Lee McCulloch returns for Rangers on Saturday afternoon against East Stirlingshire – but the fact that the Ibrox Captain is fit again does not mean that Andy Little will surrender the main striker’s role at Ibrox.
Having scored five goals in his last three games, Andy is now level on 22 goals with McCulloch who has been out for fully two months with an ankle injury.
With such a lengthy absence, Lee may well feature as a substitute – but in any event even should he play from the start the likelihood is that he may well feature in central defence as Ally McCoist seeks to address the problems of a far-from-secure defence.
The Ibrox boss confirmed his captain’s availability.
“Lee is back in the squad which is great news. He felt he would have been available for Tuesday but we decided to leave him out.
“We wanted to give him a full week’s training and he has come through that absolutely fine. So he will come back into the reckoning and that’s good for us.
“In the early part of the season he was banging in all sorts of goals for us and he is the club captain so he is massive figure on and off the park.
“So it will be a real boost for both the team and the supporters to have him back.”
Meanwhile the furore surrounding Lord Nimmo Smith’s judgement released on Thursday shows no sign of abating with Celtic manager Neil Lennon surely letting both himself and his club down with comments yesterday that can only be described as ‘sour grapes’.
McCoist however would not rise to the bait.
“It was what we had hoped for, it was the right decision. We felt that it was out of order to be challenged for our sporting integrity at this club. That’s why we are happy with the result.
“However I certainly wouldn’t be holding my breath looking for an apology and I personally will not be expecting one from anyone.
“I think some other fans perhaps have been finding it difficult to move on. Our fans are looking at this as a great step in moving on.”
There have been calls in the light of the Commission’s findings for Rangers to be reinstated to the SPL. McCoist however was cautious on the matter.
“I believe that Scottish football needs Rangers at the top level - but we won’t be going asking anyone for a favour. We have made some great friends on our travels across the country this season and we’ll carry those with us.”
Rangers meanwhile have announced a new shirt sponsorship deal with drinks giants ‘Blackthorn Cider’ in a deal unveiled yesterday.
The Rangers Manager commented:
“It’s been great to announce our new partnership and we certainly thank Blackthorn for coming in to sponsor the club.”
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