'Unmitigated disaster' - Rangers legend Ally McCoist gives damning verdict on Celtic and Neil Lennon

Ally McCoist has branded Celtic’s trip to Dubai and the fall-out a ‘terrible image’ for the club and he ‘can’t remember an own goal like it’.

Celtic manager Neil Lennon defended his club's trip - but former dugout rival Ally McCoist can't agree

The former Rangers manager reacted to Neil Lennon’s angry comments yesterday when the Celtic boss gave his first press conference since his isolation period came to an end.

Lennon, assistant John Kennedy and 13 first-team players were forced to quarantine following Christopher Jullien’s positive test for Covid-19 on the team’s return from a training camp trip to Dubai.

And McCoist disagreed with the manager’s defence of the trip – and thinks the Parkhead hierarchy will too.

“It’s just been a PR disaster,” the legendary former Rangers striker and manager said on talkSPORT Breakfast. “I honestly can’t remember an own goal like it in Scottish football for a long time.

“I’ve seen the whole interview from Neil, and I can’t agree with Neil… it sounds as though his chief executive Peter Lawwell can’t agree with Neil.

“Peter Lawwell came out and apologised, and then Neil has come out and said something completely different.

“Andy Walker and I did the Rangers-Celtic game, the final whistle blew and I turned to Andy Walker and said, ‘I cannot believe they are jumping on a plane in an hour and a half to fly to Dubai’, and he shook his head and said, ‘neither can I’.

“We knew this had the potential to be a disaster, and it has been, make no mistake.”

McCoist believes Celtic fans and the wider Scottish public will also disagree with Lennon’s defence, when the manager said “we didn't abuse any 'privilege', we did the right things, we were totally professional”.

But McCoist countered: “The vast majority of the public up there think Celtic got it absolutely wrong.

“In many ways they’re trying to hide behind ‘we didn’t do anything legally wrong’, but I really don’t care if that’s the case, the fact is they shouldn’t have gone, that’s the bottom line.

“They’ve said they haven’t done anything wrong, but you think of some of the supporters who have been furloughed, who can’t see their families and they’re seeing their boys sit at a pool having a beer.

“I know they haven’t done anything ‘wrong’, but it’s not a good look. It’s a terrible image at the very least.”

A message from the Editor:Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.