Rangers and Celtic fans both upset by Chris Sutton claim to cancel Old Firm, Ally McCoist appalled
Chris Sutton has been accused of upsetting both Rangers and Celtic fans by claiming the Old Firm derby “doesn’t matter” this weekend.
With the title already won by Ange Postecoglou’s side he said the final clash of the two Glasgow giants had no significance, so is hardly interested in the game at Ibrox on Saturday lunchtime (13 May).
Ally McCoist was outraged at the suggestion that an Old Firm could ever not matter, with Darrell Currie suggesting both sets of fans will be unhappy with the claim.
Speaking on BT Sport’s Scottish Football Extra the ex-Hoops man said: “As far as I’m concerned with the game it doesn’t matter does it really? It’s a bit of pride or whatever…”
“Hold on a minute, hold on a minute, did I just hear Mr Sutton say that an Old Firm game doesn’t matter?” cut in a shocked McCoist.
Sutton went on: “Look at you getting excited about a dead rubber because your team hasn’t won a game all season. Celtic may be motivated. From Rangers’ point of view it’s been an embarrassing season, there’s been a lot of talk.”
“It doesn’t matter?! You’ve lost your marbles!” replied McCoist.
Currie offered Sutton to retract the statement, saying that it will upset Celtic fans as well having already offended the Rangers support, but he refused.
McCoist suggested sarcastically that the game might as well just be cancelled and Sutton replied: “Do you know what? We may as well do.”
Wind up
It mattered even when the Gers weren’t in the SPFL so the fact that the league title is out of reach doesn’t mean the supporters have given up on this.
Clearly the stakes are lessened when there isn’t a trophy on the line but the significance of the final Old Firm of a pretty dismal season is still high.
Michael Beale may be handing the likes of Robby McCrorie another game but he can’t claim he wasn’t playing his strongest team if he loses another game against Celtic, especially when the third-choice keeper is the last man to keep a clean sheet in this game for Rangers.
It would be a significant boost for the Ibrox boss to pick up a win over Postecoglou prior to the start of next season, even if it is a dead rubber, because four attempts without victory isn’t a great record and five is even worse.
If he, and a number of the players who will still be here next year, want to lift some of the pressure off their backs for a trophy-less season then they won’t get a better opportunity to do so than by spending the summer as the most-recent victors over the Hoops.
Small victory though it may be in the wider context, it is a game that cannot be written off, and since Sutton is no doubt just trying to wind up McCoist in light of the recent results, he certainly won’t be ignoring it if the Light Blues fail to record a victory once more.
In other Rangers news, the club have had years to decide on a player who could be crucial for the future and must know what comes next in a busy summer.