Joey Barton brands Scottish Premiership a '˜Sunday League competition'

Joey Barton pictured during an old Firm clash in September 2016. He branded the Scottish top flight 'Sunday League' in quality. Picture: John Devlin

Appearing on Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast show on talkSPORT, the former Rangers and Burnley midfielder claimed that he hadn’t watched the five-goal thriller at Ibrox between his former club and Celtic as he had been “too busy watching real football.”

Barton played just eight times for Rangers in all competitions, including in a 5-1 defeat to Celtic.

Barton was later suspended by the club for three weeks in September 2016 for a training ground altercation with team-mate Andy Halliday and his contract was terminated with immediate effect in November.

Despite Barton’s appearance in an Old Firm clash, he told talkSPORT host Alan Brazil that he “didn’t even know there was a game on.”

When asked by Brazil if he had watched the match on Sunday, Barton retorted: “Why would I watch that? Who watches Scottish football? I was too busy watching real football.

“There were big Premier League matches; Arsenal and Watford was on. I didn’t even know there was a game on,” he continued.

Former Ipswich and Spurs striker Brazil kept on at Barton, and praised the exciting nature of the match, but Barton asked: “Did you watch any Sunday League games yesterday?

“Well, why would we watch a Sunday League competition up North? We’ve got proper football down here.”