Celtic won the Glasgow Derby with a superb performance on Wednesday night. The Hoops were 1-0 ahead inside five minutes and three goals up at the break. However, Giovanni Van Bronckhorst was moved to complain about the ball boys being unwilling to give the ball back to Allan McGregor in a punctual manner. Furthermore, the Ibrox club lodged an official complaint with the SFA about the matter.
There’s no problem with opposition staff being unhappy at not getting the ball back in an orderly fashion. However, it cannot be something that can be used to explain the defeat, as Ally McCoist was moved to remark in commentary. Indeed, the former Rangers striker joked that the ball boys were doing “the ‘Gers boss a favour.”
Ally McCoist stunned by Rangers ‘ball boy’ complaint as he insists Celtic were doing Gio van Bronckhorst a favourhttps://t.co/lzUKUaaOo9 pic.twitter.com/pMjjZsPJbJ
— Daily Record Sport (@Record_Sport) February 2, 2022
Chris Sutton then joked that Celtic had “the most possession after the ball boys,” on BT Sport chat show Scottish Football Extra.
Well they came out swinging on today’s Scottish Football Extra 😂👇.
@chris_sutton73 and Ally McCoist exchange some blows 🥊 on this episode.
We’re on BT Sport 2 at 6.30pm.
@btsportfootball 📺.
See you later 👍. pic.twitter.com/Wz8Q8YtjYY— Darrell Currie (@darrellcurrietv) February 4, 2022
To make matters more comical, the weekend’s visitors to Ibrox, Heart of Midlothian, have today uploaded some footage of their last trip to Govan. At 1 minute 37 seconds the ball boy can be seen refusing to give the ball back to the Hearts player.
𝕃𝕒𝕤𝕥 𝕥𝕚𝕞𝕖 𝕒𝕥 𝕀𝕓𝕣𝕠𝕩… pic.twitter.com/tZYV5yaYP6
— Heart of Midlothian FC (@JamTarts) February 4, 2022
We trust the SFA were contacted by the Ibrox club and excuses were made for the result (a 1-1 draw).
How many times have we seen goalkeepers sprint to get the ball fifteen yards from goal and the turn into a sloath on the way back.
Indeed twice before the first goal McGregor did that exact thing: ignoring the ball 8 yards from him but he walked, well ambled, along the goal line and then Sunday strolled back but was in such a haste to restart the game he went the the far side of the six yard box.
If he isn’t in a hurry before a goal then he’s set his stall out and the ball boys don’t need to give him the ball.
It was funny in the second half however as it didn’t matter what side of the goal McGregor went to the ball boy rolled the ball to the opposite side of the goal. Hilarious.