Celtic hero Chris Sutton has hit out at John Barnes for making a 'bizarre' claim about Brendan Rodgers.
Barnes spent a brief eight-month stint in the Parkhead dugout during the 1999/00 season, although he was far from successful and, indeed, spearheaded a mammoth 3-1 loss to Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the Scottish Cup.
Despite this, he recently claimed that Rodgers has an easy life in Glasgow's east end, having, notwithstanding last Sunday's defeat to Rangers, been lording it up at Celtic.
Read more:
Sutton, however, wasn't buying such assertions: "As criticisms go, this was a bizarre one," he said (Record).
"John Barnes coming out and taking a bit of a pop at Brendan Rodgers was a real eyebrow-raiser.
"Barnes has got a bit of a cheek, saying Rodgers has an easy life at Celtic. As someone who has been the manager of the club, you’d think he’d know better.
"It wasn’t easy for him during his time in charge. It didn’t look easy falling 20-odd points behind Rangers in the title race back then. It wasn’t easy to beat Inverness Caley Thistle in the Scottish Cup.
"If anything, Barnes made a difficult job harder than it was. I loved Barnes as a player. But to suggest Rodgers has an easy life in Scotland is laughable.
"Let’s be clear, Rodgers had made it look easy. This is a manager who is on track to win 12 out of 13 competitions he’s entered. I don’t care what state Rangers or whoever else are in, that is a remarkable return.
"Barnes went on to admit there are unrealistic expectations of the club in the Champions League. What part of that is easy then?"
Barnes' managerial career never took off after he departed Celtic.
He took charge of the club for 24 games, with a 62.5% win ratio. The shock defeat to Caley Thistle was the final straw, as the ex-Liverpool man's difficult stint north of the border came to an end.
