Dundee United manager Peter Houston has defended Scottish football against a verbal attack by Newcastle boss Alan Pardew.
Houston, currently on duty as assistant to Scotland coach Craig Levein for the Carling Nations Cup games against Wales and the Republic of Ireland in Dublin this week, dismissed Pardew’s damning indictment of the SPL.
In discussing his goalkeeper Fraser Forster’s loan spell at Celtic this season, Pardew revealed that he was unimpressed with the standard of the game north of the border.
“I think he (Forster) is coming back to a completely different level of football I will tell you that now,” he said.
“We have watched that division and watched him all year. We have been disappointed with the quality of the games, other than the occasional Rangers versus Celtic game, and even some of those have been poor.”
However, Tannadice gaffer Houston responded, “It is not even worth commenting on it, because we have international players playing in the SPL who could walk into the Newcastle team.
“They play at a very high level in European football, on a number of occasions as well. If you take Rangers, for instance, their runs in Europe in the last couple of years have been fantastic, so that is them playing at a high level and in the SPL.
“Also (Celtic and Scotland midfielder) Scott Brown has played in the Champions League as well.
“Alan is entitled to his opinion, but it is not something with which I agree.”