Leader comment: Craig Bellamy bites hand that fed him

Scottish football has never been short of harsh critics of the game from south of the Border. However, Celtic fans could be forgiven for feeling a bit sore reading their former favourite's views of the club's achievements.

Scottish football mattered to Craig Bellamy when he was making a living from it as a Celtic player.

Craig Bellamy’s performances during the Martin O’Neill era are still fondly recalled – despite his loan spell at Parkhead coinciding with the dramatic loss of a league title. But he will have lost quite a few admirers after declaring that “no-one cares” about Celtic in England.

His effective dismissal of Scottish football is poorly timed, given that Celtic are in the group stages of the Champions League, and the national side is still in with a chance of getting to the World Cup finals.

Of course, some will argue that Bellamy’s spell as a Celtic player was defined just as much by his blunt opinions as his goal-scoring talents - taunting a Clyde player over the size of his pay packet - and in that respect, not much has changed since he departed.

But he perhaps needs reminding that the disparity between Scottish and English football is almost entirely down to television revenue.