He didn’t earn the nickname of the Evil Genius for nothing.
Chris Sutton picked up the unusual dynamics of Scottish life within 90 minutes of being a Celtic player when he said that ‘he was here to put Rangers in their place’.
That was in August 2000 after scoring the winning goal on his debut away to Dundee United that launched Martin O’Neill’s side towards the treble.
These days Sutton is the most watched and read pundit in the Scottish game with twitter complimenting his views expressed in the Daily Record, Daily Mail, BT Sport and BBC 5 Live.
.@btsportfootball Zenit v Celtic tomorrow night live on BT Sport 1730??All of Scotland will be cheering Celtic ????
— Chris Sutton (@chris_sutton73) February 21, 2018
Tonight the former Celtic striker will be part of the BT Sport team in St Petersburg to see if Celtic can reach the last 16 of the Europa League.
While millions of fans will be hoping for a Celtic win only in the media is there any notion of ‘getting behind the Scottish team’.
Most Scottish football fans will watch the game without much of an interest while a large number will be hoping that Celtic get stuffed. Sutton knows that.
Not even a cheque for £365,000 or a little lift in co-efficient points will alter the fact that supporters want to see their rivals beaten at every turn.
It’s part of the territory, in May 2008 thousands of Celtic fans were delighted to support Zenit for 90 minutes as they saved Manchester from an even bigger trashing.
