Rangers players were the subject of an investigation from the club after breaching Covid-19 protocols
Ally McCoist says he’s surprised that three of the five Rangers players who recently breached Covid-19 protocols were named on the bench against Royal Antwerp.
Bongani Zungu, Nathan Patterson, Dapo Mebude, Calvin Bassey and Brian Kinnear all attended a house party earlier this month despite restrictions, and were all forced into self-isolation.
Patterson was at home in Scotland while Rangers were winning the first leg of their Europa League round of 32 tie 4-3 in Belgium, and would likely have been involved after captain James Tavernier was taken off with an injury.
Along with Bassey and Zungu he was named on the bench for the second leg at Ibrox, a day after the trio apologised on Rangers TV.
Patterson came on at half-time in the second leg and incredibly scored just 16 seconds after the restart.
Zungu also made an appearance, coming on for Steven Davis eight minutes from time as Rangers won 5-2 on the night and 9-5 on aggregate.
Speaking before the game, Rangers legend McCoist stressed that manager Steven Gerrard will have had the club’s best interests in mind when deciding to bring them back into the fold, but admitted he was taken aback to see them return so early.
Asked on BT Sport by host Darrell Currie if it was right for the players to have returned already, McCoist replied: “Well here’s the dilemma, for me Darrell.
“You’re asking me if it’s right to put them back in. Steven Gerrard’s duty bound to look after the best interests of the football club, that’s first and foremost.
“They’ve made a mistake. Now the thing that I can’t understand, with (Jordan) Jones and (George) Edmundson I think they got a ban, Aberdeen players didn’t get a ban, somebody will have to sit me down and explain it all to me.
“The bottom line is, was I surprised that they were on the bench? Absolutely 100% I’m surprised that they’re on the bench.
“But at the same time, Steven Gerrard as I say, his first priority is to look after the football club and get them into the next round tonight, and that’s the team he’s picked, so I understand it totally.”
Talking after the match, McCoist added: “Tonight it absolutely worked for him.
“Voila! What a decision.”
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