TalkSPORT viewers and listeners discovered a different side to Ally McCoist this morning as the carnage at Ibrox came to the attention of those outside of Scotland.
Coisty is known as the fun loving, wise cracking Jock with a gag for every occasion, he happily supporters England and spends most of his working week hoovering up pay cheques from a variety of broadcasters.
Below the smile lies the guy that was caught singing along with Jimmy Bell, John Brown, Derek Ferguson and the rest while Chick Young interviewed Graeme Souness in the Tannadice dressing room in April 19990 for BBC Scotland.
With disastrous results McCoist has managed both Ibrox clubs, against Phil Clement’s Queens Park result he can offer up an Alloa, Forfar, Falkirk or Raith Rovers cup exit. Faced with a League Cup semi-final with Celtic in February 2015 he opted to go on gardening leave with Kenny McDowall and Iain Durrant left in charge of the squad built by their absent colleague.
No individual carries more responsibility that McCoist for the state of football at Ibrox.
In his first few months managing Rangers he led them to defeats against Malmo and Maribor, with no European football the bills stopped getting paid, administration arrived in February 2012, four months later the club died, placed into liquidation.
McCoist decided to TUPE his salary over to Charles Green’s Tribute Act, he also invested in penny shares before they were sold to fans at 90p in the Official Listing.
Kevin Kyle and Ian Black were signed up to join Lee Wallace and Lee McCulloch as the new club lived in up in Division Three, enjoying a night at Trump Turnberry to prepare for facing Stranraer.
Two and a half years into the journey McCoist bailed out, taking a year on gardening leave as the debts piled up with no legacy in terms of young players emerging away from the pressure of playing in the top flight.
Mar Warburton delivered promotion at the end of season 2015/16, in the top flight Scotland’s newest club have been a laughing stock with their pompous claims not being backed up on the pitch.
As well as Celtic, over the last 12 months they have lost to Motherwell, Ross County, Kilmarnock, Aberdeen, St Mirren twice and Queens Park, some media pundits told us that Clement was A Proper Football Manager. Even Micky Beale had a better record.
Three trophies in nine seasons is a miserable return, by the end of this season Celtic could well be celebrating their sixth treble in that time.
McCoist set the tone for the new club by over spending and failing to deliver.
Austerity kicked in half way through Clement’s time in charge, with Celtic dominant the Belgian buckled leaving McCoist and others frustrated as Scotland’s most successful club move further and further over the horizon.
GAP TO CELTIC:
Miles behind them. It is a good job if you get backed, the recruitment has been shocking, it really has. You look across the city. The one thing you have to do as a Rangers manager, you have got to beat Celtic, if you are a Celtic manager, you have got to beat Rangers. It’s relatively simple, to be a success, you have got to beat the other team.
Rangers, sadly, even including the very comfortable 3-0 win against Celtic a few weeks back, are a good way behind Celtic on and off the pitch. I know Celtic got beat at the weekend. They put in a good performance in Munich and deserved to go to extra time. The gulf between the two clubs, at this moment in time, is massive. So anyone going in there is going to have to take the whole place by the scruff of the neck and give it a right good shake.
They are going to have to get backed by new owners, who financially back the new coach. The money which has been spent, you could name individuals, Cortes, people like that, it’s millions of pounds, millions of pounds, have been effectively thrown away. I know the lad got injured. The players coming in have not been of a good enough standard.
What the fans are finding it difficult to accept, and I am with them 100 per cent, is a lack of fight and lack of desire. The Rangers football team on the pitch is weak and I wouldn’t mind playing against it, to be quite honest, it’s a team you would love to play against because there is a weakness about it on the pitch and, sadly, off the pitch at this time as well.
DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES TO BE IN CHARGE?
Yes, but he is also carrying the can for his own failings. You take that job, you can complain about recruitment, you can complain about the next thing, you will get the sack, the players won’t get the sack and that is what has happened. Of course, he has to shoulder responsibility. I don’t think it is all down to him, by any stretch of the imagination.
I actually think if they had gone last year and got Lawrence Shankland (last January), I think they might have won the league, I genuinely do. If they had gone and given Hearts whatever they wanted, Shankland might have scored the goals which won Rangers the league. It wasn’t to be, Celtic deservedly came back and won the league. The decline in the club, on and off the pitch, since they won the league and were beaten in the Europa League Final, it hurts to see.
NEXT MANAGER?
Dear me that is a question, that is a question. The obvious people you would think about. Steven Gerrard would come into the equation obviously because of his success. It won’t happen now but I would have taken a gamble on Frank Lampard before he went to Coventry. I don’t see that happening.
Kevin Muscat has done well. I think I am right in saying he has won three leagues in three different countries. Could be another option. Derek McInnes would come into the equation. He is a fine manager at Kilmarnock, knows the league, players and club. There are one or two options but I don’t think there are any glaringly obvious candidates right now either.
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2 Comments
by Dando
Like McCoist anyone taking that job permanently will effectively end their career as a manager.
HH
by JC
Clement has been looking for the sack for a while now. And who could blame him. Wangled another years pay out of them. Masterstroke. And in press conferences keep saying the opposite to what fans are seeing on pitch and repeat. Wait for the reaction. And dance all the way to the bank. Very smart man is big Phil.