Rangers legend Ally McCoist has given his two cents on refereeing loyalties after a controversial video of Premier League referee David Coote went viral.
McCoist, 62, was responding after a video of David Coote criticising outgoing Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp with expletives went viral on social media.
The Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) have since suspended Coote pending a full investigation into the derogatory rant which was uploaded to social media.
The viral video has been a hot topic of debate in the English media as a result, with Ally McCoist discussing the situation with referees in Scotland on radio station TalkSPORT.
Ally McCoist talks refereeing allegiances
Speaking on TalkSPORT’s Breakfast Show, Rangers legend Ally McCoist was talking about refereeing allegiances in football.
South of the border, officials are asked to confirm their footballing allegiances to ensure referees don’t end up officiating matches where their team is playing.
But a similar system is not realistic in Scotland, where Rangers and Old Firm rivals Celtic are the two most widely supported teams in the country.
Ally McCoist has backed up the officials and claims that it is ‘not important’ what team referees support given they are professionals.
The Rangers legend also claimed that whilst there were times he felt a referee never gave his side ‘a fair crack of the whip’ he never had any inclination of genuine bias on the part of officials.
Especially in the Old Firm derby.
Rangers legend ‘never’ felt Old Firm bias
“I don’t think it’s important,” responded McCoist when asked about referees confirming their allegiances.
“Correct (because we are talking about integrity). Let’s take it north of the border, you would suggest that there would be numerous officials either supporting Rangers or Celtic, as they are the two biggest clubs in the country.
“Don’t have a problem with it. It wouldn’t interest me who they support. If they wanted to tell you who they supported or asked who they supported, and they told you. I wouldn’t have a problem with it.
“Once you start questioning the integrity, honesty and decision-making of the officials, that’s where you have a problem.”
When asked if he ever had referees in the Old Firm derby where he felt the whistler favoured one side more than the other: “No, no. Never. Never. Never.
“I might have had referees where I felt they hadn’t given us a fair crack of the whip with decisions. But I never believed for a minute that they were supporters of the opposition.”
