Jiri Jarosik admits he wasn’t overly impressed by Scottish football when he played for Celtic

Jiri Jarosik has admitted he wasn’t exactly a fan of Scottish football during his time in the Scottish Premier League with Celtic all those years ago. The former Czech Republic international signed for the Hoops under Gordon Strachan when he took over the reins from Martin O’Neill back in 2005 and has revealed he disliked the way the game was played up here.

Purchased from Chelsea at the time, big things were expected from Jarosik but he didn’t set the heather on fire as many anticipated he would, with a player of his pedigree. He had his moments undoubtedly in a Celtic shirt; scoring against Shakhtar Donetsk in the UEFA Champions League group stages at Celtic Park and scoring a peach during a comeback against Hearts at Tynecastle.

However, the big man didn’t do it often enough for a player of his technical ability and pedigree. He subsequently got used sparingly by Gordon Strachan and more often than not made substitute appearances from the bench. Now a football manager himself in Russia with FC Orenburg and the coach didn’t hold back in his scathing assessment. As reported by Football Scotland, he said: “I would compare the Scottish league with the English league of 30 years ago.

“Scotland has lots of local players, coaches and still play a kick and rush style. When I was at Celtic, I always considered myself a team player, but I was playing with guys who got the ball, booted it forward as quickly as possible and then lost the ball.

“But on the other hand, there was always an amazing atmosphere at matches. We won the league when I was there and beat a very strong Manchester United in the Champions League. But honestly, I didn’t like Scottish football at all.”