Rangers manager maintains BBC boycott following ‘appalling’ broadcast
Rangers FC manager Ally McCoist has confirmed he will not have any dealings with the BBC until he receives an apology for a national news broadcast on Friday evening.
As revealed by the Sunday Mail, McCoist is upset at what he believes to be the unfair editing of a segment in which he was asked about sectarian trouble at Old Firm matches. McCoist is shown smirking but he is angry - pointing out the smile happened after he had been asked another question.
BBC microphones were removed from the dais as McCoist gave his post-match comments after the 1-1 draw against Hearts at Ibrox on Saturday.
In The Herald today, sportswriter Hugh Macdonald quotes McCoist as saying yesterday: “I won’t speak to anyone from the BBC until I get an apology for a broadcast which went out on Friday night which, in my opinion, was appalling.
“Having worked in television for a good number of years I know exactly what went on. I won’t be marching anyone out of press conferences but I won’t speak to anyone at the BBC.”
Macdonald reports that McCoist emphasised he was not concerned about news questions being raised at a press conference organised to deal with football matters.
“I can handle left-field questions all day long, that wasn’t the problem. It was how the whole interview was put across,” he said.
“While they asked the question they showed a shot of me when I’d just answered another question. The whole thing was put together to show I had a flippant attitude towards either religious bigotry or trouble between Old Firm fans.”
On the subject of the trouble, hatred and violence that surrounds Old Firm matches, he told The Herald: “As most people know I don’t have a flippant attitude towards those subjects. There was a comment: ‘well, it might not bother Ally McCoist’, but it does bother Ally McCoist.”
A BBC spokesman is quoted by The Herald as saying: “I can confirm there has been a complaint by Rangers and we are looking in to it.”