McCoist Cannot Help Trying To Drag Celtic Into Ibrox’s Gutter And Disgrace.

I was at Anfield at the weekend, and the atmosphere was great except for a handful of moments all involving Steven Gerrard’s inability to comport himself like a professional. I thought it was an ugly incident when Celtic fans chucked stuff at him, but maybe he shouldn’t have celebrated his penalty like it was a late winner in a massive game right in front of us.

It was a blight on an otherwise great day. Celtic and Liverpool fans get on well and they did just fine in the aftermath, warmly praising each other online.

I focussed my ire on Gerrard in an article I wrote whilst sitting in a pub down there, and published it on Sunday after scanning the headlines to see what they had to say about the game itself.

Apart from a handful of attempts at getting a lurid headline, from some of the Usual Suspects, most people focussed on Gerrard’s pathetic attention grabbing both during the game and in its aftermath when he seemed to want to keep things going although by then nobody gave a damn. He was joined in that pursuit today by Ally McCoist.

“With the greatest of respect, it’s not been a great two or three days for (Ibrox) and Celtic, with what happened at the weekend and what happened last night,” he said this afternoon in response to questions which had nothing to do with us but which were focussed, entirely, on the maniacal incident we witnessed last night at the women’s game.

McCoist motives aren’t even thinly disguised. They are upfront and out there where we can all see them. Equating the sort of minor, but unsavoury, incident which you can see at any ground, anywhere in world football on any given day with a truly astonishing, headline making, club shaming moment like that … it’s a stretch even by his pathetic standards.

Last night’s moment of thuggishness wasn’t the work of drunken fans or even an attention seeking player. It was an attack on a Celtic manager by the assistant manager of a rival club, wholly unprovoked, in front of the cameras from Sky TV.

I struggle to think of a similar incident in recent memory.

It is already the subject of both an SFA investigation and a Police Scotland probe.

That’s enormous. That’s damning, and so is the fact that their club has – at the time of writing – not uttered a single word in condemnation about what we saw. Celtic, as we’d expect, didn’t miss. We made sure that our own statement was out there.

“Clearly this is a hugely concerning incident, falling well below any acceptable standard,” Celtic said to the print media. “We understand the matter is now being investigated and it will be up to all relevant authorities to take any appropriate action.”

McCoist can see how this story is going to develop – CNN are the latest outlet to have it up on their website, and the Guardian had it on theirs – and wants to drag Celtic into the gutter.

So do those who have suggested that an investigation will find some mitigating factor for why the cowardly Ibrox official walked up to Fran Alonso when his back was turned and he was shaking hands with Ibrox’s own players … it is hard to imagine what possible excuse they could come up with, but I do expect them to try.

I have watched a lot of football in my time, but I can’t recall many occasions when I’ve been that flabbergasted by what I was watching on screen and that it was captured live on Sky and thus broadcast around the globe should be a cringe inducing moment for everyone at Ibrox, and they’ve had nearly 20 hours to get in front of the story.

McCoist’s intervention sums up how bad they’ve been at it.

The closest anyone with links to Ibrox has come to saying something at all … and it’s a pathetic attempt to mark us with their shaming. It was ever thus. This is why things over there never change.