Joey Barton running his mouth

[RossScott1991]

https://twitter.com/talksport/status/975716029224669184

“Football up there is pathetic”

From the man who was getting nutmegged by Hamilton players.

[Bostonhibby]

To be fair him and senderos did have a job competing up here. Sevco's fault for bringing them up.

A QPR fan I respect once described Joey as the thinking chav's chav.

Sent from my SM-J320FN using Tapatalk

[Pretty Boy]

'I thought it was going to be a walk in the park but the pace off the game up there caught me out as it has so many others before me. When I speak live I get shown up as being a bit thick and it proves that quoting other people on Twitter doesn't indicate a particularly profound intelligence. No one has paid much attention to me in a while so I've played up to the 'pub league' opinion of many English fans and a few people are showing a brief interest in me again. Look out for me in I'm a Celebrity or Celebrity Big Brother next year'

A rough interpretation for anyone interested.

[basehibby]

https://twitter.com/talksport/status/975716029224669184

“Football up there is pathetic”

From the man who was getting nutmegged by Hamilton players.

:LOL::LOL::LOL::rotflmao:Oh ma sides - what a ****ing spanner! If our football is pathetic then what does that make Barton?!?

[IGRIGI]

The music in the below clip just makes it magic :greengrin

https://twitter.com/AdamLynch27/status/975732088077942784

[Mantis Toboggan]

Shameless and entirely transparent attempt at stirring up controversy from an absolute ball bag of a man.

[guthrie01]

Got exactly what he wanted, attention

I find it best to completely phase out anything him or that Katie Hopkins says

[yonder1875]

He's bitter about how it turned out for him up here.

Side note, do you think German media and ex players etc slag off the Austrian or the Dutch all the time or is it just an English thing?

English people I know always ask me why I want them to get beat in tournaments and here is just the latest reason. Hope Belgium spank them.

[HFCdeb]

The Katie Hopkins of football.

[theonlywayisup]

The day I worry about what Joey Barton says is the day I give up on life.

[Colr]

To be fair him and senderos did have a job competing up here. Sevco's fault for bringing them up.

A QPR fan I respect once described Joey as the thinking chav's chav.

Sent from my SM-J320FN using Tapatalk

Like Chic Charnley without the brains.....or charm.......or sense of humour.

[Bostonhibby]

Like Chic Charnley without the brains.....or charm.......or sense of humour.

:agree: and without the ability to hack it in Scottish football. Mind you Chic never had a column in a tory broadsheet either, maybe he was too smart to allow himself to be exploited that way.

[SirDavidsNapper]

What an utter cretin. He was shown up big style up here. Saying he was going to boss it etc. Spent half the time being nutmegged and picking his backside up of the ground. Pathetic player

[CraigHibee]

the boy is a complete tool, couldn't hack it up here so instead of admitting to everyone that he's gash he rips the game apart, clown

[jacomo]

Got exactly what he wanted, attention

I find it best to completely phase out anything him or that Katie Hopkins says


Sad to put Barton in that bracket but I’m minded to agree.

What a welt of a man.

Presumably someone picked him up on his rank hypocrisy, or are my low expectations of modern journalists still too high?

[Scouse Hibee]

He's bitter about how it turned out for him up here.

Side note, do you think German media and ex players etc slag off the Austrian or the Dutch all the time or is it just an English thing?

English people I know always ask me why I want them to get beat in tournaments and here is just the latest reason. Hope Belgium spank them.

Surely it's just because you are Scottish. Or maybe you're not?

[majorhibs]

Surely it's just because you are Scottish. Or maybe you're not?

Without having to hope too hard, cos ye’se are pretty mince to be honest, I hope engerlund are skelped painfully again, same as I’ve hoped the last 40 odd yrs, due to the engerlund supporters.

[Scouse Hibee]

Without having to hope too hard, cos ye’se are pretty mince to be honest, I hope engerlund are skelped painfully again, same as I’ve hoped the last 40 odd yrs, due to the engerlund supporters.

Same here mate, I have spent years hoping Scotland would get skelped in a major tournament finals. It never happens though.😂

[Deansy]

Failing at being a thug at Ibrokes - gotta be a first !!

[Bostonhibby]

Failing at being a thug at Ibrokes - gotta be a first !![emoji106]

Was the new Ian Black and couldn't even manage that.

Sent from my SM-J320FN using Tapatalk

[majorhibs]

Same here mate, I have spent years hoping Scotland would get skelped in a major tournament finals. It never happens though.😂

Lively the nite scouse, eh? I enjoyed Euro 96, & let me tell ye, doon there in my kilt young & able, those Essex girls were NOT interested in ANYTHING engerlund, had the time of my life, you lads might think one thing but the Ladies then were thinking something completely different. Pity I was only there a short time, but was a good time nevertheless.

[21.05.2016]

Joey Barton is a cringeworthy moron. He came up to Scotland like Billy Big Baws thinking he was a gift to Scottish football and doing us all a big favour by deciding to come here. He failed miserably which makes his latest comments even more laughable. If Scottish football is so "pathetic" then that doesn't say a lot about you who made a total arse of your time here. He's clearly bitter about how his time here went, he wasn't the big time super star he thought he would be but instead a laughing stock.

Reeks of attention seeking and a desperate attempt to get himself back into the limelight and relevant again, which tell you all you need to know about how noteworthy his career was. He will be remembered for being a thug and an arrogant mouthpiece far more than he will for anything he did football wise.

Back under your stone you odious little cretin :bye::giruy2:

[Scouse Hibee]

Lively the nite scouse, eh? I enjoyed Euro 96, & let me tell ye, doon there in my kilt young & able, those Essex girls were NOT interested in ANYTHING engerlund, had the time of my life, you lads might think one thing but the Ladies then were thinking something completely different. Pity I was only there a short time, but was a good time nevertheless.

Glad you enjoyed it while you could.

[yonder1875]

Surely it's just because you are Scottish. Or maybe you're not?

Nah, I'm Belgian pal.

[NAE NOOKIE]

His main complaint seems to be that the folk playing around him weren't talented enough to read his misplaced passes. Basically trying to say "I didn't stick around because I was too good" .. what a bellend :faf:

Came up here thinking he would be Billy big baws and got found out .... Barton's opinion on Scottish football means about as much to me as his opinion on Curling or Shinty. As somebody else said, football's answer to Katie Hopkins and just as vacuous and morally bankrupt.

[LaMotta]

Got exactly what he wanted, attention

I find it best to completely phase out anything him or that Katie Hopkins says

Exactly. He was winding up Alan Brazil about anything Scottish and Celtic related as he regularly does.

I can't believe how many people took the bait, helping him to raise his profile in the process.

[Lancs Harp]

Joey is chasing the Fleetwood Town job. Factamondo :wink:

[Sauzee16]

Barton is a ****er and his family are ****. He should pipe down and remember his past and live a quiet life but he needs attention and that’s what he’s getting. He’s got a lot of Scottish family too and perhaps that’s why he’s so bitter about how he was Brutal up here.

[007]

I couldn't help but laugh at his audacity to criticise Jamie Carragher's spitgate.

[21.05.2016]

I couldn't help but laugh at his audacity to criticise Jamie Carragher's spitgate.

Yep, I had to laugh at that as well. Joey Barton taking a moral high ground :faf::faf::faf:

[Baader]

Couldn't hack it and that's all there is to it. I mind reading Barton on twitter when he was in a crap QPR side saying if it came down to sheer ability he would be starting for England. The guy is a comedian.

[IncredibleHibee]

Everyone knows Barton is from the type of family where his mum was far rougher than his dad. He has worked hard to try and present himself in a more eloquent manner but the fact of the matter is you can put lipstick on a pig but it’s still a pig 🐽

[Lancs Harp]

Couldn't hack it and that's all there is to it. I mind reading Barton on twitter when he was in a crap QPR side saying if it came down to sheer ability he would be starting for England. The guy is a comedian.

To be fair if he wanted to drop back to center back he could still make the England team.

[Ronster117]

Barton was the kind of player if you took the ball from him or skinned him, would spit the dummy out.... “ ref....ref... why didn’t you book him, he took the ball from me..”
that little Ned who supplied the ball and went home crying if things didn’t go his way, with the ball under his arm.
complete Bell end of a man.

[The_Horde]

Joey Barton. Came up here, thought it would be a cake walk. Got megged by a hamilton player and resided in Scott Brown's pocket for the rest of his time here.

Vastly overrated player for all of his career. Would go missing in games, didn't have the quality required to play week in week out at a high level.. so he had to keep himself relevant by staying in the press. And continues to do so.

[jgl07]

He's bitter about how it turned out for him up here.

Side note, do you think German media and ex players etc slag off the Austrian or the Dutch all the time or is it just an English thing?

No it’s a Joey Barton thing!

[Hibrandenburg]

Who?

[we are hibs]

Robbie Savage is always at it on BT too. trying to slate Scottish football. the fact is, both Barton and Savage were bang average players with very little ability. They got time and space to do their wee square passes and sideways balls down in "the best league in the world" but when Barton came here he didn't like the fact, like so many of them that come up and expect it to be a walk in the park, that players here don't stand and watch you fanny about playing sideways passes that they will go and press you and snap at your ankles. so he couldn't do his ***** unadventurous passes because he was being either caught on the ball or misplacing passes cause he was actually being pressed.

I'd rather watch a Scottish game where you know your going to get people playing at full tilt and trying to win the ball back and trying to go forward everytime they have the ball than English Football and its overrated, overpaid players playing it about the defence for 80 minutes a game.

[The Spaceman]

Complete loser who will fade into utter obscurity within the next 3 years - everyone will have forgotten him including those in the "Big League" bar his knee in the back of Aguero, which sadly is the most notable thing in his journeyman career.

No luck Joey, go break your legs.

[bingo70]

Robbie Savage is always at it on BT too. trying to slate Scottish football. the fact is, both Barton and Savage were bang average players with very little ability. They got time and space to do their wee square passes and sideways balls down in "the best league in the world" but when Barton came here he didn't like the fact, like so many of them that come up and expect it to be a walk in the park, that players here don't stand and watch you fanny about playing sideways passes that they will go and press you and snap at your ankles. so he couldn't do his ***** unadventurous passes because he was being either caught on the ball or misplacing passes cause he was actually being pressed.

I'd rather watch a Scottish game where you know your going to get people playing at full tilt and trying to win the ball back and trying to go forward everytime they have the ball than English Football and its overrated, overpaid players playing it about the defence for 80 minutes a game.

There’s a few excellent teams in England, there’s no denying that however imo for the most part it’s teams just trying not to get beat rather than teams trying to win.

I generally don’t mind Barton as a pundit and find him quite enjoyable to listen to, i find it easy to forget anything he says instantly though and him criticising Scottish football isn’t going to stop me sleeping at night, he’s obviously just a wind up merchant.

I find it far more frustrating when Scottish pundits who have made a career out of English football sit in their London studios passing opinion on Scottish football when it’s obvious they don’t watch Scottish football, maybe apart from the odd old firm game. I’d love to know the last time the likes of Charlie Nicholas or Alan mcinally went to a Scottish league game that didn’t involve an old firm team.

[calumhibee1]

Robbie Savage is always at it on BT too. trying to slate Scottish football. the fact is, both Barton and Savage were bang average players with very little ability. They got time and space to do their wee square passes and sideways balls down in "the best league in the world" but when Barton came here he didn't like the fact, like so many of them that come up and expect it to be a walk in the park, that players here don't stand and watch you fanny about playing sideways passes that they will go and press you and snap at your ankles. so he couldn't do his ***** unadventurous passes because he was being either caught on the ball or misplacing passes cause he was actually being pressed.

I'd rather watch a Scottish game where you know your going to get people playing at full tilt and trying to win the ball back and trying to go forward everytime they have the ball than English Football and its overrated, overpaid players playing it about the defence for 80 minutes a game.

I'm the same, would always watch a Scottish game ahead of the EPL.

[calumhibee1]

His main complaint seems to be that the folk playing around him weren't talented enough to read his misplaced passes. Basically trying to say "I didn't stick around because I was too good" .. what a bellend :faf:

Came up here thinking he would be Billy big baws and got found out .... Barton's opinion on Scottish football means about as much to me as his opinion on Curling or Shinty. As somebody else said, football's answer to Katie Hopkins and just as vacuous and morally bankrupt.

God knows how Larsson managed to play here. A genuinely world class player who going by Joeys logic should have looked even worse than Joey Barton did, because the better you are the worse you look playing against pub league players of course.

[One Day]

Shameless and entirely transparent attempt at stirring up controversy from an absolute ball bag of a man.

this

[blackpoolhibs]

Barton is getting all the publicity he wants by saying these kind of things for a reaction.

Chris Sutton is exactly the same, but giving the other view, we are getting the lowest form of pundit these days because that is what the broadcasters want, they want us talking about who they work for.

Its working a treat.

[Jim44]

God knows how Larsson managed to play here. A genuinely world class player who going by Joeys logic should have looked even worse than Joey Barton did, because the better you are the worse you look playing against pub league players of course.

........... sort of a spoonful of caviar isn’t quite so extravagant and sophisticated when lying next to a lovely big fish supper. :greengrin

[PeeJay]

He's bitter about how it turned out for him up here.

Side note, do you think German media and ex players etc slag off the Austrian or the Dutch all the time or is it just an English thing?



You won't believe how over the moon the media and fans here are in Germany that Holland are not at the WC in Russia - and as to Austria - :faf:

[CLASS OF 72 -73]

Brazil is as big a tube not defending the game because he knows nothing about it apart from Celtic and what Rod Stewart tells him. Barton is vile but does not sit on the fence or is part of the old pals patronising club at Talksport (probably because they won't have him).

[One Day Soon]

Robbie Savage is always at it on BT too. trying to slate Scottish football. the fact is, both Barton and Savage were bang average players with very little ability. They got time and space to do their wee square passes and sideways balls down in "the best league in the world" but when Barton came here he didn't like the fact, like so many of them that come up and expect it to be a walk in the park, that players here don't stand and watch you fanny about playing sideways passes that they will go and press you and snap at your ankles. so he couldn't do his ***** unadventurous passes because he was being either caught on the ball or misplacing passes cause he was actually being pressed.

I'd rather watch a Scottish game where you know your going to get people playing at full tilt and trying to win the ball back and trying to go forward everytime they have the ball than English Football and its overrated, overpaid players playing it about the defence for 80 minutes a game.


I agree with pretty much everything on this thread. He's a pretty unpleasant eejit well past his best before date. But I don't think it would be accurate to say that either of them were 'bang average'. Bang average spends its career in the lower reaches of the world's football leagues and neither of them did that. Neither of them were world beaters though, to be sure.

[IGRIGI]

The thing that gets me about Robbie Savage slagging off Scottish football is the fact he's Welsh.

Their most successful team was called Total Network Solutions for years FFS.

[Carheenlea]

Barton is getting all the publicity he wants by saying these kind of things for a reaction.

Chris Sutton is exactly the same, but giving the other view, we are getting the lowest form of pundit these days because that is what the broadcasters want, they want us talking about who they work for.

Its working a treat.

I think Sutton has the balance between serious pundit and wind up merchant about right. You need to be pretty smart to do so, and do so in a manner where you are are not a figure of hate and fans can laugh along with you. Barton on the other hand is maybe trying to carve a similar role for himself, but just making a fool of himself I the process, with the fans are laughing at him.

[Geo_1875]

I can't believe that people still listen to Talksport. It's the EDL of the airwaves.

[CockneyRebel]

He's bitter about how it turned out for him up here.

Side note, do you think German media and ex players etc slag off the Austrian or the Dutch all the time or is it just an English thing?

English people I know always ask me why I want them to get beat in tournaments and here is just the latest reason. Hope Belgium spank them.



So you think Barton speaks for England - a quote from a pathetic excuse for a human being and you infer it's an English thing instead of saying it's a Barton thing?
Plenty of Scottish players, over the years, have spoken harshly about the falling standard of football up here - so just maybe it's a Scottish thing? A daft statement I know but no dafter than yours.

[Geo_1875]

So you think Barton speaks for England - a quote from a pathetic excuse for a human being and you infer it's an English thing instead of saying it's a Barton thing?
Plenty of Scottish players, over the years, have spoken harshly about the falling standard of football up here - so just maybe it's a Scottish thing? A daft statement I know but no dafter than yours.

I don't think he's saying Barton speaks for England but there are many English "pundits" who decry the standard of Scottish football without any in depth knowledge or understanding of the game. There are also Scottish pundits, in reality Hansen and Souness, who talk ***** about Scottish football as well. But they are only talking to their English audience.

[CockneyRebel]

1. There’s a few excellent teams in England, there’s no denying that however imo for the most part it’s teams just trying not to get beat rather than teams trying to win.

I generally don’t mind Barton as a pundit and find him quite enjoyable to listen to, i find it easy to forget anything he says instantly though and him criticising Scottish football isn’t going to stop me sleeping at night, he’s obviously just a wind up merchant.

I find it far more frustrating when Scottish pundits who have made a career out of English football sit in their London studios passing opinion on Scottish football when it’s obvious they don’t watch Scottish football, maybe apart from the odd old firm game. 2. I’d love to know the last time the likes of Charlie Nicholas or Alan mcinally went to a Scottish league game that didn’t involve an old firm team.[/QUOTE]

1. That's a fair comment. Take away the tv money, or leave it there, it's still just the same few clubs challenging for the league every season and everyone else hanging in there to stay where the money is. This produces a lot of industrial football from the clubs in lower positions the same as it does here.

2. Outside of the top 4/5 SPL clubs there is a lot of industrial football but their managers tend to get plaudits for keeping them in the SPL and very little critism of their style of play. Do you think Nicholas or McInally would change their poor opinions by watching Hamilton v Partick or Ross County? When these teams play each other it doesn't always look too bad but when they play one of the top 4/5 then their industrial outlook becomes more obvious. Not particularly knocking the managers of smaller clubs for this as they are short of alternatives and have a job to keep (which mainly involves avoiding relegation).

[calumhibee1]

I don't think he's saying Barton speaks for England but there are many English "pundits" who decry the standard of Scottish football without any in depth knowledge or understanding of the game. There are also Scottish pundits, in reality Hansen and Souness, who talk ***** about Scottish football as well. But they are only talking to their English audience.

And tens of thousands of English football fans who tell us we have a pub league on par with their conference.

[Geo_1875]

And tens of thousands of English football fans who tell us we have a pub league on par with their conference.

And the majority of them forming their opinions from listening to Souness, Hansen and Joey Barton.

[GreenOnions]

There's no doubt that Barton's facts are correct: The quality of football in the English leagues is much higher than in Scotland.

However - he ignores all context. In the past - such an assertion would necessarily imply that it was English players in general who were better than Scottish players - or perhaps the coaching/development system in England was better. When that was the case then it would be justified to praise a league that produced players of higher quality as they would have earned that praise. Nowadays - the reason English leagues have much more quality is simply because they've bought it in.

Barton's statement is like telling a story about a guy who's inherited £millions from his parents and bought a mansion slagging-off the two bedroom flat of his neighbour up the street. Does that comparison actually tell us anything of value? It tells us nothing about the relative merits of either country's skills or systems - particularly when you consider how few English players and managers operate in the Premier League as a proportion of overall numbers.

It's not really particularly insightful to point out that money has facilitated the movement of quality from one place to another thus improving the quality of one country's leagues to the detriment of many others. The ultimate zero-sum-game.

As others have pointed out on this thread there is additional "context". How important is "quality" in sport? Does it increase the entertainment value and make it more watchable? Viewing figures for English football and CL games are high but how is this distributed between games? Twenty years ago I would have been desperate to watch a game between AC Milan and, say, Porto. Would I watch it now? Or would I ignore it and wait for a game involving Barca, Bayern or another one of the top five or six clubs? I don't think I'm alone in that. Where is that leading?

Does concentration of quality amongst fewer and fewer teams improve football or weaken it as a spectator/viewer activity? If the number of world class players is ultimately limited at all times surely there will be an increasing number of teams with lower quality as a result. Is that a good thing?

That influence at the macro level may also have an impact at a micro level. Is there a diminishing return in terms of entertainment value for each additional element of "quality" added once teams/leagues reach a certain level? Adding one extra special player may make it more (or less) likely that a particular club might win a trophy but does it actually make that club more watchable? Could it be the case, for example, that an element of additional quality at a lower level has much more impact in this way than at a higher one - say, adding John McGinn to Dundee Utd's team rather than Ivan Rakitic to Man Utd's or Arsenal's?

Players will enjoy playing at the highest level so I can understand why Barton and others want to move to England and place a high value on quality. However, most players are not thinking about how watchable the game is to spectators.

Barton seems quite an intelligent guy and I think this is a debate that should be had. However he needs to think about the issue a bit more deeply IMHO.

[givescotlandfreedom]

The thing that gets me about Robbie Savage slagging off Scottish football is the fact he's Welsh.

Their most successful team was called Total Network Solutions for years FFS.

Sutton rips him up when Savage shows his ignorance rather well: https://youtu.be/1pBfs6eykiM

https://youtu.be/LQBRcvJg7Cs

[SirDavidsNapper]

Anyone who speaks in a fake French accent to the French media is best ignored. The bottom line is he wasn't good enough for our top league and he's bitter about it. If he hadn't bummed himself up as the saviour of Scottish football beforehand and come quietly i might have called him average (at a push). He failed miserably.

[we are hibs]

I agree with pretty much everything on this thread. He's a pretty unpleasant eejit well past his best before date. But I don't think it would be accurate to say that either of them were 'bang average'. Bang average spends its career in the lower reaches of the world's football leagues and neither of them did that. Neither of them were world beaters though, to be sure.


i'd say if Barton was above average he'd have done well here. He blamed the players around him for him looking poor, well Mulumbu doesn't seem to be having problems at Killie and he's probably playing in a worse squad than Barton did. I honestly don't know how he ever got a move to Marseille.

[yonder1875]

So you think Barton speaks for England - a quote from a pathetic excuse for a human being and you infer it's an English thing instead of saying it's a Barton thing?
Plenty of Scottish players, over the years, have spoken harshly about the falling standard of football up here - so just maybe it's a Scottish thing? A daft statement I know but no dafter than yours.

Aye, because Joey Barton is the only media figurehead down there that loves to slag our league right enough.

His comments and views have been echoed around the English football media for years, whereas up here we have far more people actively promoting our game than saying it's 'pathetic'.

[givescotlandfreedom]

Aye, because Joey Barton is the only media figurehead down there that loves to slag our league right enough.

His comments and views have been echoed around the English football media for years, whereas up here we have far more people actively promoting our game than saying it's 'pathetic'.

I've noticed on social media whenever Scottish football is mentioned the comments are hammered with English, Welsh and even Irish people going on about Scottish football being pub league standard and embarrassing etc. Then you click on their profile and see they support Swindon, Luton or some trophy virgins that will never go further than Carlisle following their teams.

[NAE NOOKIE]

There’s a few excellent teams in England, there’s no denying that however imo for the most part it’s teams just trying not to get beat rather than teams trying to win.

I generally don’t mind Barton as a pundit and find him quite enjoyable to listen to, i find it easy to forget anything he says instantly though and him criticising Scottish football isn’t going to stop me sleeping at night, he’s obviously just a wind up merchant.

I find it far more frustrating when Scottish pundits who have made a career out of English football sit in their London studios passing opinion on Scottish football when it’s obvious they don’t watch Scottish football, maybe apart from the odd old firm game. I’d love to know the last time the likes of Charlie Nicholas or Alan mcinally went to a Scottish league game that didn’t involve an old firm team.

Absolutely bang on and you can add Kevin Gallacher into that mix as well. I used to listen to Talk Sport when I was doing the dishes because its the only station dedicated to football on during the day, but I don't even do that any more. Its a station full of Scottish ex pats like Alan Brazil and Jim White who make little or no attempt to defend Scottish football from the onslaught of ill informed and unoriginal pish spewed about it from the likes of Barton.

I'm willing to bet if you asked any of them what Hibs average crowd is this season they wouldn't have a clue and would call you a liar if you told them. As you say, the chances that any of them have set foot in a Scottish football ground with the exception of Celtic Park or Ibrox in the last 10 years is about as likely as Lewis Stevenson getting a Scotland call up.

[CockneyRebel]

[QUOTE=yonder1875;5349310]Aye, because Joey Barton is the only media figurehead down there that loves to slag our league right enough.

His comments and views have been echoed around the English football media for years, whereas up here we have far more people actively promoting our game than saying it's 'pathetic'.[/QUOTE


What is said regarding the SPL is mostly accurate (equivalent to what is said about the EPL) in that apart from the top half dozen teams who regularly challenge for the league the rest are simply trying to avoid relegation. The style and qualty of football from these lower clubs is undeniably pretty poor, every week there are posts on here complaining about the opposition in Hibs matches, how they sit back, hack our players and stifle games. Instead of facing up to the fact that the game in the SPL generally has deteriorated (just as it has in the EPL ) over the last 20 years) you seem to challenge anybody who criticises it. If, as I said in an earlier reply on this post, you took away the EPL tv money you would still have the same 6(ish) teams challenging for the league because they are bigger clubs. The OF will always dominate Scottish football because of the size of their fan base. There will be a very occasional blip (ala Leicester in England) but it won't be sustained. Hibs, Aberdeen and Kilmarnock have shown much improvement this season but beating Celtic to the league is still just as improbable. For clubs outwith the OF to match their fan base and their turnover is not possible without a sugar daddy and there aren't many honest ones that have dipped their feet into Scottish football. I watch all the highlights of Scottish football that I can find and much of it is extremely poor (just as it is with English matches). The problem with much of the criticism is that it is not constructive. The early exits from Euro competitions by Scottish teams is just one example of why Scottish football recieves bad press and you can't deny that as a league we are not improving.
I don't know all the answers for improving things but it is surely better to face facts and admit the failings than to simply moan when others point them out. Guys like Nicholas and McInally have their own agendas for mouthing off and I offer no support to them. If it is their own opinion then they are entitled to that but I feel they are taking the King's shilling, stirring up controversy for it's own sake whilst looking after job security. This is much like those who promote the game up here yeah? Managers, Chairmen etc. are not blind but they have to think of their clubs/fans/SFA/SPL when they talk to the press so they have their agendas too.
So what I am saying is that just because people make disparaging comments on Scottish football that you find offensive does not mean that they are all wrong, depite their reasons for doing so. Some of the comments were well over the top and some of the people making the comments are offensive even when they say nothing. These comments are published to court controversy and wind folk up and it seems to have worked.

[Oscar T Grouch]

I like how he stresses the only defeat he suffered up here was against Celtic, "I never lost another game" he states. He played 8 games up here, (W - Annan, Peterhead, Stranraer, Dundee, Motherwell, D- Hamilton and Killie and L to Celtic (5-1, one of the worst performances against their greatest rivals)). It is hardly a stunning record! The guy couldn't hack it, was suspended for causing trouble at training, got owned by Scott Brown (the player he was obviously aiming his criticism of never playing down south at) in his only defeat and ended up with a ban for betting. Everything about his time up here smacks of failure, yet it was everyone else's fault. He was a a failure up here plain and simple, but it is because the football is so terrible up here? The guy is a muppet.

[Keith_M]

Side note, do you think German media and ex players etc slag off the Austrian or the Dutch all the time or is it just an English thing?

English people I know always ask me why I want them to get beat in tournaments and here is just the latest reason. Hope Belgium spank them.


Having lived in both countries, my impression was that Austrians mostly wanted Germany to get beat and the Germans were barely aware that Austria even existed.

Pretty much the same as the Scottish-English relationship.

[GreenLake]

The most interesting thought about Joey Barton arrives when the mind goes blank.

[SirDavidsNapper]

I've noticed on social media whenever Scottish football is mentioned the comments are hammered with English, Welsh and even Irish people going on about Scottish football being pub league standard and embarrassing etc. Then you click on their profile and see they support Swindon, Luton or some trophy virgins that will never go further than Carlisle following their teams.

I remember when we were trying to sign that boy from Cambridge United they were raging about him potentially going to a "pub league" on their forum.......... yes Cambridge United

[NORTHERNHIBBY]

This is the man who mistook someone's face for an ashtray.

[CLASS OF 72 -73]

Exactly. He was winding up Alan Brazil about anything Scottish and Celtic related as he regularly does.

I can't believe how many people took the bait, helping him to raise his profile in the process.

Agree he is menace and the Talksport oldboys club have gave him the perfect platform to cause trouble and wind anyone up. Brazil had no answer because his knowledge of Scottish football is Celtic only. Brazil the man that said Terry Butcher was too good for Hibs and should have waited for a bigger club.

[jgl07]

This is the man who mistook someone's face for an ashtray.

It was someone’s eye not their face!

Barton is a loud mouthed rent-a-gob. The Katie Hopkins comparison are very valid.

He was a talented player in his younger years but wasted it. He thought he was too good for Manchester City and moved on. Downwards in all cases!

His younger brother is serving 17 years after an unprovoked racist murder of a youngster. He planted an ice axe through the skull of a black kid you was minding his own business.

The comparisons with the ‘Liverpool Scots’ who constantly slag off Scottish football are not that relevant. The likes of Hanson and Souness were noted for producing sick notes when it came to international matches. They played little if any football in Scotland.

[Mantis Toboggan]

I remember when we were trying to sign that boy from Cambridge United they were raging about him potentially going to a "pub league" on their forum.......... yes Cambridge United

I get the same off my Preston supporting pal. Bearing in mind Preston were last in the top division in 1961. Some English lower league fans think that just because absurd fees are paid for very average players they must be inherently better than us.

[Scouse Hibee]

I get the same off my Preston supporting pal. Bearing in mind Preston were last in the top division in 1961. Some English lower league fans think that just because absurd fees are paid for very average players they must be inherently better than us.

In my experience most English folk make their judgements because of lack of knowledge of the Scottish game given it's limited TV coverage compared to the EPL. Of course it's easy for them to dismiss the Scottish game as a pub league as most of their audience in the pub etc agree with them so the myth become a fact.
I am in Liverpool at least once a month and when the inevitable conversation about me having a Hibs ST comes up there's always one joker who gives it large about "how do you watch that ******.
They're normally MOTD supporters who don't even get that being a football suporter means getting out of your armchair and actively going to games.
Clueless most of them and I enjoy showing them up.