Scott Brown accepted Rangers fate as Ayr boss makes ‘second string’ admission after Scottish Cup clash..

The Celtic great took to the dugout with the Honest Men earlier this season at Ibrox..

Scott Brown always knew he’d have a tough job on his hands taking his Ayr United side to face Rangers in the Scottish Cup.

That proved to be the case as Philippe Clement’s side went out 2-0 winners but it could have been more albeit the Honest Men put up a fair fight. Brown was confident the moment he got the manager’s post that Clement would never deploy an inferior starting XI against the Celtic icon as fans would never tolerate it.

But, with a grin, he concedes the contrast in quality was clear when Rangers brought on highly-paid players compared to Brown’s own subs of youngsters making debuts.

Brown told the Celtic State of Mind podcast: “You get the job and it was already in the works, the draw had been made. You’re headed to Ibrox. It made the club a lot of money, it was wonderful for the budget. But I’m sitting there thinking ‘Yep. I’m confident they’re not going to play their second team against me.’

“As they did, they played their strongest team. But the lads competed hard and defended effectively, we were in the game for 78 minutes until they scored their second goal. You had to be proud of the lads, some of them had never played at Ibrox, and you can see the difference.

“But Rangers were bringing on players on 30k, 40k per week. We brought on a young youngster at 17 for his debut. We actually brought on two 17-year-olds, whereas they brought on Lundstram and somebody else. It displays you the levels.”

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