Scotland's Premiership better than England's Championship, says Peterhead's Simon Ferry

Former Italy forward Paolo Di Canio was Simon Ferry's manager at Swindon Town

Former Swindon Town and Portsmouth midfielder Simon Ferry thinks Scotland's top flight is a match for England's Championship and League One.

The 29-year-old, presently with Peterhead, was responding to criticism of Rangers and St Johnstone's results in the Europa League last week.

"I've seen a lot of people saying they think the Championship's a better standard," he told BBC Scotland.

"But I found it easier playing in England than I did playing up here."

Rangers only managed a 1-0 home win over Progres Niederkorn of Luxembourg, while Saints lost 2-1 in Perth to Trakai of Lithuania.

St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright even went as far as to say that his side would have been outshone technically by any of the teams they had been drawn against.

But Ferry, who started his career with Celtic before four seasons with Swindon and a year with Pompey, says the failure of Joey Barton and Niko Kranjcar to shine with Rangers last season is proof that the Premiership is no easy league to play in.

Simon Ferry suffered relegation after Peterhead lost their play-off against Forfar Athletic

"Having played against Championship and League One teams, I think the Premiership is a better standard," Ferry told BBC Scotland's Sportsound.

"Teams like Celtic and Aberdeen were miles ahead of teams like Burnley and Fulham I played in the FA Cup when they were in the Premier League.

"The speed they play at up here is hard to adjust to and you see that with Barton last year and Niko Kranjcar and they are good football players, but they struggled with the pace of the game up here."

Ferry, who also experienced Scotland's top flight with Dundee before joining Peterhead in 2015 and will begin the season in Scotland's fourth tier, made the comparison with his time in England's League One and League Two.

"I think you get people coming up here thinking they are going to get an easy ride and it isn't," he added.

"The game is very quick and you need to be very fit to play it, but maybe down there it is a little more tactical."