KENNY DALGLISH: ITS STILL RANGERS...YOU CANT TAKE THAT AWAY Kenny Dalglish has entered the controversy over a newspaper advertisement claiming Rangers are a new club by insisting: Its Rangers. Youre still playing Rangers. The advert, placed in this weeks edition of the Sunday Herald, was paid for by Celtic supporters and claimed Sundays League Cup semi-final would be the first meeting between Celtic and the new Rangers club. Asked if Rangers were the same club, Dalglish, who played for and managed Celtic, said: Rangers is an iconic name of Scottish football, as is Celtic. On the advert, he said: If people want to do that, youd need to ask them. Its like asking me why a psychopath does what he does. I dont know. I wouldnt have an answer for what theyve done. I never saw it. He said of the Ibrox club: Its Rangers. If youre a Celtic fan, its still Rangers isnt it. It doesnt matter that Rangers have been through the mire for three years. Youre still playing Rangers. You cant take that away. The advert has produced a storm of media comment since Sunday with Alex Rae, the former Rangers player saying it was provoking things before Sundays match. Dalglish, who played for Celtic for six years before leaving for Liverpool in 1977, said Celtic fans had waited three years for an Old Firm game, adding of the fixture: Why would it mean any less? By the way, it wont be devalued either. In years to come, the League Cup semi-final, 2015, Celtic beat Rangers or Rangers beat Celtic, it wont say : By the way, Rangers struggled for three years and they were in the Championship. It will still say the score. He said the absence of the match had damaged Scottish football, adding: Internationally you just have to look at what happened to the television deal to tell you its been a loss. So its been a loss financially for a lot of clubs, maybe the only ones who have benefited would have been the Dundee clubs because they fill their ground when theyve got the derby. For everybody else theyve suffered financially by Rangers not being there, as well as Rangers suffering financially and I think Scottish footballs suffered because the TV deal was more lucrative when they were in the Premiership. Dalglish, who briefly managed Celtic in 2000, does not believe Ronny Deila would lose his job if Rangers triumphed on Sunday. I just dont see if Celtic were to lose the game that it would be the end of his career at Celtic, said Dalglish who was in Glasgow to promote online gambling firm, 666Bet. I dont know how they would recover - Im not a psychic - but I dont see how it would be the end of a managers career if he goes out of the League Cup. Mark Hateley, the former Rangers striker, who was also at the event, commented briefly on his relationship with Ally McCoist, the Rangers manager, who is on gardening leave from the club. There were reports of a fall-out between McCoist and Hateley, who played up front together for Rangers. These emerged after reports claimed the Englishman had canvassed opinions from Rangers players over the McCoist regime. Hateley said: Im not here to answer that one. That was a load of absolute rubbish, thats all Im going to say on that. I dont know where the story came from but its absolute rubbish. Ive not spoken to him. He tried to call me and thats where we are with it. He added: I have no phone numbers and I wouldnt even phone a first-team player. Never have done and never will do. heraldscotland/sport/football/dalglish-its-still-rangers.117025970
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 01:20:40 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015