Alan Brazil hits back at Rangers great Ally McCoist over Celtic penalty jibe live on talkSPORT
Alan Brazil hit back at Ally McCoist after the Rangers great suggested Celtic are awarded far too many penalties.
The Hoops had two penalties – one missed and one converted – in Saturday’s (25 November) 1-1 Scottish Premiership draw with Motherwell.
Rangers themselves had a spot-kick in their 1-1 draw with Aberdeen the following day, which James Tavernier tucked away late on.
When McCoist raised the fact Celtic had two more pens during talkSPORT Breakfast [29 November, 07:41], Brazil said: “How dare you. How many have you had?”
A laughing McCoist replied: “Not as many as you this year. You’ve had more spot-kicks than we’ve had.”
McCoist proved right
Much has been made of Rangers’ penalty in the dying embers against Aberdeen, which was awarded after VAR Andrew Dallas spotted a pull by Stefan Gartenmann on Connor Goldson.
Likewise in Celtic’s draw with Motherwell, when two more spot-kicks were added to their tally for the campaign.
And the plain hard statistics prove that McCoist is right when pointing out Celtic have had more spot-kicks than Rangers this season.
As per Transfermarkt, Celtic have been given eight pens in the Scottish Premiership in 2023-24, while Rangers have now had seven.
Celtic have missed three of theirs for a conversion rate of 62.5%, while the Gers have missed two for a 71.4% return.
There will forever be a debate over referees being biased towards Rangers – and indeed Celtic – but it is only natural teams who attack more will win more penalties over the course of a season.
In the English Premier League, for example, Arsenal lead the way this season with six penalties received.
All the Gers can do is continue converting the spot-kicks when they are awarded and ignore all the outside noise.
In other Rangers news, Philippe Clement could axe two players for the Gers’ crunch Europa League clash with Aris Limassol.