NULL & AVOID
Ex-Celt Stubbs tells Rangers they’re bang out of order to call for season not to count
Alan Stubbs has warned Rangers to avoid the null and void talk on the Premiership or risk being stripped of some of their own titles.
The former Celtic star says the Ibrox club are in danger of opening up a can of worms by sticking to their guns over their opposition to the SPFL calling the season now and awarding the title to Neil Lennon’s men and Hearts being relegated.
The Hoops are 13 points clear with eight games remaining but Rangers insist the title can only be won on the pitch and that f inishing the season with a significant amount of games still to play impacts upon the integrity of the game.
Ibrox managing director Stewart Robertson also stated they are opposed to playing matches behind closed doors.
And former Rangers star and manager Ally McCoist claimed there would forever be an asterisk against Celtic’s name if the SPFL award them the title.
But former Hoops defender Stubbs warned Gers they should be careful what they wish for because preventing the season ending early could see titles they won during the EBT era being brought into question.
He said: “Rangers should be very careful because if they start saying this campaign should be null and void then what about all the leagues they won when they were later found in court to be bending the rules regarding their tax avoidance?
“The difference here is that Celtic have done nothing wrong while Rangers did do something wrong and still kept those titles.
“Plus, if anything, if the season had continued, I could only see the gap between the two clubs becoming even wider.
“For me, it’s not even up for discussion because Celtic would have finished even further ahead.
“Rangers had been more or less admitting that their season was over before the lockdown even happened and they were only ever playing for second place this year.
“Last December wwhen Ranger s bbossed Celtic at P a r k h e a d we tthought we had a ggenuine title race bbut then the wheels ffel l off for them. TThey have been rreally poor since tthe winter break.
“Sometimes you llook outside for eexcuses but it’s bbetter to look at hhome for them. TThey only have t hemselves to bblame for that.
“Celtic deserve to be champions – it’s the other end of the table where the problem is.”
Stubbs also criticised Robertson for dismissing closed-door games.
The former Hibs boss said: “That’s just a ridiculous comment because the most important thing at the moment is that people are dying out there and mass gatherings put lives at risk.”
Ibrox coach Michael Beale also came under fire from Stubbs over his claims that December’s
Betfred Cup final was the most one- sided ever, despite Gers losing 1- 0 to
Celtic. Stubbs reckons that simply highlighted Rangers’ shortcomings.
He added: “The record books say that Celtic won and t h a t ’s t he mos t important thing.
“Celtic know how to win when it matters. Rangers have lost two cup finals and five semi-finals since winning promotion back to the Premiership in 2016.
“Celtic have got the advantage in the really big games because Rangers have come up short whenever they’ve been under pressure.
“Their players have admitted that they can’t handle pressure and, when you’re playing for big clubs and that’s the case, you’re no good to anybody.”
● Five Supreme Court judges unanimously agreed in 2017 that the EBT system used by then owner Sir David Murray between 2001-10 to pay some £47million to more than 80 players, managers and club officials broke tax rules.
If anything, if season had continued I could only see the gap between Celtic and Rangers becoming even wider