Following Pardew's comments

about the disappointing level in football in Scotland for Fraser Forster to be up against , the Scotland assistant manager Peer Houston said that Scottish players play in the SPL, players that play in Europe and some would walk straight into the Newcastle team.


This got me thinking, who? Goodwillie maybe because of our lack of strikers, but seriously who else?!

 

Riordan, Hooper, Izaguirre (if Enrique leaves)...honestly can't think of any others

 

A lot would be good squad players, but other than that...

 

Riordan, Hooper and even Goodwillie would be squad players at best, you see what happens to the hyped players, mostly strikers, in the Scottish league when they come down here, Kris Boyd anyone? Izaguirre is a different matter, would walk in without Enrique

 

I'd take Gary Hooper as backup, he'd get into our team now for reasons stated but hopefully our new signings will be of higher calibre

 

If NUFC was competing in the SPL then we would walk it every year (with the current squad) and be enjoying CL football every year. How that league gets an automatic CL place is beyond me. They (the old firm) could not survive the EPL with current squads and would struggle in the championship.

However, the size of the old firm's support and scope would allow them to be competitive after a while. What is stopping them attracting players is the fact they are trying to cconvince them matches away to Hamilton in driving sleet are glamorous

 

Sounds more glamorous than Sunderland...

 

Something similar cropped up a few days ago. The SPL is poor. Rangers and Celtic would be in a relegation dog-fight in the PL. Yes, Celtic have beaten some big teams at home in the Champions League but these are one off matches. Over the course of an entire season they'd easily be found out. If Wigan were at home to Celtic or Rangers I'd fancy Wigan to win, same with the likes of Stoke, Bolton, Fulham, Villa, Everton etc. In reality they would both be good Championship sides. In recent years there haven't been that many really good players that succeed in the PL after being top dog in Scotland. Arteta is probably the best, Hutton has done ok, Ferguson at Birmingham has been okay. The likes of Hooper and Commons who are big players up there are Championship quality.

As for the rest, well League One or League Two at best. Some would probably struggle to survive in League Two and be in the conference.

Nothing against Scottish football, that's just the way it is.

 

This is true but only based on current squads. Lets not kid ourselves the old firm are massive clubs but their pulling power is tempered somewhat by the state of the SPL. A few years in the EPL or even championship would do them good.

Im certain they could use their size and turn it around to be competitive EPL clubs. But as NUFC fans know, in this league size guarantees nothing