Ally McCoist declares Hearts will win the league as ‘demise’ of Celtic and Rangers follows shared sin
The Ibrox icon has gone early with a bold Premiership prediction after the Jambos saw off Celtic
08:05, 27 Oct 2025
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Honest Ally McCoist has been converted into a Hearts title believer as he declared Derek McInnes’ men WILL win the Premiership this season.
The surprise table-toppers put marker down in the race for the league trophy as they saw off champions Celtic at Tynecastle to move eight points clear of their rivals.
While Hearts remain unbeaten, Brendan Rodgers’ men have suffered back-to-back defeats in the league.
And while Danny Rohl secured his first win as Rangers boss against Kilmarnock, the Light Blues are still languishing in mid-table after a dismal start to the campaign under Russell Martin.
Speaking to the talkSPORT Breakfast Show about Hearts’ early-season surge, McCoist said: “It’s brilliantly refreshing, certainly for the neutral – of which I am not – but it would have to be a good thing for Scottish football.
“But you have to balance it out. Would it be a good thing for Scottish football? Yes. But what is it going to take for it to happen?
“They are going to have to continue on the remarkable run that they are on, they will probably have to strengthen in the January window, and most importantly they are going to have to enjoy the continued demise of Rangers and Celtic, which isn’t good for Scottish football.
“It’s a little bit of a contradiction, but the best thing to happen for Scottish football would be for Hearts to win a brilliant league with Celtic and Rangers behind them all the way – that’s the best thing that could happen to Scottish football.
“You have to bring into the conversation just how poor Rangers and Celtic are, but at the same time you need to balance it with how refreshing it is to see Derek and his team doing what they are doing, because they deserved that yesterday. They were excellent from start to finish.
“Derek will be in that dressing room saying ‘everyone calm down’ because history tells you it’s not going to happen. But Rangers and Celtic – particularly Celtic – are poorer than they were last season and Hearts have started well. Rangers have been poor for certainly two or three years, but I do smell something different.
“They have two men in charge who know their way about. Tony Bloom certainly knows his way about, and there is nobody who knows Scottish football better than Derek. That was a performance yesterday that did nothing but say ‘we are here to stay’.
Hearts are on fire
“Do you know what they have got? A great spine. Big Halkett – I had him at Rangers and as a young kid I love him. He heads everything, solid and proper. He defends. Derek has gone and got the boy Findlay from Kilmarnock. Solid. His centre-back pairing are as solid, I think, as anything in the league.
“Up front they have Lawrence Shankland who – I will upset everyone – if Rangers had signed him a year and a half ago they would have won the league. They didn’t, he stayed with Hearts and fair play to him he has a chance of winning the league.
“They have got Claudio Braga – they produced him from nowhere this fella. He looks the part. Harry Milne I didn’t know much about but he looks the part.”
Pressed by host Jeff Stelling on the role that the struggles of Celtic and Rangers are playing in the Jambos rise, McCoist reckons that both clubs poor moves in the summer market have opened the door for Hearts.
He said: “The demise in the Old Firm squads is alarming. It has dropped off a cliff, it hasn’t fallen away. Hearts have been great and I don’t see them going away, but the demise in the quality of Rangers and Celtic is both alarming and staggering.”
“I mean Rangers, they were much better yesterday (against Kilmarnock), but they are still miles off it (the title race).
“But Rangers – and Celtic a little bit this season – have signed not only bang average players, but bang average foreign players. The quality of the foreign player in our day was massive, and if you are not going to get that, surely you give your youth a chance?”
Asked straight if Hearts will win the league, McCoist smirked: “Yes. Oh, what have I done – I’ve got to go back up the road!”
