Alex McLeish reveals his shock at Celtic’s Ibrox win

Alex McLeish was shocked by what he witnessed at last month’s Glasgow Derby.

So too were thousands of home fans who let Micky Beale’s side know exactly what they thought of them as they took a ‘lap of honour’ following the 1-0 defeat.

Their manager wasn’t around to witness the abuse, very quickly after the final whistle he was off down the tunnel and out of sight.

In 90 minutes it was mission accomplished for Brendan Rodgers, the doubts and questions about his return were quashed with a masterful tactical display that took full points to put Celtic four points clear of their city rivals.

The match highlighted the contrast in squads and management between the two Glasgow clubs, four weeks later Beale was gone with the search on-going for his successor.

McLeish watched that match unfold from afar and was taken aback by one aspect, telling the Daily Record:

When Ange Postecoglou was at Celtic he signed quick players who could burst through the backline and soon enough you could see what he wanted to do. If you compare Rangers’ recruitment to Celtic’s, it’s not been at the same level. The dynamism isn’t there.

Look at the recent Old Firm game. You have two rookie Celtic players in central defence but Rangers didn’t lay a glove on them. Imagine what Ally McCoist and Mark Hateley would have done, or de Boer and Mikey Mols, or big Dado Prso. These guys would have sniffed it out in a moment.

Liam Scales and Gus Lagerbielke formed the Celtic central defence at Ibrox, playing together for the second time due to injuries to Cameron Carter-Vickers,  Maik Nawrocki and Stephen Welsh.

Whoever replaces Beale will face Celtic at the end of December knowing that four defeats in that fixture in nine months cost the previous boss his job.