Ally McCoist believes that uncertainty over the Rangers tax case is effecting his players.

On the back of a week where attention has centred on the clubs financial problems a Scottish Cup exit was the last thing that the club needed.

Less than 20,000 fans turned up to watch Dundee United win 2-0 to cut off another source of revenue for the troubled club.

One of footballs oldest cliches is that players put other problems behind them when they go on the park but asked about a crisis at the club McCoist admitted that the outcome of a £49m tax bill is effecting his players

“I think the crisis point comes with the tax case more than anything,” the Rangers boss said after his side’s Scottish Cup exit. “That’s the biggest problem that the club faces, I don’t think there is any doubt about that.

“What we all need is clarification on what’s happening so that we can move forward. The uncertainty regarding this tax issue is the biggest problem that we have.

“You could use the word ‘crisis’ in terms of the tax case, but we need to know one way or another where it stands and what we face so we can deal with it and move forward.”

Rangers failed to bring in a striker during the transfer window but after losing Nikica Jelavic to Everton McCoist is hopeful that he has the budget to bring in a free agent.

He added: “ I think if I went to Craig with a player that we could maybe bring in he would certainly have a look at it. We’ve got two or three targets.

“I haven’t gone as far as the finances but I know two or three players that would be appealing to us.

“But I will not bring anybody in who I don’t think can go into the team or better the squad. I don’t think there is any point in that at all.”

The verdict on the Rangers tax case isn’t expected to be known for several more weeks.

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Paul Lambert has dismissed Rangers bid for Grant Holt but joked that he’d help his skipper move to Celtic!

A £1m bid from Rangers for the 29-year-old was instantly dismissed by the Canaries as the Ibrox side searched for a replacement for Everton-bound Nikica Jelavic.

Ally McCoist was unable to add a forward to his squad despite stating that he wanted to bring in two new strikers during the transfer window with the bid for Holt never likely to succeed.

“The Rangers bid was nowhere near our valuation,” the former Celtic skipper confirmed. “I told Grant what was going on and he gave absolutely no indication that he wanted to talk to them.

“If he had it might have been different. A move to Rangers might have been attractive to a lot of players but they are not as strong as they used to be.

“Everybody wants to play in the Premier League and Grant is no different.

“He has waited a long time to get into the Premier League and it’s great for him to be playing here, considering where he has come from.

“So while it was a flattering offer, I never expected him to want to leave. Mind you, if it had been Celtic I would have driven him up there myself!”

Holt was in the Norwich side that beat Bolton 2-0 yesterday with Lambert’s side sitting comfortably in ninth place well clear of the relegation dogfight.

Since taking over as manager from Bryan Gunn Lambert has enjoyed almost constant success with yesterday’s three points especially satisfying for the Norwich boss.

Lambert added: “In my time, which is nearly three seasons now, that’s as good as it’s been because of the circumstances and the desire they showed.

“They were brilliant. They were fantastic. It’s a blow when you lose your two centre-backs. I can’t remember that happening to me before.

“The two lads who went off are big, big players and Bolton are a big side. It showed the desire of the lads to not get beaten.

“We deserved to win the game. I thought we were dominant, and we might have got another couple of goals.”

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Terry Butcher couldn’t hide his anger at Celtic’s Scottish Cup win over Inverness claiming that it was like a training match.

Goals either side of half-time from Georgios Samaras and Scott Brown gave Celtic third third win of the season over Butcher’s side as the visitors made it 15 domestic wins on the bounce.

Inverness went out of the League Cup to First Division part-timers Ayr United but the former England World Cup hero felt that today’s defeat was more disappointing.

“It was like a training match for Celtic today,” Butcher claimed. “They worked harder than us and that is an awful thing to say.

“I can’t believe how frustrating it is and how disappointed I am. We just let everybody down.

“Celtic could have scored more goals and the only positive I can take from the game is that we only lost 2-0.

“We hardly had a shot, we hardly had a cross and we hardly had any decent play in their half and the penalty was a comedy of errors.”

Caley Thistle striker Jonny Hayes was just as devastated tweeting: “Apologies to anyone who paid for that today! Terrible performance mainly from myself! No excuses against a better team.”

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Neil Lennon has gone into detail about the financial meltdown facing Rangers and expressed no sympathy for the Ibrox club.

The past week has seen the mainstream media finally catch on to the depth of the club’s problems highlighted by the desperate need to sell Nikica Jelavic to bring in much needed cash.

Ally McCoist is now operating under the financial constraints that Lennon has been working under since he took over from Tony Mowbray in 2010.

While Walter Smith was able to splash the cash on Jelavic and James Beattie at the start of last season the Celtic boss had to scour the world for cut price signings like Emilio Izaguirre, Biram Kayal, Gary Hooper and Anthony Stokes.

“I have a certain sympathy with Ally McCoist,” Lennon told the daily newspapers yesterday having earlier touched on the subject in a Sky Sports News interview. “He’s in his first year in the job and I’m sure that he didn’t envisage the problems that he’s had.

“But somebody must have seen in coming. Do I have sympathy in that respect for them? No. Have they brought it upon themselves as a club? Yes.

Explaining the reality of how Celtic have to operate Lennon added: “We have cut our cloth accordingly for years and had to bite the bullet a few times.”

Lennon’s comments come as the prospect of administration or even liquidation is freely discussed about Rangers.

An automatic 10 point deduction will apply in the event of administration but liquidation is a whole new area for the football authorities to deal with.

Liquidation would mean the end of the club formed in 1873 but a new club would almost certainly be formed.

How the authorities deal with a newly formed Glasgow club probably playing out of Ibrox Stadium remains to be seen. Any new club would have to be registered with the SFA and then apply to the SFL or SPL for membership.

There will be a will amongst some clubs to welcome the new Glasgow club into the SPL for commercial reasons but there are bound to be dissenting voices concerned about any such move.

At that stage Stewart Regan and Neil Doncaster will need to earn their salaries and ensure that Scottish football is seen to be operating within the Financial Fair Play guidelines about to be introduced by UEFA.

Celtic’s u-19 match with Hibs scheduled for noon at Lennoxtown has been postponed due to a heavy overnight frost.

The decision is a big disappointment for John Kennedy side who are already three matches behind Edinburgh rivals Hearts and Hibs.

All six of this weekend’s fixtures on the u-19 card have now been postponed with Celtic next in action against Inverness Caley Thistle on Tuesday followed by Sunday’s SFA Cup trip to face Aberdeen at Pittodrie.

John Kennedy is hopeful that tomorrow’s u-19 clash with Hibs at Lennoxtown will beat the weather, kick-off 12 noon.

All five of the other u-19 fixtures scheduled for the weekend have been postponed with a win tomorrow allowing Celtic to go into second place ahead of the Edinburgh side on goal difference with two games in hand.

“The forecast is hopeful overnight and we want the game will go ahead,” Kennedy explained.

“We had a game against St Mirren ten days ago and we want to get back into the way of playing every weekend and are looking forward to facing Hibs.

“We need to get on a winning run if we are to get among the prizes. Hibs will be tough opponents, it was a really tight game against them earlier in the season when we won 4-3. They caused us a few problems and we’ll have to be on our toes.

“They beat Hearts in the cup and have good footballers that can cause problems, their second in the table and it’s a game that we can look forward to.”

Celtic’s 2-1 win over St Mirren was achieved without Marcus Fraser, Dylan McGeough, Filip Twardzik and Paul George.

All four will be available tomorrow giving Kennedy plenty to choose from when he gets round to selecting his team.

“We’ve got a good squad of players available,” the hoops coach added. “Players know that there are others waiting to get their chance.

“Everyone knows that there are players eager to step in and play, the competition is good for everyone.”

On Tuesday Celtic are at home to Inverness on league duty and face Aberdeen at Pittodrie in the quarter-final of the SFA Youth Cup next Sunday.

You can follow the action from tomorrow’s match on twitter with an early morning weather check on whether the game goes ahead.

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Steven Pressley has been called before the SFA to explain his comments after the League Cup semi-final defeat from Celtic.

At half time in the match the Falkirk boss angrily confronted referee Euan Norris about Celtic’s first half penalty and continued to question the impartiality of the official after the match.

“I’m so disappointed for the players,” Pressley claimed. “We gave so much to the game and it was decided on two debatable decisions.

“The two pivotal decisions in the game went Celtic’s way and we paid the price for that.

“I just wanted justice for my players. The issue for me is would it have been given in the other box? That’s the question for me.”

Pressley will have that very question answered when he appears in front of the SFA on February 23 and will also have a few questions to answer himself.

Rule 68 of the SFA states: “No recognised football body, club, official, Team Official or other member of Team Staff, player or other person under the jurisdiction of the Scottish FA, shall in an interview, a ‘blog’ on the internet, on a social networking or micro-blogging site, or in any other manner calculated or likely to lead to publicity (i) criticise the performance(s) of any or all match official(s) in such a way as to indicate bias or incompetence on the part of such match official; or (ii) make remarks about such match official(s) which impinge on his character.”

Hopefully after the hearing the Falkirk boss will retract his comment or explain what he was implying.

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Celtic boss Neil Lennon has spoken out about the financial crisis at Rangers in an interview with Sky Sports News.

After a week that saw Ibrox chairman Craig Whyte under attack from former directors the extent of the clubs debt has come under greater media scrutiny.

While some people are already lobbying for Rangers to remain part of the SPL regardless of their finances the Celtic boss takes a more pragmatic look at the situation.

Lennon has made a net profit on Celtic’s transfer dealing and didn’t inherit the richly assembled squad that Ally McCoist enjoyed at the start of the season.

Celtic have been regularly criticised for operating within very tight margins with the hoops boss hoping to enjoy the benefits of that policy.

Lennon told Sky Sports News: “I’m not in the camp who believe the SPL, or Celtic, need a strong Rangers. I’d be quite happy if we were a lot stronger than Rangers.

“A lot of people think Celtic and Rangers need each other, well at the minute we don’t.

“We’re in a strong position financially with good young players coming through but we’ve had to work hard and be patient for that.

“We are talking hypothetically as we don’t know what the outcome is going to be.

“But the people who suffer the most as always are the supporters and I have a lot of sympathy for the Rangers fans with the situation being the way it is at the moment.”

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Celtic’s Scottish Cup clash with Inverness Caley Thistle looks certain to beat the weather and go ahead tomorrow.

Despite predictions of snow and heavy frost across the British Isles the highland capital looks set to escape the worst of the weather.

The trip north on the A9 is one of the most dreaded of the season for Celtic fans with memories fresh of last seasons double postponements including one in April!

At midnight tonight the temperature will dip down to -1 in Inverness but be up at a balmy plus 3 at noon rising to plus 4 by the time the final whistle goes.

Any fans unwilling to risk the journey can always head along to Lennoxtown for the u-19 clash with Hibs which kicks off at 12 noon.

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St Johnstone chief Steve Brown has slammed Rangers attempts to sign Francisco Sandaza following the sale of Nikica Jelavic to Everton.

The Spanish striker rejected a pre-contract offer from Rangers earlier in January but was reportedly subject to renewed interest as the transfer window closed on Tuesday.

Mervan Celik was the only player to join Rangers during the transfer window with Brown sceptical about interest in Sandaza.

“Rangers didn’t make an offer,” the St Johnstone chairman told the Sun. “They made inquiries, but it didn’t move from their position of a few weeks ago.

“They knew our figure was £300,000 and they were quite a bit away from that. There was no indication Rangers were willing to pay money for Fran. Rangers knew our expectations and didn’t even come close.

“We thought we might miss out on the top six without Fran, so the financial fall-out would have been quite big.

“We didn’t think we would lose Fran to Rangers, but we thought a Championship club might come in for him.

“It was made clear all along we wanted to keep Fran. He’s our top scorer and speculation is part and parcel of the transfer window, but now we can move on.”

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