DICK ADVOCAAT believes Scottish football will be branded "a Mickey Mouse competition" by the rest of Europe after the SPL refused to extend the season to help Rangers' Uefa Cup hopes.

Advocaat's Zenit St Petersburg will face Rangers in the final in Manchester next Wednesday, four days after the Ibrox side take on Dundee United in a crucual league game.

And the ex-Rangers boss, back on a Uefa Cup Final spying mission at Ibrox last night, waded into the fixtures row that has engulfed the Scottish game.

"If you tell people in Russia or Holland about it, they'll say the Scottish competition is a Mickey Mouse competition," he said.

"The egos at the SPL have to think how long it's going to be before a Scottish club comes back to the Uefa Cup Final again.

"They have said the Dundee United game is not off. But I don't understand how they can say that.

"They certainly won't understand the decision in Europe - and I cannot understand the decision. The decision is a farce, it is unbelievable."

In contrast, the Russian FA agreed to postpone three league matches in the build-up to the final after Zenit had emphatically disposed of Bayern Munich in the last four of the competition.

Advocaat added: "After the game against Bayern, I said maybe it would be a good idea to scrap our remaining games before the final.

"On the night, they said they would think about and the next day they had done it for us."

The Dutchman believes the rivalry between Celtic and Rangers lies at the root of the problem in Scotland.

"There is no doubt in my mind that the biggest problem you have in this country is the divide between Rangers and Celtic," he said.

"These are two worldwide clubs. Everywhere I go people talk to me about them. You should be proud of that and make the most of it, but instead it just seems to create problems.

"(Former Celtic boss) Martin O'Neill and I tried to calm things down with the Respect' campaign, but obviously it didn't work. Now the situation is worse than ever."

He added: "I have tried in the past with the SPL. I tried to give them ideas on a youth programme, but they just didn't want to listen to me."