Ally McCoist never wants to see Celtic demoted and claims they missed Rangers during top flight absence

Rangers legend explains why he would not want to lose rivalry with Celtic

Ally McCoist insists he would never want to see Celtic demoted from the Scottish top flight or suffer a similar fate that befell Rangers in 2012.

Rangers' all-time leading scorer, who also managed the club during their rise back up through the divisions after they were placed into the fourth tier following liquidation, admitted that he would miss the Old Firm derbies too much if Celtic ever went the same way.

And he went as far as to claim that Celtic missed their arch-rivals during their four-year absence

Rangers legend Ally McCoist would not want to see Celtic demoted from the Scottish Premiership. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)

McCoist won back-to-back promotions, taking the Ibrox club as far as the Championship, before leaving in 2014 as Mark Warburton took charge before eventually steering the club back into the Premiership in 2016.

Speaking on talkSPORT, McCoist addressed a Liverpool fan who admitted he didn't want to see Everton relegated from the Premier League. Asked if he would want to see Celtic drop out of the Premiership, McCoist firmly answered: "No. The bottom three would suit me fine.

"The games against each other are what we all generally live for. I was at the 3-3 game (at Ibrox), tremendous. When Rangers went down to the third division, I don't care what anybody says, you missed us. You missed the Old Firm games, because there's something special about them.

"So I understand that - I don't think Liverpool fans would want Everton to be successful, but they love the games against them, and they would miss the games against them."