Rangers gulf to Celtic 'as big' as ever as despondent Ally McCoist reels off long list of Ibrox issues

A concerned Ally McCoist has never seen the gulf between Rangers and Celtic as big as it is just now.

The champions were easy winners of the first Old Firm clash of the season last weekend, cruising to a 3-0 triumph to move five points clear in the title race with only four matches played. It was yet another derby failure for Philippe Clement, whose winless run is now five and counting against the Gers' city rivals.

McCoist had been encouraged by how close last season's Scottish Cup Final between the teams was, but that cautious optimism is out the window after his former side's latest derby showing and what he saw, or rather what he didn't see, has him fretting over what's to come. "I can't remember, sadly, looking at Rangers and Celtic's team and seeing as big a gulf, which is a major, major concern." he told talkSport.

"Celtic have dominated and have been better by a distance recently. I looked at the Cup Final last season. Could have went either way, the goalie makes a mistake and Celtic win it. You then look at the season and think, well, we'll see how it goes. And then boof, nah.

"Celtic thoroughly deserved the victory. I look at Rangers and they look lacking in leadership, lacking in direction and it's a big concern. That said, from Celtic's point of view, they've had a great start to the season and fair play to them.

"I spoke to Brendan Rodgers this morning and as you can imagine, he was in top form. They've got the Champions League to look forward to, whereas we've got problems. We have got problems.

"It's hard to say but you've got to tell the truth. And the truth is Celtic looked miles ahead of us at this moment in time, all over the pitch. Particularly in forward areas, they look as though they've got boys