Kenny McDowall: Rangers just being ‘nice’ to Inter ahead of Celtic clash

Kenny McDowall insists Rangers are not trying to sink Celtic’s Europa League hopes by allowing Inter Milan to use Murray Park.

The Italians were given permission to make use of the club’s training base in the hours before their last-32 first-leg clash with Hoops at Parkhead.

But Gers caretaker boss McDowall said the Ibrox side were only being “nice” by welcoming the three-time European champions into the facility.

He said: “We have had other teams in here before, so this is not the first time this has happened.

“We welcome any team. The game can’t be that bad that you can’t welcome people in.

“Us as coaches, we travel all over the world and we ask teams if we can come in and watch their training and they allow you to come in with open arms when they know where you are from. So it’s nice to be nice.”

McDowall stressed that Rangers were not allowing Inter use of their facilities just because they were playing arch-rivals Celtic, adding: “There is no doubt [some people will think that) but that’s not the case at all.”

Inter are led by Roberto Mancini but McDowall admitted he was not sure if he would get a chance to meet up with the former Manchester City boss.

“It would be nice to have a wee chat with Roberto,” he said. “He was a fantastic player in his day and a terrific coach.

“We tend to leave them alone and give them their space because they are preparing for a big match tonight. We agreed to give them our pitches, so we will be on the youth pitches. I’m not too sure if we will manage to see them.”

While the Nerazzurri are focusing on shooting down the Light Blues’ city rivals in their repeat of the 1967 European Cup final, Rangers will be heading to less glamorous surroundings as they take on Raith Rovers at Stark’s Park on Friday night.

The Kirkcaldy side dished out the latest bloody nose to a bruised Rangers side two weeks ago when they knocked them out of the William Hill Scottish Cup with a 2-1 Ibrox win.

But McDowall knows his side must get back to winning ways after three successive defeats if they are not to make a mess of their promotion hopes.

Scottish Championship leaders Hearts are 22 points in front, while Hibs have leapfrogged Rangers into second after their 2-0 Govan victory last week.

Rangers have three games in hand on both Edinburgh clubs but McDowall knows his side will have to get back on track soon.

He said: “The pressure is always here for us to win games. The boys know they have not won in three so they will have to do something about that.

“Revenge is not a factor for Friday’s game. We’ve played Raith enough this season and got some of our best results against them.

“We know it will be a tough game but one we are looking forward to.

“One of the pleasing factors from the Hibs game was the tempo we got up to and we will look to keep that going.

“Falling out of the play-off places is not something we think about. We’re concentrating on getting three points tomorrow night and kick-starting our season.

“Hearts have got themselves a good lead at the top but all we can do is play one game at a time and try to get three points. We have some midweek games coming up and if we can get back on a winning run we could quickly find ourselves back up amongst it.”