Relegation safety net is no comfort to Gers boss

NIALL Currie has declared that finishing bottom of the Danske Bank Premiership isn’t acceptable for Carrick Rangers, even though it won’t result in relegation.

The threat of the drop was lifted when the Championship season was cancelled in early February, but Currie is ignoring the safety net because he doesn’t want a bottom-place finish on his CV.

“The situation regarding no relegation hasn’t even entered my head and there is one simple reason for that — my chairman wouldn’t allow it,” said Currie.

“We have standards and we have expectations from the board. If we finish bottom of the league this season, it won’t matter to the chairman when he is having a conversation with me, it won’t be good enough.

“As far as we are concerned, everything is still on, we certainly don’t want to finish bottom of the league because the bottom line is that it will still be in the record books that you finished bottom, so for me that’s an area that we don’t want to be in.”

Having lost 5-0 to Glentoran and 7-0 to Linfield recently, the fixture list doesn’t offer Carrick much respite as they travel to Coleraine tomorrow.

“Anyone who has watched us would see that we have a really, really good bunch of honest Irish League footballers at this club and we are missing some of our best players as well,” added Currie. “All I ask for as a manager is just to get the very best out of every player and thankfully most of the time I am still able to get that.”

JOHN Kennedy wants Celtic to remind Rangers of their quality when they take on the new champions at Parkhead on Sunday.

Steven Gerrard’s side recently clinched the Ibrox club’s 55th Scottish Premiership title and in doing so scuppered the Hoops’ hopes of making it a record-breaking 10 in a row.

Interim boss Kennedy, who stepped up from assistant when Neil Lennon resigned last month, is keen for Celtic to put down a marker against their Old Firm rivals, whom they trail by 20 points in second place.

He said: “It is very important to everyone: the fans, the club, the players themselves. Everyone knows what it means.

“It is not, because the league is done, a nothing game, it is a game in its own right, it is a derby match and one in which we want to put things right.

“We know we have underachieved in recent (derby) games, especially the last game (a 1-0 defeat at Ibrox), where we thought it was a good performance and then we went down to 10 men and lost the game.

“But that gives us confidence we can impose our style and win the game which is the most important thing because, again, we might have lost the league title, but we are certainly not away, we are still striving to get back to being the best team in the country.”

Kennedy believes a win would lift the spirits of Celtic fans who have been unable to attend games all season due to coronavirus restrictions.

The former Celtic defender, however, stressed the need for supporters to stay at home and stay safe before, during and after the match.

He said: “It is a tough season for everyone, especially our fans who have had great success over the seasons. We went into the season with high hopes and we have not quite reached that level.

“So that has been disappointing for everyone, ourselves included, but the fans are the ones who have not been allowed to attend the games and support the team the way they want, which I imagine has been very difficult.

“We encourage everyone to enjoy the match at home, very much support the team as best you can with family and friends and stay at home.”