Ibrox manager McCoist ‘threatens’ Royal Navy’s nuclear submarines

» Phil Mac Giolla Bháin

Rangers boss McCoist has been accused by the Ministry of Defence of risking ‘national security’

WHEN Glasgow Rangers (1872-2012) were in their tax-dodging days in the first decade of the millennium, the British military were fighting in two wars and their soldiers were dying through the lack of appropriate equipment.

Clearly the Ibrox faithful and the boardroom barons love the British crown forces (as we’ve seen from the sensational video revelations of their Armed Forces Day shenanigans, including a loyalist karaoke on the pitch in full military uniform) – it’s just that they don’t want to pay for them.

But now the manager of ‘New Rangers’ or ‘Sevco’, Ally McCoist, has been blamed for potentially torpedoing Whitehall’s multi-billion nuclear submarine fleet.

McCoist has been accused by the Ministry of Defence of “risking national security” after building an artificial harbour at his Highland retreat.

The Royal Navy top brass say that the breakwater on the Cowal Peninsula could be a hazard to nuclear subs from Faslane, on the west coast of Scotland.

According to press reports in Scotland, McCoist had not sought permission to erect the breakwater on the remote northern shores of Loch Fyne.

He submitted a retrospective application for planning permission for the “tidal breakwater built with gabion baskets and bollards constructed on a slipway”.

But in a written objection to council planners, the MoD claimed that secret underwater microphones placed in the area to detect threats from dastardly foes could be disturbed.

The local authority has ordered McCoist to demolish the structure after hearing the admirals’ views but McCoist is appealing the decision.

Her Majesty will not be amused: tax dodging during wartime and now threatening to sink the Senior Service in the tranquil waters of Bonny Scotland.