Ally McCoist, the Rangers assistant manager, yesterday leapt to the defence of his club over the withdrawal of four players from George Burley’s Scotland squad in midweek, claiming that it was “naive” of people to question the integrity of Rangers or the club’s loyalty to Scotland.

McCoist, who appeared in place of Walter Smith on the eve of today’s Old Firm game at Ibrox, chose to vehemently defend his club in the face of much cynicism over the withdrawals of Allan McGregor, Barry Ferguson, Lee McCulloch and Christian Dailly from the squad to face Croatia in midweek.

“The one thing everyone seems to have overlooked is the fact that the Scotland medical guys had a look at our boys and declared them unfit,” McCoist said. “Everybody knows the importance of this Old Firm game, but the fact is, our guys were deemed unfit by the medical staff.

“The criticism has been unfair in the respect that our guys were carrying injuries – that is a fact. I know it, having seen them at close quarters. We’ll never know, had it been a World Cup qualifier, whether the boys might have played or not – in that case the medical people might have deemed it a sacrifice worth making. But the fact is, our lads were declared unfit.

“The boys want to play for Scotland. Everybody wants to play for Scotland. And no one can pick or choose which games they can play in – no one has had that privilege before, and no one ever will, I hope. But we’ve had call-offs before with Scotland, and it will happen again.”

Warming to his theme, McCoist cited both his own playing experience as well as the career of Walter Smith, a former Scotland manager, as evidence of the weakness in the allegations of disloyalty being levelled at Rangers. “No one knows both sides of the fence better than Walter,” McCoist said. “He’s been the Scotland manager and he is the Rangers manager. Walter knows how important it is for any player to be represented at international level, so any attack on him is laughable.

“Also, people shouldn’t forget that I was out for a year [in 1993] with a broken leg after playing for my country, but I never once mumped or moaned about it. It is an honour to play for your country, so I find it a bit naive of people to question players’ dedication to playing for Scotland.”

Having said that, McCoist did admit that three of the four missing Rangers players – Dailly being excepted – would probably figure for the club today against Celtic at Ibrox. If Rangers win they will go six points clear in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League, with a game in hand.

“Two or three days can be an awful long time in terms of a knock or an injury, so I’ll be disappointed if they are not available for selection,” McCoist said. “It is a matter of patching the guys up and just getting on with it. All we’ve done really is some light training.”