Premier League legend desperate for Rangers to bottle title race as Celtic wink leaves fans screaming at TV

Premier League legend desperate for Rangers to bottle title race as Celtic wink leaves fans screaming at TV

The former Newcastle United goalkeeper is keen for Rangers to slip up in a race with Celtic.

Premier League legend Shay Given is keen to see Rangers stumble and fall in the title race with Celtic – as he knows his verdict will leave fans screaming at their small screens.

The Newcastle hero made 450 appearances in the English top flight as a goalkeeper, keeping an impressive 113 clean sheets across time with the Toon, Blackburn, Man City, Aston Villa and Stoke City.

It cemented his status as one of the division’s best-ever keepers, with only 17 shot-stoppers in its history keeping over 100 clean sheets.

Before EPL fame, he was in the Celtic youth academy, where Kenny Dalglish spotted his talent and brought him to Blackburn.

His Hoops allegiances haven’t left him if his latest verdict is anything to go by.

Philippe Clement’s Rangers are two points ahead of Brendan Rodgers’ Hoops in a tight race for the Premiership title. Both feature in the Scottish Cup quarter-final matches this weekend – with Celtic hosting Livingston and Rangers going to Hibs – but attention will soon turn back to the ultimate honour.

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Given is hopeful that the Light Blues will be served a custard pie, but knows it will likely be a photo-finish the way things are panning out. He told Football Focus when asked if Rangers would come out on top: “I hope not! Rangers fans are shouting at the TV now. It’s exciting again from a neutral point of view – there’s a real title race because Celtic have been so strong over the last number of years.

“They have only played each other twice so far. It’s so close and it’ll go down to the wire. I hope Brendan [Rodgers] can swing that deficit around of course but it’s an exciting title race north of the border.”

The Celtic VAR controversy took a sharp turn this week after the SFA charged Brendan Rodgers for his post-match comments after the 2-0 defeat to Hearts last Sunday.

The Celtic manager was fuming with John Beaton after his intervention led to the dismissal of Hyunjun Yang and the award of Hearts’ penalty for a Tomoki Iwata handball.

Rodgers didn’t hold back when he was asked what he thought of the decisions and after he branded the SFA officials as ‘incompetent’ that prompted action from the national association to charge the Celtic manager.

However, it seems that the case against Rodgers isn’t as cut and dried as the SFA are hoping for and it seems that what Alex Cochrane did immediately after Yang’s supposed dangerous tackle may well back up the Celtic manager’s latest stance.

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The Yang red card was the topic of discussion between Mark Guidi and Paul Cooney when the journalist shared what Cochrane did after the challenge may well help Rodgers’ case against the SFA.

Guidi said [The Go Radio Football Show], “It’s interesting that Brendan Rodgers has introduced the lawyers into the equation which we know now happens.

“And it will be interesting to see how the SFA lawyers will make it stand up in terms of what Brendan Rodgers has been charged with, why he’s been charged with it and what he said has brought about the charge.

“It’s also going come down to the referees report. And there’s Brendan Rodgers letting the public know that the report on the red card, the wording that was used to justify the red card [where the SFA claim there were studs in Cochrane’s face] doesn’t actually add up.

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“It’s a yellow card but there’s no force and I think if you look at the point of contact, it’s around about Cochrane’s shoulder. The top of his chest.

Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images

“If you look at the player’s reaction as well, and I understand his reaction, but he holds his face, the contact’s not with his face.

“But legally, when lawyers are involved, it’ll be interesting because I think the SFA have a right job on their hands.”

Like Guidi, I am also interested to see how this goes. Generally, whenever Celtic go up against the SFA they have a pretty good track record of being successful.

And if Rodgers does escape any punishment, then he will be free to manage from the Ibrox dugout in the crucial top-of-the-table Glasgow Derby clash next month.