Former Celtic star who failed to leave a mark on the first team wasn’t impressed by the standard of Scottish football

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Celtic may be in the pantheon of world-renowned sides, but even their global stature isn’t recognised by everyone.

For some, the allure of the 55-time Scottish Premiership champions isn’t enough and they need the pull of a manager to convince them.

Brendan Rodgers certainly has that pulling power and can convince players to make the move to Celtic Park and hopefully become the next legend of the club.

Scottish football is often sneered at though and despite failing to make a mark on the first team, one former player admitted he was less than impressed by the standards.

• READ MORE: World Cup winner never got to fulfil Celtic wish to play at ‘exciting’ Parkhead one last time

Tomoki Iwata wasn’t impressed by the standard of Scottish football

Tomoki Iwata never really got much first team action at Celtic before eventually signing for Birmingham City.

In his 18 months at the club, Iwata made 42 appearances, the majority of which came from the bench.

Other players were ahead of him in the pecking order and his game time was restricted, but Iwata still felt underwhelmed by the football in Scotland.

“The level of the Scottish first division is a little lower than the top five European leagues,” he told Soccer Digest Web “so I often felt that it was a difficult environment for me.

“I wasn’t impatient, but more than that, I couldn’t help but feel the regret that I, a soccer player, wasn’t playing in the games.”

Tomoki Iwata

Iwata said that Chris Davies convinced him to join Birmingham and it was a decision that paid off as Iwata and his teammates won League One.

The Japanese midfielder was initially brought to the club by Ange Postecoglou but after Rodgers was chosen to replace Iwata’s mentor, the midfielder admitted that he had reservations about how the Celtic manager would play.

“Manager Rodgers was a famous coach in Scotland, but I didn’t know of him at all.

“At first I wondered, ‘What kind of person is he?’ The team actually got going and the football they were trying to play was interesting.

“But there were some areas where I wasn’t able to fully showcase myself. It was partly because there was an absolute player in Callum McGregor in the same position, but honestly, I feel like I could have done more.”