Chris Sutton's claim that Celtic fielded a reserve side to face Rangers had Ally McCoist leaning on made up stats to debunk it.
The pals from either side of the Old Firm divide have been known to clash on TV and radio and they went at it hammer and tong on BT Sport's Scottish Football Extra, with poor Darrell Currie stuck in the middle. They were debating last weekend's derby that saw Rangers shock the champions with a 3-0 win, one that felt significant for Michael Beale but ultimately has no bearing on either side's season.
Celtic remain on course for a Treble and Sutton reckons the fact Ange Postecoglou rotated out regular starters like Kyogo, Daizen Maeda and Greg Taylor proved they weren't bothered. McCoist though flipped the script on him, pointing out that Sutton would have "crucified" Beale if the scoreline was reversed. Host Currie chimed in, branding Sutton "disrespectful, and you can read the full hilarious exchange below.
McCoist: "You, Mr Sutton, would be the very person pointing the finger at Michael Beale and crucifying him if they'd lost that game. You'd be saying 'They can't even beat them in a dead rubber'."
Sutton: "And that would be right! Because It was half-hearted from Celtic, it was Celtic reserves..."
Currie: "It's disrespectful to those players to call them reserves!"
Sutton: "Hang on, did the player of the year start? Sorry?"
Currie: "The majority of Celtic's best team started. It's disrespectful Chris."
McCoist: "Just for the record, if you look at the appearances in the top flight, the Celtic team had more appearances this season than the side that Rangers had!
"I don't even know if that's factually true or not, I've made it up. But in all seriousness, I'm not getting carried away. It was a good day for Rangers fans in what has been a miserable season. It gave them a comfortable win against their biggest rivals, but you will never, ever convince me that a Rangers vs Celtic game doesn't matter, no matter what the circumstances."
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