Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths has dismissed claims made by Dave King that the champions should have established a bigger gap on opponents as "ludicrous".

King said on Wednesday that he believed Celtic should have enjoyed more success and that Rangers were closer to challenging their neighbours than many though. He said: "In footballing terms, I don't think Celtic are as far ahead as they could have been," adding: "I don't think that Celtic did as much in those four years as they could have done"

The Rangers chairman's comments surprised Griffiths, coming after a season where Celtic picked up all three domestic trophies without losing a game and finished 39 points ahead of third-placed Rangers in the Premiership.

Griffiths asked: "What was the gap? Thirty-odd points?

"How does he expect it to be bigger?"

The striker then pointed out the results in head-to-head matches between the sides and said that the points gap was "mad".

"They were touting at the start of the season about how they were going to win the league and this and that," he said.

"Joey Barton was coming up and talking about how he was going to be the best player in Scotland and he lasted a few months.

"First game, they got hammered 5-1. They got hammered 5-1 at the end of the season so the gulf couldn't be any bigger.

"This season they'll try and bridge the gap but for him to come out and say that we should be further ahead is ludicrous, really. Thirty-odd points is mad.

"If you said to somebody at the start of last season that Rangers would be thirty-odd points behind Celtic at the end of the season then they would be raging."