Clarke jumps to defence of Scottish standards

KILMARNOCK boss Steve Clarke has taken an educated swipe at Englishbased pundits who claim Scottish football is ‘rubbish’. Clarke was a permanent fixture south of the border after leaving St Mirren for Chelsea as a player in 1987, going on to coach alongside the likes of Ruud Gullit, Jose Mourinho and Kenny Dalglish before becoming a manager in his own right at West Brom and Reading. However, in the two months since returning to his native Ayrshire to transform the fortunes of Kilmarnock, the 54-year-old admits he has been impressed by the standard of domestic competition. Pundits like Joey Barton and Tony Cascarino, both flops during their spells with Rangers and Celtic respectively, have recently derided the Parkhead team’s long unbeaten run under Brendan Rodgers by claiming the Scottish Premiership is an inferior league. Clarke, though, believes those kind of views are borne of ignorance and arrogance. ‘The standard here is fine, it’s a very honest level of football,’ he said. ‘There are maybe a few more mistakes than you would get in the English Premier League but that makes for some good games. ‘I’m not so sure Scottish football is written off down there — they just don’t understand it, they don’t know it. ‘A lot of people comment on Scottish football without actually knowing the product and what’s up here, so I think you can take those comments and put them in the bin. ‘It’s people who have been here and know the game who would be entitled to comment on it. But the people who just comment on it in a blasé way with throwaway lines like “Scottish football is rubbish” — just throw those comments in the bin. ‘I wouldn’t say remarks like that frustrated me when I was down there because I was concentrating on the English game. I’m the type of person who just immerses myself in the job I’m in at the time. But there are a lot of good players in Scottish football and the teams at the top of the table are there for a reason — because they have that little bit more quality than the rest. ‘Down at the other end they’re scrapping, there are probably seven or eight teams still nervously looking at the bottom of the table. ‘We’re all fighting our corner and trying to get closer to the top four and that’s what we have to do every day.’ Defenders Gordon Greer and Stuart Findlay, meanwhile, will miss tomorrow’s home game against Motherwell.