“All wasn’t well”… McCoist makes claim about Rangers camp as Celtic embark on final title race run

Five games to go in the Scottish Premiership. One massive Scottish Cup Final. The next month promises to be an exciting end to the 2023/24 season.

Celtic have managed to position themselves strongly heading into the final gauntlet of Games.

A creditable draw away to Rangers at Ibrox kept the pressure on Philippe Clement’s side, which they subsequently wilted under against Ross County and Dundee.

Brendan Rodgers’ Bhoys are three points clear at the top of the table but know they must keep winning. There’s little room for error, especially with a massive derby at Celtic Park on the horizon.

Pleasingly for Celtic, even Rangers’ biggest supporters and observers have noted that their collapse is no flash in the pan.

Celtic and Rangers title race enters final phase

Ally McCoist, for example, reckons that their issues have been in the post for a while.

The high-profile pundit has pointed out their recent form is not a blip, but more of a trend. All is not well at Ibrox.

He told FlashScore: “The signs were there and I’ll tell you why. They lost to Motherwell at home (first Game in March) and their performance was very poor. But they got away with that because Celtic lost at Hearts in the same round so that was kind of glossed over.

“I could tell that all wasn’t well in their camp, but to be honest, I couldn’t see a collapse of that size coming. With the draw against Celtic they’ve only taken five points out of a possible 15.”

Celtic can’t be complacent

Like everyone else, however, even plenty of Bhoys fans, McCoist believes there’s still an unexpected twist or turn ahead.

He continued: “I really don’t think it’s finished. The one thing that will have to happen, I think, is that Rangers will have to go to Celtic and win. But looking at the other teams, a side like Kilmarnock are doing really, really well and both Rangers and Celtic have dropped points already against them.”

As amusing as Rangers’ recent woes have been, it’s true that there’s no room for complacency from a Celtic perspective. Last weekend’s semi-final against Aberdeen was good evidence of that.

Although the Bhoys came through that test at Hampden, the defensive performance was slack and damaging. Rodgers needs to keep his team sharp and fighting hard in this final run, regardless of what’s happened across the city.

The story continues this Sunday away to Dundee – a venue we know can be tricky. Full focus is needed.