When Chris Sutton signed for Celtic, he was at a point in his career where he wasn’t getting much first-team football. His £10m move to Chelsea from Blackburn went sour as he struggled to adapt to their style of football.
After just one season, 38 games and two goals, Martin O’Neill signed the big Englishman for Celtic and the rest, as they say, is history.
And now that he has retired from football, Sutton enjoys a rather busy and successful career in football punditry. And one of those punditry duties he takes part in is the BBC Radio 5 606 phone-in with Robbie Savage.
Sutton and Savage were discussing the recent spate of footballers who are choosing to take their careers to Saudi Arabia and enjoy lucrative contracts.
The former Celtic striker was scathing in his criticism of these players when Savage, bizarrely, compared Sutton’s move to Celtic to those players choosing Saudi Arabia.
Sutton said [BBC 606], “We know why players are going there. They’re going there for a huge payday. Good luck to them.
“But let’s not pretend it’s anything else. They are mercenaries, they’re going for the money. If you’re a footballer you want to provide the best level possible. You know, a lot of players went out to China and Qatar.”
Robbie Savage: “But you went to Celtic! You went at the pinnacle of your career. You went to the Scottish Premiership.
“You won the Premier League and you’ve played Champions League, but you went at the pinnacle of your career to the Scottish Premiership.”
CS: “And what competition did Celtic play in? The Champions League.”
RS: “I’m an advocate of Scottish football. I am. And you’ve educated me and I’m a big fan of it. I spoke to Lee Johnson a couple of weeks ago, you know, the Hibs manager and listen, I’m an advocate, but you’ve just said players to go in there for the money.
“On a weekly basis, you didn’t have a test. You only had a test against Rangers.”
CS: “Are you sitting on the same planet as me this evening? So my criticism of players going to Saudi Arabia is they are going for the money and solely for the money okay?
“I didn’t go to Celtic for the money. So can you split those arguments up because you’re sounding like you’re a fool. They are different arguments.
RS: “The point I’ve just picked you up on is you said you want to play at the pinnacle of your career whilst you can. You left the Premier League at one of the best periods of your career to go and play in Scotland.”
CS: “And the Celtic team I went to play for, how did they do under Martin O’Neill? We played against a great Rangers team.
RS: “Every single week you weren’t tested.”
CS: “Hang on a minute. We played Champions League football. So I still don’t understand how you’re using that as the same argument, going to Scotland and going to Saudi Arabia. I mean, that’s a really, with respect, a really dumb argument.
“Did you watch our Celtic team demolish Liverpool and Blackburn in European competition, Rob?”
It was at that point that Savage, strangely, decided to deflect from the conversation and take a call from a listener. It really was a very strange comparison to make.
Don’t get me wrong, I have no doubt that Sutton was well paid by Celtic to pull on those green and white hoops. He was likely one of the top earners at the club. But it was in no way shape or form even close to the kind of money that is being paid by the clubs in Saudi Arabia.
And he was still competing at the highest level with Celtic. We regularly gave some of the top teams a bloody nose in Europe both home and away in Europe whilst winning plenty of domestic honours.
Like Sutton, I was totally perplexed by Robbie Savage’s argument. It just didn’t add up. I personally think he was just at the wind-up but by the tone of the conversation, it certainly didn’t seem that way.
Every Celtic fan knows Sutton didn’t come to Celtic for the money. With the money available in England, the likelihood is he took a pay cut to come to Glasgow.
But what he did do by moving north of the border is become a legend in the eyes of millions of Celtic fans after his trophy-laden six year spell at the club. And that is something Savage himself can only dream of.
In other news, Report: Liel Abada turns down new Celtic contract; Rodgers to schedule player talks
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