Ally McCoist hits back as Celtic chants mooted by Tottenham fans at Rangers
Ally McCoist wasn’t rising to Alan Brazil’s suggestion that Tottenham would voice Celtic chants when they face Rangers at Ibrox on Thursday.
Speaking on talkSPORT (11 December, 9:56am), McCoist and Brazil looked ahead to the Gers’ Europa League clash against the Premier League side on 12 December, three days before facing Celtic in the League Cup Final.
Spurs and Celtic have no historical links other than their united goal of beating the Light Blues in the coming days, but Brazil couldn’t resist questioning the potential of certain chants on the Govan terraces.
McCoist said: “Big game, good game, I’m looking forward to it. Packed house it’ll be tomorrow.
“Rangers, there’s certainly been an upturn in from, no doubt about that – the atmosphere will be great.”
Brazil asked: “Do you think the Tottenham fans will be giving it the famous song: ‘Oh when the Celts, oh when the Celts’?”
McCoist’s reply was blunt: “I doubt it mate, I don’t know why they’d be singing that.”
Rangers need to get the balance right against Tottenham and Celtic
Coming up against two of the best teams they’ll face this season back-to-back, let alone within three days of each other, gives the Gers arguably their most difficult period of the entire campaign.
Philippe Clement won’t want to rest too many of his key men against Spurs despite the League Cup Final looming, given just how difficult Thursday’s opposition are to gauge due to their erratic form of late.
The Light Blues will back themselves to seal the points if Tottenham turn up in the form they displayed against Ipswich and Bournemouth recently, but they also smashed Manchester City 4-0 just weeks ago.
However, given Clement is yet to win an Old Firm fixture in five attempts – most recently suffering a 3-0 defeat at Parkhead in September – it would be hard to blame the Belgian for prioritising their cup final.
Clement’s side have performed superbly in Europe so far and can arguably afford to lose to Spurs, but a defeat to their arch-rivals at Hampden Park would certainly take some coming back from.
In other Rangers news, Simon Jordan questioned fans’ level of expectation given the contrast in budgets at Ibrox and Tottenham.
For more Rangers news, follow us on Facebook or join our brand new WhatsApp Channel for instant updates to be sent straight to your phone.