Ally: Stevie’s ready for Anfield return
expect John to say his team are the best. He’s got to back up his team. I would be sitting here criticising him if he said Rangers were the best team and Celtic were up against it.
“But from where I’m sitting if Rangers win the league by 10, 12 points, whatever, you have to say they’re the best team in the league. They have been the best team by some considerable distance. Their league campaign would indicate they’re the best team in the country.”
McCoist is relishing the crunch, although, sadly it will again be staged without fans inside the ground. The respective abilities of both teams to handle eerie playing conditions this term has been a major discussion point.
He said: “Rangers have coped with it exceptionally well. It’s a strange one.
“Old Firm fans are fanatical. We’re all in agreement that if you make a bad pass or miss the target with a shot, mistime a tackle, they’re quite quick at letting you know that. I don’t know if you’ve noticed that!
“I just think certainly some of the players at Rangers and Celtic will not be missing that side of it.
“My own take is that it’s as patient a Rangers team as I’ve seen in a long time. They’ll get the ball into wide areas and, if they feel it’s not on to cross, they’ll come out and
ALLY McCOIST insists Steven Gerrard needs no stepping stone from Rangers to Liverpool.
The ex-Ibrox boss is adamant the current incumbent of the Light Blues hotseat is already getting the perfect preparation.
McCoist reckons Gerrard will struggle to get a better grounding if he’s looking to end up back at Anfield one day.
He said: “I don’t know what Steven wants. I hope one day he does manage Liverpool, if that is what he wants. If he wants to manage England, I hope he gets that wish too. Only Steven can answer that.
“I would be surprised if he doesn’t stay at Rangers for the foreseeable future but then I am not in Steven’s shoes.
“Going to Crystal Palace or going to Newcastle, is that going to benefit his managerial career now or should he stay at Rangers?
“I don’t see any difference going from Rangers to Liverpool or Crystal Palace to Liverpool or Newcastle to Liverpool. We have been down this road before. I don’t think there is any getting away from it, the quality of the league is far better.
“But you are not going to probe down the other side. I don’t know if, as a centre forward, I could have handled it! But it’s excellent. They’ve been allowed to do it and rightly so, because it’s been coached into them. “But I don’t care what
anybody
BY CRAIG SWAN manage bigger clubs in the UK than Rangers or Celtic.
“What an example Brendan Rodgers is and it is an incredible achievement what he is doing at Leicester. He did a great job at Celtic and has gone back down.
“I genuinely don’t think it matters to intelligent football people. If you are doing a good job then that will be taken into account and Steven’s doing that.
“I just think he is intelligent. The vast majority of time, he thinks about everything he says, he knows what he wants and he has got good people around him.
“I don’t know if going to Palace and finishing 15th in the table will get you the Liverpool gig before staying at Rangers and maybe winning the title again or getting a run in the Champions League.” McCoist believes Gerrard has boosted Scottish football’s standing since his move. He said: “He’s a superstar. The profile he has given Rangers and Scottish football down south, and throughout the world, is absolutely
massive.” says, there would be an element of the support demanding that the ball be put into the danger area earlier. I include myself in that, as a football fan. I can be a bit impatient. “So Rangers have handled the situation of having no fans as good as, if not better, than anybody. In some ways, it’s a tragedy Rangers fans have not been there to see their team in this unbelievable campaign but the players have handled it well.” ●McCoist was speaking to promote coverage of Rangers v Celtic exclusively live on Premier Sports – available on Sky, Virgin TV and the Premier Player. Prices start from £10.99 per month.