Some Man Utd fans won’t accept Raheem Sterling, says Ally McCoist

Former Rangers striker Ally McCoist spoke to Squawka about this weekend’s Old Firm derby.

McCoist gave his thoughts on the gap between Celtic and Rangers as well as how important it is for both sides to win this weekend.

The Scotland international also looked at Scott McTominay and Billy Gilmour’s reported moves to Italy, Raheem Sterling’s Manchester United links and Ivan Toney at Chelsea.

For non-regular Scottish Premiership viewers, how would you describe the gap between Celtic and Rangers these days?

It breaks my heart to say it, but it looks kind of big. We will find out more at the weekend, there’s no doubt about that. But naturally, I can’t lie to you, I’m concerned. Of course I’m concerned. And I’ll qualify that to say normally anything can happen in an Old Firm game, but Rangers go into this as big an underdog in an Old Firm game as I can remember to be brutally honest.

Celtic started the league well. They had a terrific pre-season to be honest with you. Some of the results they had were very impressive with good, solid victories. And at the start of the league, I watched the game against St Mirren, they were very, very comfortable. (Callum) McGregor’s playing well again, they eventually got the Adam Idah deal through, he played centre forward, looking good. (Reo) Hatate, (Daizen) Maeda back in the side, (Cameron) Carter-Vickers back from injury at centre-back. Obviously the signing of the goalkeeper, (Kasper) Schmeichel as well. You’ve got to say, Brendan (Rodgers) looks as though he’s got Celtic in a pretty sound and stable place at this moment in time. Sadly, and unfortunately, I can’t say the same about my own team.

I’ve got a good bit of sympathy for Philippe Clement. I think he clearly wants to bring his own players in, but there doesn’t seem to be any finance at this moment in time for him to do it. I think previous people at the club have made decisions and the recruitment has not been good enough to be honest. Aside from the goalkeeper (Jack) Butland and (Dujon) Sterling, the recruitment has been questionable at best.

The manager has already said that he needs to get a few out. He’s trying to get, perhaps, (Todd) Cantwell out, (Ianis) Hagi looks as though he might be on his way out. And it looks as though that will have to happen. Scott Wright, I read this morning, it looks as though he might be on his way to Birmingham. So if you look, there’s absolutely no comparison between the clubs in terms of stability at this moment in time. And obviously speaking from the blue end of the city, it’s a big concern for me.

Since Rangers returned to the Scottish Premiership, they’ve only beaten Celtic in their first meeting of a season twice – compared to Celtic’s eight (from eight seasons). How important is it for both sides that they do get this win?

I actually think it’s absolutely vital that Rangers find a way not to get beat at the weekend. And the fact I’m saying that, it probably does sound negative and defeatist, and I hate myself for saying it, but it’s the way I see it right now. If Rangers get a victory at Celtic Park right now, it would actually be an unbelievable result. I really think it would be unbelievable. It’s not impossible by any stretch of the imagination, but I think it would be an incredible result.

But, amazingly, and I don’t think I’ve ever said this, if you offered the vast, vast, vast majority of the Rangers support a draw right now, I bet you they’d take it. And that’s never the case in a Rangers-Celtic game. Rangers, obviously you can argue, they dropped two points at Tynecastle. Tynecastle can be a difficult place to go, but they (Hearts) had a bang average start to the season, aside from that draw against Rangers, and they’re having a struggle. So you can look at that result and probably say it’s two points dropped. Although, watching the game, Hearts could have won it. So for Rangers to go five points behind Celtic after games, it’s not good.

It’s not good, particularly in a league where you don’t see the big two dropping points as often, particularly Celtic, dropping points against other teams. Kilmarnock did it last year and did it to a great degree of success with Derek McInnes. Derek did fabulously, particularly against Celtic with a couple of victories. They’ve had a slow start this year Kilmarnock, they will bounce back, I don’t have any doubt about that. Obviously, European football as well, perhaps it’s taking its toll a little bit.

But the Old Firm games in recent years have become so important. Back in our day when we played, other teams were finishing second to Rangers and Celtic. Hearts, Aberdeen, Dundee United and teams like that. But now, generally speaking, the gap between the two is as big as it’s been in a long, long time, which makes the Old Firm games all the more vital.

It’s very difficult. Because the first thing that Man Utd would say, and you’re right, there will be a section of Man Utd fans that will say ‘why are we taking an ex-Liverpool and Manchester City player?’ Whether we like it or not, there’s a section of fans who will say that. And then a section of fans will say, ‘why are we taking somebody that Chelsea don’t want? If he’s not good enough for Chelsea, what makes you think he’ll be good enough for us?’ There’ll be a train of thought there.

I think Raheem Sterling is a terrific player. I think he had a great start to the season last year, I really do. I understand the move from Manchester United’s point of view, perhaps getting (Jadon) Sancho away and that obviously helps the financial side in terms of the homegrown talent and all that kind of stuff. And I understand from Chelsea’s point of view as well, clearly getting a player who’s not in the manager’s plans away. But I’m not convinced it suits the two players, which is the most important thing from their point of view. And I’ll be honest, I see Jadon Sancho leaving Manchester United. I definitely see Raheem Sterling leaving Chelsea as well. I’m just not sure they’ll go in the opposite direction. I think both of them could potentially go abroad. It’s just a gut feeling.

Chelsea are also being linked with Ivan Toney at the moment. Could you see Ivan Toney taking penalty duty off Cole Palmer if he does join Chelsea?

What a discussion that is. I would suggest initially, here’s one for you, no. And I’ll tell you why. I’m always a believer in the man in the possession of the jersey, it’s his to lose. So I’m of the opinion Cole Palmer takes the penalties. I don’t know his record of penalties offhand, but I know he’s not missed too many. He scores them, doesn’t he? We’ve seen him score some important penalties.

And I get it, Ivan Toney’s brilliant by the way. That run up, the no-look, the whole composed thing is fantastice. I get all that. But it would be a discussion that would need to be had between the players and indeed the management. I’d love to be a fly on the wall for that one.

But if you’re asking me right now, the man in the possession of the jersey keeps the jersey. And if that move comes about, I don’t think it’d be a bad move at all for Chelsea. I like Nicolas Jackson. I think there’s improvement in him, I think he’ll continue to improve. He scored again at the weekend, I think there’s goals in him. Still, he’s nothing like the finished article. I’m looking forward to seeing him progress, but I still think Ivan Toney would be a good signing for Chelsea, Manchester United and maybe even Arsenal.

Well I think the two lads deserve to play. We’ll start with McTominay. He’s been terrific for Manchester United and indeed Scotland. His goal scoring return, his work rate, the way he goes about it, his professionalism. Both players are a breath of fresh air, just have a desire to play football and enjoy themselves, play with a smile on their face. I just love watching the two of them.

I was at Brighton on Saturday and the wee man (Gilmour) was magic. He played in the middle of the park with 94-year-old James Milner and he was fantastic. I mean, Milner, what an amazing character as well, I’ve got to say. He is amazing, that fella. But getting back to Gilmour, he looked great. He looked fabulous, and I’m just wondering if that performance maybe gives Fabian Hurzeler something to think about as well.

But it looks as though McTominay’s time is up. He’s been a brilliant servant for Manchester United. If he goes, and it looks like he’s going, I think he would go with the best wishes of everybody involved in Manchester United, which says a lot about him as a player and as a person. And I think he should relish the opportunity of going somewhere like Napoli. Because at this stage in his career, he deserves to play somewhere every week, and I think he should and needs to be playing somewhere every week. And he’ll look at Lewis Ferguson, who won the best midfielder in Serie A last year at Bologna, who signed him from Aberdeen. He sadly got an ACL injury that kept him out of the Euros. He’ll look at that, he’ll obviously have chatted to Lewis. He’ll pick up the phone to Lewis, they’ll know each other from the national squad. And I would imagine that Lewis would only say good things about the league.

And we’ve probably got a little bit blinkered still with our league. Our league is the best by a mile, the top flight in England is the best. But you can argue that we didn’t get any teams in the semi-finals of the European trophies last year. And obviously La Liga is excellent, Bayern Munich are still flying, there are some great teams in Italy. Look at Bayer Leverkusen last year, Atalanta, teams like that. So we’re kidding ourselves if we don’t think there’s some great football outside the top flight in England. And I just think it’d be a great move for McTominay.

But I think Gilmour’s slightly different, in the respect that I could see him playing in that Brighton midfield. They’ve had a great start, with a 3-0 and a 2-1 against Man Utd at home. They’ve had a great start and he enjoyed himself on Saturday. He looked the part, but it will be like Enzo Maresca coming in (at Chelsea), you look at your staff, you look at your playing team. Who do you fancy? And I would imagine the manager will have a chat with Billy Gilmour to see if he’s wanted.