Ally McCoist found himself embroiled in controversy after comments he made during Rangers’ Europa League clash with Manchester United, with Ofcom now responding.
Rangers gave a good account of themselves despite tasting defeat against Manchester United last month, but it was an incident off the pitch that caught much of the attention.
During the clash, Rangers supporters were heard singing sectarian chants from the away end, leading to criticism from an SNP MSP, at which point McCoist praised the noise they were making.
Many were drawn immediately to the incident and expressed their concern at the chants that were seemingly lauded by McCoist, at least in the opinion of some.
Ofcom decision made on Ally McCoist after Rangers incident
McCoist described the noise from the away end at Old Trafford as “amazing”, but appeared to be completely unaware of the nature of the chants that were echoing behind him.
At least that’s how Ofcom have seen the incident after 14 complaints were said to have been made to them from people clearly upset with the anti-Catholic chants.
Via The Sun (18 February), Ofcom have cleared McCoist of any wrongdoing with the incident believed to not warrant an official investigation
A statement released says: “Complaints related to chanting by fans, and to Ally McCoist describing the supporters as ‘amazing’.
“As the chants were not clearly discernible and the comment from Ally McCoist appeared to refer to the general atmosphere, our assessment found that the content did not raise issues under our rules.”
Ally McCoist cleared by Ofcom after Rangers chant v Man United
Quite frankly, this type of incident has cast a dark cloud over Scottish football for some time now and it’s already past the point of it needing to be stamped out of the game.
However, it is highly unlikely that there was any malice or intent behind the comments made by McCoist when he was commentating on the game.
Given the noise and atmosphere, it’s debatable whether he could hear what was being said.
Things certainly need to change in Scotland, though, with the issue of sectarian chanting far too prominent in the current game and that needs to be the focus before anyone else is penalised for an incident of such a nature.
Rangers impressed against Man United, but their performance was largely overshadowed by the happenings away from the actual game itself.
