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SFA to block Rangers slashing celtic ticket allocation for Scottish Cup clashes at Ibrox Ian Maxwell won’t allow Rangers to lock celtic supporters out of Ibrox if the feuding neighbours collide in next season’s Scottish Cup. Rangers have promised to cut celtic’s ticket allocation from 8000 to just more than 800 for league matches on their own ground next season. In a tit-for-tat move celtic threatened to take similar action when Steven Gerrard’s side travel across the Clyde. But under SFA rules, visiting clubs are entitled to 20 per cent of available seats for Scottish Cup ties. Which would mean both clubs could demand more than 10,000 tickets for their fans should they be pulled out of the hat together before the semi-finals. And Maxwell has no intention of endorsing a lockout on away fans as he attempts to land a bumper TV deal for next season’s competition. He said: “There is guidance in the rules, a minimum percentage.

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Q. Graham Wallace told us on Friday there was nobody in the frame for the scouting role? Do you have anybody in the frame?
 A. “It’s news to me. I didn’t know that statement had been made. I have a few people I’d like. I will have to sit down and discuss things like this because, as I keep saying, this is a priority. The scouting department is sadly lacking and we arguably need it more now than we have ever needed it in
 140 years. We don’t have one at the moment. It is in absolute tatters. It is one of the biggest and more serious problems that has arisen over the past couple of years.” Q. Would it take precedence over bringing in new players?
 A. “I would like to think it could walk hand in hand and the two could work together.” Q. Wallace’s 120-day review suggests bringing in a director of football. How will that role work? A. “I don’t know. You would have to ask Graham that. I am certainly going to ask him. Q. Will you have a say in the appointment? A “I genuinely don’t know.”
 Q. Do you need one? A. “I will need to talk to Graham about that. We definitely need help. We need help with scouting, with the medical department and with everything. I don’t know what a director of football would cover. It might cover some of that but I don’t know exactly what his role would be.” Q. How much consultation was there before Graham made these announcements? A. “We had consultation on that appointment. But not at any great length or in any great detail.The fact he is making the appointment to help would certainly encourage me.” Q. Sometimes these guys effectively sign players? A. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea to be honest.” Q. What about talent identification? A. “If the manager tells him which talent to identify then that’s a good idea. That’s the best way to operate. It goes without saying, there’s no point in someone identifying talent that the football club or team don’t want, or don’t need. That would go without saying. That wouldn’t be a good idea. But obviously if he was identifying talent which the football staff want then I’d be happy with that.” Q. Did you give him your suggestions for who should be doing the scouting? A. “No.” Q. Wallace set a target of winning the SPFL three years from now. Is winning the Premier League title in 2017 realistic? A. “It’s a fair target. He’s obviously banking on getting the investment which he said we need but I’d go along with that. We’ve always set our targets high at this club. But we definitely need investment to have any chance of competing at that level.” Q. Was it naive of Wallace to say it? A. “No, not at all. You’ve got to have targets and really ambitious targets. That’s obviously one of them. But he has also said we need investment. If and when we do get that, that would obviously help that target to be achieved.” Q. What would be realistic without investment? A. “Well you wouldn’t win the top flight without investment, that’s for sure. Where would we be? I’ve no idea. Look, Celtic are so far ahead just now in terms of their whole structure and financial situation. Everything. That effectively is who you’ve got to compete with if you want to win the top flight.” Q. Are you dismayed at the amount of money that’s gone out of this place in the past two years? A. “Dismayed is one word I’d use, staggered would be another.” Q. People behind the scenes stand to lose their jobs again. How do you feel now lessons haven’t been learned? A. “Terrible, absolutely terrible. If people at our football club lose their jobs because of that ridiculous sum of money that’s gone then some people should be held accountable. And the fact people keep telling me that players who came to the club were responsible for it ... you know what, they might be responsible for it. But by that much (holds thumb and fore finger an inch apart). We brought in nine players who didn’t cost a penny in transfer fees. We brought nine players in on a wage bill which came down from last year. Looking at our wages, ratio to turnover, it’s below 30 per cent which would be the envy of any club in Britain, possibly Europe. I just checked all the English Championship clubs and our turnover last year and the lowest one, which was Blackpool, was at 53 per cent. So I will not accept the players getting any blame attached to them. They did what any player would do and that’s try to get themselves a deal to suit them and their family. The people who gave them those deals felt it was OK for it to happen.” Q. How can those responsible be held accountable? A. “I don’t know. Sadly, I’m not in a position to hold them accountable.” Q. Are there people at the club now who should be held accountable? A. “I don’t know who is accountable. We can all have a guess, of course we can. But I don’t know. I don’t know contracts, I don’t know who did this or that. It’s just not my department. But it’s definitely not down to a Jon Daly or Dean Shiels, boys who have been given a contract and are doing their best to honour it.” Q. But you were part of giving these guys contracts were you not? A. “That’s totally unfair. I told the club the boys I wanted to sign – and they went and got them. That was it.” Q. Were you the highest-paid individual at the club for a long time? A. “I have no idea.” Q. If you knew then what you know now, would you still have brought in those players last summer? A. “If I was told I could, yes.” Q. Wallace is under pressure from the fans just now – has he been straight
 with you? A. “Absolutely. Everything he has said to me, it’s been completely up front. Q. Were Wallace predecessors up front with you? A. “I don’t know. I would have to see where the finances have gone.” Q. You’ve backed other guys up until now – is it different with Wallace? A. “Graham has been completely up front and completely honest with me.” Q. The sales of season tickets have been slow. Can you understand why? A. “Yeah, of course I can.” Q. Is that disappointing? A. “It’s understandable. Obviously, I want as many people to watch Rangers as possible but I can understand the reasons why they have been slow. If I could change it, I would but we just have to play with the cards we’re dealt.”

ALLY McCOIST last night came out fighting in the battle for Rangers and insisted he and Walter Smith would never stop acting in the club’s best interests. The Rangers manager rubbished claims allegedly made by director Imran Ahmad that he and Smith are “running Rangers into the ground by not cutting costs at Murray Park from £10million to £5m”. Ahmad, the closest ally to ousted chief executive Charles Green, is also said to have accused the Ibrox legends of “trying to run the club without putting a penny in”. These accusations were posted under a pseudonym on a Rangers supporters internet forum. It is believed the electronic trail leads to commercial director Ahmad’s official Rangers email account and that he will leave Ibrox as a result. Rangers have already launched their own investigation into last May’s Green-Ahmad takeover – particularly any links they had with disgraced former owner Craig Whyte. This week has seen some of the most bitter in-fighting in the boardroom since the Green consortium bought the club and McCoist has no idea when the off-field dramas will end. But he was adamant he and Smith, who is on the Ibrox board as a non-executive director, would keep fighting for the benefit of Rangers. He said: “I don’t see an immediate end to it sadly but we just have to prepare as well as we can for next season. “The allegations didn’t upset me at all because the vast majority of people will know they are not true. Anything Walter and I would do is, in our opinion, for the best. “We have in no way, shape or form attempted to take over the club. I can speak for Walter because I know the man – everything we are doing is to benefit the club. “We are not trying to take it over – that’s absolute nonsense. We are trying to do our own wee bit to take it forward.” McCoist believes the vast majority of the fans will take some comfort from the fact people with a genuine love of the club are trying to fight their corner from inside. He added: “I would hope that is the case. I’m a lot happier having Walter on the board. This time last year, it was all very new to us but I think it’s fair to say that the fans have the utmost trust in Walter. “People like Walter, Sandy Jardine and John Greig are people who epitomise our football club. “I don’t think it is a necessity having someone like Walter on the board but I think it’s an absolute godsend for me and the normal supporter. “Boards are made up of different individuals. I don’t think Walter would claim to be Businessman of the Year but he knows more about running the club than probably anybody else on it. “I think everybody at Rangers is genuinely thrilled he is there doing his best for us. “At this moment, no doubt supporters will be disillusioned. They must be saying to themselves ‘just what is going on?’ and I understand that. “I am just hopeful that at the end of the inquiry we can give them answers. We all deserve to know.” McCoist will meet new interim chief executive Craig Mather on Tuesday to discuss budgets. The manager said: “In my meetings with him he has seemed up front and is obviously delighted to have the job. He has been quoted as saying he would like to get it full-time. Time will tell if that develops. “The most important relationship at a club is between manager and chief executive, so I’ll be doing my utmost to make it a healthy relationship.”