decorated Scott Brown (seven titles, eight domestic cups) and Mikael Lustig (eight titles, six domestic cups).
Barton has taken several digs at the Scottish game, despite looking completely out of his depth when he was at Rangers.
He said on talkSPORT’s breakfast show on Monday morning:
“I had had a better career than anyone playing for Celtic at the time.
“I had proved myself in the English Premier League but how many of their players had come down and done the same?
“I have a lot of respect for the history and traditions of Rangers and Celtic but the standard is pathetic up there.
“I left Scottish football because I couldn’t deal with the poor standards all around me and I came back to the Premier League and scored on my debut for Burnley.”
Sutton believes Brown and Lustig have had stellar careers and there is strong evidence to support his claim.
The pair have 15 titles between them and played their part in Celtic dominating domestic football for the last decade.
They have also been mainstays for their national sides, Scotland and Sweden respectively. Barton, on the other hand, has made just one cap for England.
Claiming he’s a better player because he spent the majority of his career in the Premier League is misguided, as his trophy cabinet doesn’t compare to Brown or Lustig‘s, and he failed during his time with Rangers.