SPL standard defended as English games dismissed as 'a lot of crap'

CRAIG Levein has launched a staunch defence of the Scottish game after a fortnight which has seen both Celtic and Rangers routed in Scottish Premier League fixtures.

The Scotland manager was at Perth on Tuesday night to see St Johnstone gain their best-ever win over Rangers with a 4-1 victory. This came just six days after Celtic had been humbled 4-0 at St Mirren.

Rather than view these results as evidence of the worsening state of the Old Firm, Levein prefers to reach a more positive conclusion. He believes the other clubs in Scotland are getting stronger due to improvement in Scottish players.

This is something which is obvious from his regular visits to watch games in England, where the outstanding performer, according to the Scotland manager, is often a Scot.

Levein encouraged those north of the Border to shake off their inferiority complex when it comes to football. The standard of play he has seen in the Coca-Cola Championship this season is often well below the Scottish Premier League.

Even some English Premier League games fall short in comparison with those in Scotland.

"I have been down watching a lot of games in England and I have watched a lot of games up here," said Levein. "And I am telling you I have watched a lot of crap. Seriously. A lot of really poor games. And not up here. I am telling you the truth.

"The teams up here try and play football, they try and get the ball down and pass it around.

"I go down and see West Bromwich Albion and (Graham] Dorrans is the best player on the pitch. I go to Middlesbrough and Barry Robson is the best player on the pitch. I go to Blackpool and it's Charlie Adam. At Cardiff, (Chris] Burke was the best player on the pitch.

"We have good football players up here, but sometimes we don't appreciate the quality of the players we have got. There's a lot of negativity and a lot of it comes from people who don't understand what we have up here. Look at teams down south. They have been coming up here and taking our players for the last two or three years now."

Compared to when he was manager at Leicester City five years ago, Levein said he surprised at how often he is now asked about players from Scotland. Their reputation is slowly being rebuilt, and their stock rising.

"I think we are overly critical about the players we have up here," continued Levein.

"We tend to focus on the Old Firm and look at them and say 'Well, the gap is closing between them and everyone else, therefore they must be getting worse'. Look at (Dundee] United, the team I know best.

"There are half-a-dozen players there that teams in England would gladly take without a second thought. And I was at St Johnstone v Rangers, and St Johnstone were fantastic. They passed the ball well on a horrible pitch. But we look at Rangers rather than giving St Johnstone the credit they deserve."

Levein also revealed that he would not be attending the World Cup finals this summer – either for his own benefit, or as a pundit.

Instead he has decided to concentrate on more practical matters, such as watching Group I opponents Lithuania in a series of summer friendlies ahead of the start of the European Championship qualifying matches in the autumn.