Ally McCoist claims he’s ‘devastated’ at the current state of Rangers on and off the pitch — and says he’s all but written off the prospect of his former club winning the title.
Forced to play at Hampden for an indefinite period this season due to building work at Ibrox being delayed, Philippe Clement’s side have already gone out of the Champions League qualifiers to Dynamo Kyiv and fallen two points behind Celtic in the title race.
While Rangers did progress to a meeting with Dundee in the last eight of the Premier Sports Cup on Saturday by beating St Johnstone, a crowd of less than 20,000 at the national stadium was reflective of the current situation.
The Ibrox board are looking for a new chief executive to replace James Bisgrove — with St Mirren vice-chairman Jim Gillespie believed to be a front-runner.
But while McCoist believes Rangers were entitled to feel sore about Jefte’s bizarre dismissal against the Ukrainians last week, he fears the squad Clement currently has at his disposal will be incapable of keeping pace with Celtic this season.
Rangers manager Philippe Clement has not had his problems to seek this season
Clement has watched his side crash out of the Champions League – and lose ground on Celtic
Rangers legend Ally McCoist has voiced his concern about how things are going at Ibrox
‘It is worth mentioning we saw one of the worst refereeing decisions in years which did have an influence on a game of such importance,’ he said. ‘That aside, Rangers are short at this moment in time. There’s no way Rangers could handle the Champions League.
‘I’m genuinely devastated at what’s going on at my club. I’m looking at it and the recruitment, goalkeeper (Jack Butland) aside and (Dujon) Sterling aside, has been unbelievably poor. They have given money to people to spend who quite frankly haven’t spent it wisely at all.
‘We’re not even playing our home games at Ibrox now. The fans, I’ve seen it in the last couple of games — there’s big gaps at Hampden. That’s not Rangers. That’s not where Rangers should be.
‘On the pitch, and it breaks my heart to say it, we’re miles off it.
‘And off the pitch as well we’ve got an unbelievable amount of work to do. There doesn’t seem to be any leadership. The previous chief executive has gone to Saudi Arabia and I’m not sure about the job he did, by the way.
‘There was a few quid spent on players — £3/4million here and there. We’ve got problems and they have to be be addressed as soon as possible.’
McCoist feels Clement is largely a victim of circumstances but holds out little hope that the Belgian will be able to prevent Celtic from winning a fourth successive Premiership title.
‘I have genuine sympathy for the manager because at this moment in time it’s pretty clear he has to get a few out the door before he can get any in,’ he added.
‘The fact of the matter is the squad at this moment in time, I don’t think, sadly, is good enough to win the league.
‘The best we can hope for is always to win it and I am the eternal optimist, but if Rangers win the league it will be one of their greatest triumphs ever.’
Meanwhile, Rangers have issued indefinite bans to four supporters following an incident before the game against the Perth team on Saturday.
A 51-year-old woman, St Johnstone’s supporter liaison officer, was allegedly assaulted and robbed prior to the match at Hampden Park.
Police Scotland confirmed a 22-year-old male was arrested and charged, while two further arrests were made when another instance of trouble broke out following the initial incident.
A Rangers spokesperson said: ‘Rangers can confirm it has issued indefinite bans to four individuals as enquiries continue following the incident outside Hampden Park on Saturday.
‘Rangers has reached out to the St Johnstone employee to check on their wellbeing and to apologise on behalf of the club.
‘We abhor and condemn all incidents like this in the strongest terms and continue to support Police Scotland with their ongoing investigation.’