McCoist hails Lennon but has warning for Celtic

RANGERS manager Ally McCoist praised his old rival Neil Lennon for the job he has done at Celtic and admitted the Parkhead club are primed to notch a succession of Premiership titles.
Ally McCoist believes it will be difficult for Celtic to maintain their standards. Picture: SNSAlly McCoist believes it will be difficult for Celtic to maintain their standards. Picture: SNS
Ally McCoist believes it will be difficult for Celtic to maintain their standards. Picture: SNS

But he believes the lack of stiff competition will make it harder for Celtic to stay motivated next season as they bid for a fourth successive championship.

McCoist said: “Celtic thoroughly deserved their league title and won it quite comfortably in the end. They’ve got some very good players, but they’ve also lost some very good players.

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“Joe Ledley did a terrific job for them before moving to Crystal Palace. Gary Hooper scored an awful lot of goals, but he went to Norwich City in the summer. And I thought Victor Wanyama was an excellent player for them before he, too, went to England with Southampton.

Ally McCoist believes it will be difficult for Celtic to maintain their standards. Picture: SNSAlly McCoist believes it will be difficult for Celtic to maintain their standards. Picture: SNS
Ally McCoist believes it will be difficult for Celtic to maintain their standards. Picture: SNS

“Neil will now want to hold on to his current squad and look to build for the next campaign. I believe it will be very difficult for Celtic to maintain their standards when you consider they are without real competition in the league. That’s just my personal opinion. Of course, Rangers and Celtic have always provided each other with strong opposition in the past.

“Neil, though, now has the problem of maintaining the standards he has set at Celtic. He will also be looking to improve in a league you would think they would win for the foreseeable future.”

McCoist, who hopes to be locking horns with Celtic again in 2015-16 if he can guide Rangers to promotion from the Championship next season, also revealed the managers have got over their touchline flare-up after the Ibrox side’s 1-0 Scottish Cup loss at Parkhead in March 2011. He said: “We’ve kissed and made up and that’s the most important thing. What everybody should know is that about two minutes after that incident we were sitting in his office having a bottle of beer.”