Gers boss dismisses Ince claims

[Jon 0]

Rangers manager Walter Smith has defended Scottish football and insists the reaction to Celtic's defeat to Manchester United was over the top.

 

Celtic suffered a 3-0 reverse in their Champions League clash at Old Trafford midweek, a result which was described as "embarrassing" and "men against boys" by Blackburn boss Paul Ince.

 

But Smith does not believe the match provided a fair reflection of the game north of the border.

 

And he pointed out that most other teams outside the top four in the Premier League also struggle against Sir Alex Ferguson's men.

 

He said: "There is a big gulf between Manchester United and a lot of teams in the Premiership - people forget that.

 

"If you look at Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea, they've made themselves fixtures at the top of that league.

 

"It was interesting to hear an English manager commenting on Celtic's performance but a lot of the English teams suffer the same fate when they play Manchester United, some of them even worse and they are Premiership teams. They forget that.

 

"The game in Scotland is as good as it can be taking into account that football is a financially-based game and has been for the last 10 or 15 years since the introduction of huge sums of television money in England.

 

"Nobody can argue with that.

 

"Scottish teams do the best they can. Celtic acquitted themselves well in the Champions League last year and I felt we acquitted ourselves well."

 

Celtic have qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League for the last two seasons, while Rangers reached the UEFA Cup final last year - without the finances available to English clubs.

 

Smith added: "They have a level of finance that's greater than the Scottish clubs, even teams just going into the Premiership for the first time.

 

"But football throughout Europe is like that as well. You don't see many teams from small countries getting into the latter stages of the Champions League.

 

"We managed to get to the UEFA Cup final last year so Scottish teams have proved they can stand up and play and have a level of success.

 

"It's very difficult for us to do so every year but it doesn't stop us from competing and I think we compete very well.

 

"There has been an exaggeration about the effects of Celtic's defeat at Old Trafford.

 

"They've still to play them at home and they beat Manchester United there the last time and they have beat most of the teams they have played there.

 

"Scottish football is not in a desperately poor situation just because Celtic got beat 3-0 by a team who can probably beat any team in Europe 3-0."

 

I think he makes some valid points here, Manu could on any given day certainly have the capability to beat most teams in Europe by the same scoreline.

 

Financially, again we cant even compete with newly promoted teams to the EPL. The top 4 are certainly a class apart, I'd love to see a statement from Ince if the next time they play Manu and they get beat 3-0. Would it still be men against boys?

[calscot 0]

I think Ince has shown his immaturity as a manager.

[alanmidd 0]

Ince is a twat. Always has been

[Guest Jum Spence]

Rangers boss Walter Smith hits back at Paul Ince's criticism of Celtic's Old Trafford performance.

 

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[craig 5,199]

Wooohoooo - just carried out my first admin duty by merging threads - am still a technological retard though !

[Jon 0]

Haha good stuff Craig, nothing to it eh

[Jon 0]

If you need help with anything or not sure how to go about anything, give us a shout although I wont have the same access as you. can help you out though

[porno_piper 0]

I think walter is right in what he is saying here. Lets not forget that if blackburn had to play Celtic or indeed Rangers the score line probably wouldn't be 3-0 blackburn... The guys should get over his own ego.

[Gribz 829]

He's another pap who needs to keep his mouth shut at times.

 

WS is spot on here....Man U just put 4 past West Brom last weekend and I didnt hear Ince say Men against Boys. And a few weeks ago Man U won at Blackburn 2-0, lets see if they can win by more than that at Parkhead.

 

Im not one for defending Celtic, but I am up for defending Scottish teams and 2 of Man Utds goals were offside.

 

There is no way his Blackburn side would beat either of the OF IMO.