Don’t punish Old Firm for being in Europe, says angry McLeish

RANGERS manager Alex McLeish has called on the administrators of the Scottish game to help its top clubs instead of punishing them for being in Europe.

For the second game running, an Old Firm fixture has become the centre of a row between an Old Firm manager and the Scottish Premier League.

McLeish is unhappy that the visit of Celtic to Ibrox today kicks off at 12.30pm just 55 hours after they arrived back in Glasgow following a Champions League game in Greece.

Last season, for the final derby, it was Celtic who cried foul, claiming the SPL was biased in favour of Rangers when a similar timescale was imposed on them following a UEFA Cup semi-final in Portugal.

Celtic won the derby on that occasion so McLeish was confident his players could repeat the trick.

But he insisted the powers that be had still been guilty of mismanaging the situation. He said: "The players can handle it. Celtic proved that last season. They came back after a late trip to Portugal and beat us at Ibrox.

"It doesn't mean we can't win. But if teams are playing in Europe we have to see it as a positive. It wouldn't have happened in England," he said.

McLeish also insisted he had been unhappy with the arrangement ever since the clash with the Champions League away date had become apparent, with his anger not just sparked by 10-man Panathinaikos' late equaliser on Wednesday night.

He said: "Why didn't we learn the lessons from last season? To say I am only angry this week is nonsense because as soon as the draw was made I questioned it," he said.

SPL spokesman Stewart Thomson refuted McLeish's suggestion that Rangers' attempts to have the fixture changed had been ignored.

He said: "We received no formal complaint." But he refused to comment on the prospect of future Old Firm derbies being rescheduled to avoid a repeat scenario. Celtic's 2-1 win on April 27 was the last time Rangers were beaten.

O'Neill will be without Bobo Balde the giant defender was sent off for lashing out at a Hibernian player last week and automatically misses the top-of-the-table clash.

But O'Neill will be able to call on defensive duo Joos Valgaeren and Johan Mjallby after lengthy injury lay-offs while Didier Agathe is expected to recover from a thigh problem.