Football Leagues » Scottish Premier League » SPL March 2011
SPL March 2011
Scottish Premier League News March 2011: Ally McCoist To Manage Rangers From Next Season
Ali Morrello
Celtic
What a month for Neil Lennon.
He has become the first ever Celtic manager to enjoy the upper hand over Rangers manager Walter Smith in Old Firm games, having played the veteran Ibrox boss six times now. Lennon has won four, drawn one and lost one, a record that has currently send the Hoops support into something of a frenzy.
Having promised that he would return the thunder to Celtic Park when he took over officially from Tony Mowbray last summer, Lennon has been true to his word.
The problem, however, is that his passion and energy on the touchline continue to spill over into angry confrontations too easily. The end result is that the Celtic boss is currently looking at an eight-game ban following his latest altercation with Ally McCoist in the most recent Old Firm game.
After a protracted battle with the SFA, Celtic accepted a revised ban of four games after a spat at Tynecastle in which Lennon was guilty of swearing at the fourth official, Steven McLean, after Celtic were denied what was later shown to be a penalty.
Initially handed a six-game ban for his reaction, Celtic fought and had the ban revised to four games. This week, though, Lennon's feud with McCoist, which saw Scottish politicians and police wading into the argument, has resulted in a further two game ban - which will double - which will double due to his misconduct record this season.
For his part in the incident after Rangers' 1-0 defeat, McCoist will also receive a two-match suspension.
However, it is the more pressing and sinister threats to Lennon that some believe could prompt him to quit a post that he has so readily made his own in such a short space of time. Death threats and hoax suspect packages have meant that Lennon has had a 24-hour guard on him, issues that are reminiscent of the problems he faced while a Celtic player.
First-team coach Alan Thompson has confirmed that Lennon might consider his future at the end of the season and weigh up whether to expose his partner and young son to any further risk or distress.
Bullets were sent in the post to Lennon in January and loyalist paramilitary groups issued threats that his home and family would be targeted while he was at a match. The Catholic former Northern Irish international has had to deal with various sinister and sectarian episodes since joining Celtic as a player in 2000.
"It's staggering," Thompson said. "I was having a beer with him on the Friday night before the Old Firm game here 12 days ago and we got rushed out of where we were. He was taken home and given 24-hour surveillance for him and his family for two nights, the night before the game and the night after the game.
"There has been live ammunition sent to him and then this, well, this is just unbelievable. People think he should just live with it, accept it and get on with it. But it's a hard way to live your life. It's not new to him, he's had them before and no doubt he'll have them again. But they're going to take their toll. This one again today, it's just happened."
Thompson said it was unlikely that Lennon would consider resigning before his first season as a manager was over, but he could consider doing so in the summer. "His family are first and foremost - both in Scotland , his partner Irene and his little boy Gallagher, as well his mum, dad and sisters back home.
"Only Neil and his family can make that decision but I'd be surprised if he goes anywhere in the next nine or 10 weeks. He's got strong people around him. I'm sure the chief executive [Peter Lawwell], [major shareholder] Dermot Desmond, the rest of us around him and his family, will back him.
"We're in three domestic competitions, which we're delighted with, so I would be very surprised if anything happened between now and the end of the season. I think it will be something he will sit down and look at in the summer."
Celtic had maintained that their discipline was upheld throughout Wednesday night's derby, while Rangers had three men sent off, but Thompson revealed that Lennon recognised he had gone too far by reacting angrily when McCoist told him to stop being aggressive towards Rangers players.
"Neil has apologised to the board. He sat down and spoke to them in the last day or two. He apologised and drew a line under it. He knew that the club had standards and he felt he stepped over the line slightly with his reaction to what Ally had said to him and he has apologised for that."
Rangers
That which has always been suspected became concrete this month when Rangers announced that Ally McCoist, Walter Smith's current assistant, will assume control of the club when the current incumbent steps down at the end of this season.
Smith has said that this will be his final term in charge of Rangers but his plan to bow out on a high has taken a battering over recent weeks.
After ten-man Celtic came behind on two occasions to earn a 2-2 draw in the Scottish Cup at Ibrox - and then won the subsequent ill-tempered replay - they also walloped Smith's men 3-0 at Celtic Park in the SPL encounter.
It has left the Parkhead side with the psychological edge, although when the teams meet again at Hampden in the League Cup in March, it remains to be seen if the ugliness of recent meetings spills over once again.
The teams will meet an astonishing seven times this season due to cup and league clashes and petty squabbles and personal vendettas are clearly being hauled from one game to the next.
Not even McCoist, a veteran of this fixture as a player, and Lennon, have been immune to theatrics. Both men clashed angrily after Celtic's 1-0 Scottish Cup replay at Celtic Park in a game that prompted worldwide headlines due to the aggressive tone of the game.
However, while an intriguing meeting between the two will wait next season when they will go head-to-head, McCoist himself is simply thrilled to be able to step in the illustrious post.
McCoist has been groomed as Smith's successor since the pair returned to Ibrox in January 2007. And McCoist, who scored 355 goals in 581 appearances for the club, has agreed a one-year rolling contract with Kenny McDowall stepping up from the coaching team to become his assistant.
McCoist said: "It was an honour to pull on the Rangers jersey during my playing career . I have enjoyed working with Walter, Kenny McDowall, Ian Durrant and the backroom team as assistant manager and to be confirmed as the next Rangers manager is a dream come true.
"Over the past few years I have been privileged to learn from one of the greatest managers in world football and Walter's record speaks for itself.
"The success he brought to Rangers during nine-in-a-row and the last four years in difficult times has been unbelievable and he has rightly gained the respect of everyone in the game.
"I am delighted to be following in his footsteps and I will do everything possible to bring further success to this club. I have said it many times - Rangers is a special club with a great history and tradition and this is the proudest day of my career.
"The fans have backed me for almost 20 years as a player and assistant manager and as a lifelong Rangers supporter myself I look forward to rewarding their loyalty by bringing silverware to our club."
While things have difficult domestically, however, the Ibrox side have been able to fly the flag for Scotland in Europe .
An away-goals triumph over Sporting Lisbon has enabled Rangers to progress to the last 16 of the Europa League where they will meet current Dutch league leaders PSV Eindhoven. Despite a threadbare squad, Smith is delighted to be dealing with a two-pronged fight this term.
"We will have to wait and see how the season unfolds before we see if there is any great impact," Smith said when asked how a busy schedule could effect his squad.
"You can't pick and choose. We would never consider it an inconvenience qualifying for a round in Europe. There's a pressure on Scottish clubs to do as well as they can (in Europe) so that our co-efficient level gets as high as possible."
Scotland
Former Celtic winger Aiden McGeady struck a blow for Scottish football this month when he helped cement two places for Scotland in the 2012/13 Champions League.
McGeady is now plying his football in Russia with Spartak Moscow. His goal as his club beat Europa League opponents Basle on aggregate, means that Scotland ahead of Switzerland in coefficient rankings.
The 2012/13 places are calculated on results in seasons 2006/07 to 2010/11.
Scotland are provisionally in 15th place, while Switzerland , who have no teams left in European competition, are in 16th place.
The 15th-placed country is given two Champions League places, but 16th only receives one.
Scotland were in 16th place for the current season, which means only the Scottish Premier League champions will enter Europe's premier club tournament next season.
Rangers' recent Champions League campaign, in which they finished third in their group, and progress to the last 16 of the Europa League, via an away goals victory over Sporting on Wednesday, have strengthened Scotland's coefficient.
Former Celtic winger McGeady struck an injury-time leveller on the night against Basle to help the Russian side to a 4-3 aggregate win.
Another Swiss team, Young Boys, also exited the Europa League at the last 32 stage to Russian opposition, losing 4-3 on aggregate to Zenit St Petersburg.
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