Chris Sutton rubbishes Craig Bellamy's claim about Scottish football

Chris Sutton has rubbished the claims made by former team-mate Craig Bellamy. Picture: SNS Group

Bellamy claimed that nobody in England ‘gave a damn’ about his exploits in Scotland during a five-month loan spell at Parkhead.

Speaking to Paddy Power, ex-Wales international Bellamy said: “Brendan Rodgers couldn’t have done any more than he did with Celtic last season.

Sutton and Bellamy during a Celtic training session. Picture: Robert Perry

“His reputation of a great coach is there, but getting one of the top jobs again in the Premier League might be difficult for him.

“Mainly because - and I found this out during my time in Scotland - it doesn’t matter what you do up there. No one cares. I had more offers in January before I went to Celtic than I did when I finished up there the following summer.

“That’s because once you went up to Scotland nobody in England gave a damn what you did up there. If you do well up there, it’s a case of ‘so you should’. I just didn’t feel it mattered to anyone down south.”

But Sutton took issue with his former Celtic team-mate’s views, taking to his personal Twitter account to offer his opinion.

Sutton wrote: “Bellamy is talking a load of rubbish here.”

After spending six years at Celtic, Sutton had spells with Birmingham and Aston Villa while Bellamy moved on to Blackburn Rovers, before spells with Liverpool, West Ham, Manchester City and Cardiff City.

Bellamy also dismissed Celtic’s chances of competing with Europe’s top sides, adding: “Celtic need a strong Rangers. The days are gone where they could have an impact on Europe.

“The team of 2003 with Henrik Larsson in it, which got to a European final, unfortunately I just don’t believe we’re going to see that for a while.

“Not until Rangers get up there somewhere near them again and really become competition to push Celtic on and it could take Rangers another three or so years to get back up there again.”