BROWN SCOTLAND CAPS BARTON ENGLAND CAP I know which one I’d rather have in our Celtic team
SAYS LEIGH GRIFFITHS
You know, Joey Barton has obviously got a mouth on him
LEIGH GRIFFITHS last night slapped down Joey Barton for having a dig at Scott Brown — and mocked the new Rangers midfielder for winning just one England cap compared to the Celtic captain’s 50 for Scotland.
Barton famously dismissed Brown as ‘not even in my league’ soon after signing for Mark Warburton’s side.
But Parkhead striker Griffiths, who said Barton ‘has obviously got a mouth on him’, insists the Englishman’s record doesn’t measure up to the achievements of his club and international skipper.
‘How many caps has Joey got?’ asked Griffiths. ‘Just the one for England? And Broony has 50 for Scotland, he’s the captain of his national team, won titles and competed in the Champions League.
‘It’s up to Barton to say what he wants — but look at Broony’s CV. Now look at Joey Barton’s CV and everything he’s done in his career. Compare the two CVs together. I am pretty sure I know who I would pick.
‘Scott has Champions League experience, he’s done it at the very top level of the game, for club and country. If Barton wants to come up here and disrespect him, Broony will take that in his stride.
‘The first Old Firm game will be interesting.’
Celtic are due to host Rangers in September, with many already anticipating a head-on collision between Brown and Barton.
‘You know, Joey Barton has obviously got a mouth on him,’ said Griffiths. ‘But, Broony being Broony, I’m sure he’ll just take it in his stride. I’m sure it will be an interesting battle when they face each other at Celtic Park.’
Griffiths is clearly excited by the resumption of regular Old Firm games now Rangers have been promoted to the top flight.
And talking yesterday about his long-term aim of building a career highlighted by goals and victories in the electrifying derby fixture, he even sneaked in a cheeky line about whether the Ibrox side will manage to stay in the division over the coming years.
‘I’m here for another four years — and, hopefully, even more after that,’ said the Scotland forward.
‘So, hopefully, if Rangers are still in the league over that time, we’ll have 16 derbies in four years. So I look forward to things like that.
‘Everybody connected with the club will be happy these games are back. I think it’s the atmosphere. That’s why I love derby games. Everybody rises to the occasion. There are plenty of folk shouting at me, definitely!’
Addressing the prospect of a genuine title challenge from Rangers, Aberdeen and maybe even Hearts, Griffiths insisted: ‘We look forward to it, whatever happens.
‘We’ve been handed a difficult first game, away to Hearts on day one. But we showed a great team performance last time we went to Gorgie — we got the three points to effectively wrap up the title.
‘It will be good to go back there, a hostile atmosphere, the Celtic and Hearts fans in full voice. It will be a really good test and a great chance to get off to a winning start.
‘Then there is the first Rangers game on September 10. But we’ve got three league games before then — we need to win them and get off to a great start. We want to have nine points going into that game — and we also want to be booked into the Champions League.’
Next week’s qualifying first leg against either Flora Tallinn or Lincoln Red Imps is an immediate focus.
Griffiths says the pain of missing out on the group stage for the last two years has been hard to bear, especially as he sat watching conquerors Malmo mix it with some of the game’s most powerful clubs.
‘All the boys are desperate and ready to go,’ he said. ‘It’s going to be difficult again but the manager has stressed to us it’s where we want to be.
‘It’s the pinnacle of the club game and we’re working really hard on the training pitch to get everything right. We’re so keen to make an impression and guarantee, if we can, that we’re in the group stage come the end of August.
‘I watched it last year wishing we were there. Especially seeing the group Malmo got drawn in (Real Madrid, PSG and Shakhtar Donetsk). It was frightening, really.
‘We had to settle for the Europa League.
‘It’s a difficult one, these qualifiers, because nine times out of 10 you’d expect the champions of a country to go straight into the group stage. It’s unfortunate that, being so low down the pecking order, we have to go through three qualifiers.’
Rodgers is working towards a passing and pressing game intended to make Celtic a more formidable force at home and abroad.
‘The way the boys are thinking, and the way the manager wants to play, if it goes the way we want and comes off perfectly, we’ll just blow teams away,’ said Griffiths.
‘But that’s down to us players to execute that match plan. If we do that, we’ll really hurt teams.’