RANGERS DIRECTOR ALASTAIR Johnston has suggested that Celtic’s bid for a record-equalling nine-in-a-row would be devalued if they were awarded the title without the season being completed.

As things stand, Celtic have a 13-point lead over Rangers with Steven Gerrard’s side imploding since New Year. No one knows when football will resume and Johnston, the former chairman at Ibrox, is sure to antagonise Celtic fans with his comments.

He said: “I don’t want to be frivolous about it but a lot of Rangers fans have reached out to me and basically said, ‘Mr Johnston, if Celtic are designated as the winners of the league, does it mean they have won eight-and-a-half in a row?’ That’s not something you want — that asterisk. So ideally I can’t imagine that anybody really wants to have their efforts undermined or compromised or not appreciated.”

To add to the problem, a number of Scottish clubs are hitting cash-flow problems, and desperately need a pay-out of prize money to keep their ships afloat. That can only happen if the league is declared over – now.

“The ideal would be to get the full season done, but there is also the reality of the financial situation,” said Johnston. “Can you actually afford to run by June? You’ve got a lot of players that are out of contract at the end of June. What’s going to happen? The financial circumstances of football clubs right now is also significant.

“Ideally from the clubs’ standpoint and for the integrity of the game, we would like every effort to be made to finish the season. That’s going to be challenging. There is still April, May, June and potentially July before things get going again, but we’ve got to be realistic. We’ve got to work with reality and not aspiration, no question about that.”