Celtic’s Champions League cash worries McCoist

Rangers boss feels Celtic may be impossible to compete with when Rangers join them in the top flight.

Ally McCoist worries show no sign of lessening in 2014.

If his Rangers team beat Dunfermline tomorrow night, they take another stride towards wrapping up the League One title. The Pars are their nearest challengers and the team most likely to delay promotion.

But some of the Ibrox fans are already looking two seasons ahead. They have a vision of a Rangers team back in the top flight, but powerless to stop Celtic racking up 10 League titles in a row.

That scenario became a lot more likely when the Light Blues Chief Executive, Graham Wallace, talked about the club’s current wage bill being too high for life in the Premiership.

McCoist isn’t raising the white flag just yet, but he shares the supporters’ anxiety at the thought of watching their greatest rivals set new records for Championship triumphs.

He said: “I understand 100% where the fans are coming from. We’ve lost £50 million worth of players. We could argue about valuations but that’s what we’ve lost and had to replace them with free transfers.

“It’s not rocket science. You’ve got no divine right at the best of times to challenge for the top League. So when you look at the facts and figures, you shouldn’t be challenging all of a sudden.

“But that’s not to say we can’t bring in some more youngsters and do our damnedest. If that’s what it takes to move forward, then that’s what we’ll do.

“The worry is Celtic are off and running with the Champions League money. That’s obviously a big concern.

“It would be wrong for me not to look at Celtic’s finances and not appreciate the gulf between the two. But we can’t concern ourselves with Celtic. I don’t mean that in a rude way but they’re in a different place from us at the moment.”

While McCoist hopes young players can give Rangers hope for the future, he is quick to concede that, mostly, you don’t win things with kids.

He went on: “You’ve got to get a blend. There may be exceptions, but other than that Manchester United team, I can’t think of too many teams that have had seven or eight youngsters come through and gone on to be a top-class European team.

“I think that was a one-off. We’ve never, as long as I can remember, had seven or eight youngsters in the team who have come through Murray Park. You’ve got to get a balance. I really believe that.

“I think we’ve done fine in developing players over recent years when you look at the likes of Hutton, McGregor, Adam, Burke and so on. But I don’t think you’ll get too many cases like that Manchester United team.”

One light at the end of the tunnel for McCoist is that Graham Wallace’s talk of tight financial control may provide a basis for longer-term stability.

He desperately wants to be part of Rangers’ future for years to come.

McCoist said: “The football plan is what we all want, something we can look to the future with.

“Everyone keeps talking about a four or five-year project. If that’s the case, great, as I’ll obviously buy into it. And it’s important the fans do, too.”