Chris Sutton defends Marvin Bartley but Celtic hero gaming fury comes with loaded Queen of the South 'excuse' caveat

Irked Chris Sutton has backed Marvin Bartley after the Queen of the South boss slammed his players professionalism after taking on bumper gaming sessions.

But the Celtic hero insisted that the boss couldn't use that as an excuses for a slump in results. The Doonhamers boss pointed to lengthy gaming sessions as one of the issues that have left the League One club facing a relegation scrap as he picked apart their latest defeat to Kelty Hearts. With pressure mounting on the former Hibs midfielder Bartley, he questioned his struggling Queen of the South players on how they can expect to "concentrate" in a matchday following eight-hour gaming sessions.

And despite Bartley's comments receiving criticism online, Sutton offered him support on BBC 5 Live Sport. Speaking on the Wednesday Night Club, he said: "I think this is more of an issue for younger kids who dream of playing sport at the highest level, not necessarily for professional players. They can pick and choose what they want to do.

"In fairness to Marvin, I like the point that he is making but I don't know how he can say that is why they are losing games. How can he judge that and how much other teams are gaming?

"He can't use that as an excuse and he can't really blame that. How does he know how much other teams are gaming, how do we qualify that?

"I just keep this really simple in the way I think of this - there are a lot of young kids who are desperate to become professional in any sport. You want to push yourself, so when you hear kids moan and say I wasn't quite good enough to get there - and they have sat and gamed for hours and hours every week.

"That is a waste. I think there is something in the 10,000 hour rule - you stand a far better chance if you are