Jim White and Ally McCoist mock awkward Michael Beale and Ange Postecoglou photo op at Rangers vs Celtic press conference
Ally McCoist says he would fear for his life if he had to sit next to Neil Lennon before a Rangers vs Celtic clash as he laughed at the Viaplay Cup final build up.
Michael Beale and Ange Postecoglou were photographed looking embarrassed sitting next to each other at the press conference ahead of the Old Firm derby clash at Hampden Park this weekend.
And Jim White and McCoist were enjoying themselves live on Thursday morning at the awkwardness of the unconventional pre-match set up, while the former Rangers boss considered how the situation would have gone with his former Hoops opposite number.
Speaking on talkSPORT Thursday (23 February), as per the Daily Record, McCoist asked: “Who came up with that? And if you are going to do it, act happy.”
White said: “It’s as if they are sitting on a bus in Glasgow city centre. And that they have never met each other.”
In reference to the boxer’s explanation for a positive drug test McCoist added: ‘It’s as if one of them has had too many of Conor Benn’s eggs.”
White laughed and asked: “That’s right. It was if I am not speaking to him and he is not speaking to me. Would you have sat alongside the likes of Neil Lennon?”
“After a game, yes. I would fear for my own safety sitting with him before it,” McCoist replied.
Weird
Viaplay certainly know how to get themselves a bit more publicity and it has given everyone a chance to laugh in the build up.
To have the two managers at the head of the heated Glasgow rivalry looking like a pair of school kids being pointed at sat outside the headteacher’s office was entertaining for everyone except the men involved.
It is hard to imagine McCoist and Lennon in the same situation in their own era, and unless this becomes the norm in cup final preparations the Beale-Postecoglou photos will likely re-emerge periodically to be laughed at in the same way Bryan Robson’s suit and tie with shorts and socks look from when named Middlesbrough player-manager is [Teesside Live].
There’s unlikely to be many moments of levity on the touchline when the two sides actually walk out at Hampden on Sunday (26 February), because the stakes are high for the first trophy of the season.
With the league race looking like it was won by Postecoglou over Giovanni van Bronckhorst the pressure is arguably off both current managers in the title race now, so unless the two sides also meet in the Scottish Cup final this is likely to be the biggest head-to-head test for the men in charge.
Beale has been tasked with putting the Light Blues back on top in Scotland, and if he lifts his first trophy at the weekend he will land an early blow towards that, but ultimate supremacy will only be decided over time.
In other Rangers news, Chris Sutton has piled the pressure on Beale ahead of the game and claims he hasn’t backed up all his talk since arriving at Ibrox.