Ally McCoist begs Rangers to swerve Celtic 'paranoia' and slaps Michael Nicholson down for playing a 'dangerous game'

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Ally McCoist urged Rangers not to become paranoid over refereeing decisions like Celtic as he shut down talk of a conspiracy against his old club - and took a swipe at Parkhead chief Michael Nicholson.The Ibrox strike legend was in the stand at Hampden as the Light Blues were denied an extra time penalty in their Premier Sports Cup final defeat to Celtic which SFA refs chief Willie Collum has now admitted was an unacceptable decision from VAR duo Alan Muir and Frank Connor.McCoist admitted it was a howler from the officials in Clydesdale House as they failed to spot Liam Scales’ pull on Vaclav Cerny continuing into the box but wants Rangers and new CEO Patrick Stewart, who fired off a letter to Hampden chiefs on day one of his new post to demand answers, to accept it now and move on.At the height of the 62-year-old’s playing days during the 1990s, Celtic earned the reputation for being paranoid over officials and former chairman John Reid implied historical institutional bias against the Hoops in a letter to the SFA in 2010 when he said: “We won't be treated as less than anyone else.

Those days are gone.” That came after Dougiegate when former referee Dougie McDonald was found to have lied to ex Celtic boss Neil Lennon.And at last year’s Celtic AGM, chief executive Nicholson was asked about issues in a Celtic match against St Mirren with one shareholder querying, “What should happen if a referee and VAR misses a key decision?”.

The Hoops chief quipped: “Penalty Rangers.”And in an exclusive interview with Record Sport, McCoist said of Gers’ next move as the fallout from Sunday’s controversy continues: “Rangers can’t do anything else.