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Former Rangers manager Ally McCoist has offered sympathy to Celtic that they were \u201cawarded\u201d the Scottish title.<\/p>\nFormer Rangers manager Ally McCoist has offered sympathy to Celtic that they were \u201cawarded\u201d the Scottish title.<\/p>\n
Celtic are celebrating a ninth successive championship after the SPFL board ruled the season could not be finished and decided final standings on a points-per-game average.<\/p>\n
Rangers were 13 points behind with a game in hand and had nine matches left but had lost to Kilmarnock, Hearts and Hamilton in the seven weeks before the coronavirus pandemic forced play to be suspended.<\/p>\n
McCoist said on talkSPORT: \u201cAs well as offering congratulations to Celtic \u2013 you have to have a degree of sympathy as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve gone on record as saying, and I stand by it, if you\u2019re a Celtic player or a Celtic supporter, anyone involved with Celtic, you would have wanted to see the season finished. As did everybody else, because that\u2019s the only fair way to do it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s through no fault of their own, absolutely through no fault of their own, that the season has finished early and they have been awarded the title in this manner.<\/p>\n
\u201cListen, you have got to say Celtic have been the best team in the league this season by a considerable margin. That\u2019s the facts of the matter.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re 13 points clear, Rangers have got a game in hand. Could Rangers have caught them? Absolutely. Was it likely? No, not at all, and probably highly unlikely that Rangers caught them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact of the matter is they still could have caught them. The unfortunate thing for all the teams is the league campaign hasn\u2019t been given the opportunity to finish.\u201d<\/p>\n
McCoist feels there is no question that an asterisk will be placed beside the achievements of Celtic and the other Scottish division winners Dundee United, Raith Rovers and Cove Rangers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey will have an asterisk next to it, of course they will,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause you\u2019re not going to tell me you\u2019re not going to look back on this season and say they were awarded the title, they were awarded promotion. Of course thy were.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a massive difference between the use of the words \u2018asterisk\u2019 and \u2018tainted\u2019. The title and the promotions aren\u2019t tainted because it\u2019s through no fault of their own, but you can\u2019t argue there will not be an asterisk.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe asterisk will say, through no fault of their own, this season has been different.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Celtic manager Neil Lennon had earlier dismissed suggestions he would have sympathy for Rangers that their attempts to catch up had been denied.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have no sympathy for Rangers at all,\u201d Lennon said. \u201cI doubt very much any right-minded person would have envisaged Rangers catching us.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot only were we 13 points clear but we were 25 (ahead) in goal difference as well. So you could easily say we were 14 points clear.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only sympathy I have is for my own players, that they never got the chance to play out the season. We were also in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup and going for a fourth treble.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn terms of the league championship, it was only going, in our minds, to one place.”<\/p>\n