ALLY MCCOIST believes the police should have the final say in deciding the date for the final Old Firm tie this term.

The SPFL have yet to confirm the post-split fixture schedule for the final five Premiership clashes.

League chiefs and the authorities are keen to avoid giving Celtic the chance to win their seventh successive title against Rangers.

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McCoist denied Neil Lennon’s side the top flight silverware in 2012 as the Light Blues clinched a dramatic 3-2 win.

The infamous ‘shame game’ flashpoint between the pair is still recalled several years on.

And the former Gers boss insists the police advice can’t be ignored this term.

He said: “In an ideal world, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

“But Scottish football, and the west of Scotland in particular, dictates that we are.

“It’s a real shame that the people who will decide are the police. There is no way I am going to sit here and tell the police what to do because the police see what happens before, during and after Old Firm games.

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“I think it is 100 per cent correct that the police sit down with the SPFL and whoever to decide when is the best option for the game to be played.

“That in itself is a sad indictment of where we are, but it is where we are. I am 100 per cent happy with the police deciding.

“Listen, if I am Celtic, I want the game on. If I am Rangers, it wouldn’t bother me either because I would look at it as an opportunity for me to make them wait another week to win the league.

“The fact of the matter is, however, that it will be a police decision.”