Bob Malcolm has taken aim at Ange Postecoglou after the Celtic boss claims he urged his players to be careful against Alloa.
Postecoglou was left seriously unimpressed after the Scottish Cup tie at the Indodrill as Callum McGregor and Yosuke Ideguchi picked up significant injuries.
McGregor copped a facial injury from Adam King and a strong challenge from Mouhamed Niang ended Ideguchi 's game prematurely.
There was immediate outrage from the Celtic camp with striker Giorgos Giakoumakis labelling the Wasps "dangerous" - much to the dismay off opposing boss Barry Ferguson.
And Postecoglou later weighed in as he criticised Alloa and claimed he had told his players not to bother going into tackles.
The Australian said: "I will be honest, I told some of the lads towards the end of the game to just not to bother going into tackles and just look after themselves because I didn't want any more injuries.
"I just didn't feel there was control of that environment.
"Sometimes players are just reckless but that doesn't mean it is excusable."
But Malcolm, who knows Postecoglou from his time in the A-League with Brisbane Roar, wasn't having it.
Replying to Go Radio after they tweeted the quotes, the Kelty Hearts assistant responded: "He must have whispered it to them then."
Malcolm spent four years alongside Ferguson at Rangers and later served as his assistant at Clyde - where he briefly replaced him as caretaker manager.
He also worked under Ferguson at Kelty Hearts before he left for Alloa, with Malcolm staying behind to work under Kevin Thompson.
Record Sport columnist Ferguson responded furiously to the criticism as he said: “No way can I stand back and allow people to take a pop at my players. They are not dangerous – they’re just fully committed.
“That’s what I asked them to be because if you sit off a team of Celtic’s quality then they’ll destroy you. So I told my players I needed them to be fully committed and aggressive. But not over aggressive.
“If I felt any of them were out there deliberately trying to hurt an opponent then they wouldn’t be on the pitch. They wouldn’t even be in my squad. I wouldn’t tolerate it – I’d be the first one to pull them up for it if I thought they had it in their makeup, but they don’t.
“What they are is an honest group of players who give 100 per cent - they don’t ever look to endanger an opponent - and I’m disappointed to see what’s been said."
