Holt expects the Light Blues to be at full strength
Gary Holt reckons Rangers won’t risk fielding an u n d e r s t re n g t h t e am against his Livingston side. The Light Blues head to the Toni Macaroni Arena today, less than 72 hours after their Europa League clash with Porto on Thursday night.
Like Celtic, Rangers have enough depth of squad to field a vastlyaltered starting XI.
But Holt believes, like Celtic on their last visit, they won’t – because Livi have proved themselves capable of punishing top teams.
“Neil Lennon showed us the utmost respect last time Celtic came here, as most teams do, because they know it’s going to be tough,” said the Livi boss.
“I was delighted Celtic went ultra-strong. It gave our players the chance to say, having won the game, it wasn’t because they made so many changes, or this, or that.
“Lenny said to me: ‘If you give players an excuse, they’ll run with it’.
“Clubs like Rangers and Celtic want to be in the European competitions and the cups, so don’t use the fact you’re playing Sundays and Thursdays week-in, week-out, as an excuse.
“That’s there you want to get to.
“The stronger the team, the better. I think my players deserve that.
“I think Rangers will do that. They’ve played their strongest team the last two times they have been here. So they know how tough a game it is going to be – hopefully.
“I can only hope we turn up on the day and approach it the right way, the way we do most weeks.”
Livi beat Celtic 2- 0 on their last visit to West Lothian, which took place on the Sunday after the Hoops’ Europa League victory over Cluj.
It could be argued Holt’s side profited from Celtic’s hectic schedule that day.
But, while the Livi gaffer would be happy to see his side pull off a similar feat against the Gers today, he believes both halves of the Old Firm deserve more of a break after European games.
“I do agree they should get extra time and I have banged this drum long enough. We should be helping our teams in Europe,” said Holt.
“I am a neutral, I want them to do as well as they can, I want the coefficient to go up. I want more teams to have a chance of getting there, and I want the profile of the Scottish game to be lifted.
“So give them as much help as we can.
“Every other country in the world seems to cancel games at weekends when there’s a big European game.
“We seem to go the other way and say: ‘Nah, you can have a 12pm kick-off on a Sunday after travelling on a Thursday night.’
“I think there’s got to be scope to look at that. That’s me thinking of the Scottish game.”