Ally McCoist is hurting after Hearts’ beating of Rangers effectively ended their chances of taking Celtic’s Scottish Premiership crown.
Hearts remain top of the Scottish Premiership table and are genuine title contenders as Celtic’s win against Aberdeen keeps the gap to the capital club to six points.
With Rangers 12 points off the top, Ally McCoist was asked to take his Rangers hat off and give an honest opinion on what he thinks of Hearts’ challenge to Celtic.
It doesn’t appear that the Celtic players don’t want to play for Wilfried Nancy. This is a nice wee moment.
And it’s clear McCoist is in pain as he is forced to admit through gritted teeth that the challenge the Tynecastle club poses to Celtic’s domination is a breath of fresh air.
Ally McCoist says Hearts Celtic title race is ‘brilliant for Scottish football’
Celtic can reduce the gap to Hearts to just three points if Nancy wins his game in hand before the end of the month.
And it seems that with Rangers being 12 points behind and almost certainly out of it, McCoist is now forced to admit that Hearts’ challenge is ‘brilliant for Scottish football’.
McCoist told talkSPORT, “If you’re not a fan of Rangers or Celtic, it’s brilliant for Scottish football, isn’t it? Come on. Let’s not kid ourselves on, it’s a breath of fresh air.
“The only thing you would say, is that they’ve been in this position before when I played, you could argue they had a better team, and it was 1986 and they lost the last game of the season up at Dundee.
“And I’m not sure they have ever recovered from that. I remember that. It was absolutely incredible. But what they’ve got, the benefit is, they’ve done really well and they look as if they’re up for it.
“They look as though they are together.”
Would McCoist have the same feelings if Rangers were top of the league right now? We are not so sure.
McCoist says Celtic and Hearts transfer window is huge
With the January transfer window just over a week away, Celtic have a lot of work to do to give Nancy the tools to strengthen his team for the title challenge.
And McCoist reckons that the start of 2026 could be crucial for all three clubs.
McCoist continued, “What a window it’s going to be for them, Rangers, Celtic and Hearts.
“Tony Bloom, right now, you’re looking at your team, you’re six points clear with Celtic with a game in hand.
“Equally important, you’re looking across to the west, they’re looking at Rangers and Celtic, and you’re not scared. You are not scared.
Celtic backed to spend £20 million in January… can you see it happening?
“This is the opportunity of a lifetime, I think. So in the window, I just think you’ve got to go and give Derek support, whatever he needs.
“If you’re running Hearts, you say to Derek, ‘What do you need? How many do you need? Many do you need to push?’ Two, three?’. You go and get them.
“I mean, it’s not great for me, I’m a Rangers man, but in terms of you guys [the media], it’s brilliant.”
If the Celtic board want to show they are serious about owning up to their mistakes, January is the time to do it.
If they want to prove they are serious about backing Wilfried Nancy, prove it in the transfer window. Because if they don’t, Hearts will win this league and then there will be no hiding place for every single person that sits on that Celtic board, including Dermot Desmond.
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