McCoist Lavishes Praise on Earnshaw


Earnie to Scotland?

By Chris O'Brien
November 30 2003

Glasgow Rangers legend Ally McCoist has lavished praise on City striker Robert Earnshaw admitting he would love to see the Welsh international playing his football for either Old Firm giant. The ITV pundit also revealed the interest in Earnshaw from supporters of both Glaswegian giants. New Page 8

McCoist Lavishes Praise on Earnshaw
ITV television pundit Ally McCoist has been praising City strike Robert Earnshaw, confessing he would love to see the Zambian-born striker playing for either of the Old Firm giants.

McCoist's comments follow on from rumours uploaded to Bluebird to the Bone suggesting that both Rangers and Celtic are lining up bids for the Welsh international when the January transfer window opens.

The Premiership football pundit and Question of Sport team captain believes Earnshaw would be a huge hit in Scotland, and has talked of letters of admiration from fans of both Glasgow giants for the pint-sized forward.

"Let me tell you something, the papers in Scotland have been full of Robert Earnshaw over the past few weeks," said the former European Golden Boot winner.

"Whenever I've looked at the sports letters pages, fans have been saying, 'We've got to get this Earnshaw lad' - and that goes for both Rangers and Celtic supporters.

"They're all mad for him. They've heard of this boy who's scoring goals left, right and centre and they want him playing up here."

Celtic currently look the more likely of the two Old Firm clubs to make a bid for Earnshaw. Rangers are in a financial mess, and following elimination from the European Cup, Rangers supporters can only hope their team secure Uefa Cup qualification to keep them amongst Europe's elite.

However, their arch-rivals Celtic need only a point from their final Champions League game against Lyon to secure qualification for the second-phase, which would heap rewards financially. Earnshaw would also form a formidable partnership with Welsh team-mate John Hartson if he moved to Parkhead.

"I'm from the other side of town but I know how much the Celtic fans have taken to big John Hartson." added former Glasgow Rangers star McCoist.

"Now they see this player, who's another Welshman and knows all about Hartson's game, and they're saying let's go out and get him.

"You can see why. Football is very much a global game now and a lot of people will have heard about Robert Earnshaw. He's got the goalscorer's instinct and bags of pace. I think he'd do great north of the border."

The record breaking Bluebirds goalscorer has already had a taste of life in Scotland. Perhaps a little less glamorous than life amongst the Old Firm though, Earnshaw was sent on-loan to Greenock Morton during the 1999/2000 season, where he netted two goals for the Scottish third division outfit. Earnie came close to making his move to Morton permanent, with a fee of £10,000 quoted in the media. How times have changed - should a bid from the Old Firm come in January it would be expected to be in the region of around £5,000,000!

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