Alan Stubbs reckons Ally McCoist was wrong to claim that Michael Beale has helped to close the gap between Celtic and Rangers.

The Ibrox hero said earlier this week that his former club are closing in on Ange Postecoglou's Hoops in terms of performances and results.

“There’s a train of thought that Celtic just slightly have the advantage at this moment in time but I don’t think the gap is what it once was," he said. "The League Cup final, there wasn’t a lot in it. Celtic probably just the better team. The league game at Ibrox (2-2 on January 2), Celtic started well but Rangers should have won.

“I think Michael has done well. He’ll know himself he’s got to just tweak it a little bit. He’ll obviously look to strengthen. Without giving up on this year, which I don’t think for a minute he will do or has done, he’ll know that he’ll need to make changes in the summer.

“I hope he’s given the time - and I’m sure he will - to get a couple of transfer windows behind hm where he can build his own team and his own squad. He’s only dropped two points, which is absolutely excellent."

Stubbs disagrees though, and he feels that Celtic are getting further and further away from their rivals.

He told Grosvenor Sport: “The score in the League Cup Final was 2-1 but the game wasn’t as tight as that. Celtic were pretty much in control of that game.

“I see Coisty was saying that the gap isn’t that big but I’m not so sure. There’s a nine-point gap in the league and it’s been that way for a while. The teams meet on April 8 and if, as I expect, Celtic win that game it becomes 12.

“Then before you know it the gap will become 14, 15 or 16. So I think that will be a more realistic representation of where the two teams are.

“Results have improved at Rangers under Michael Beale but they scraped a lot of these wins or were not convincing. So in terms of closing the gap on Celtic, I don’t think they have."