Ally McCoist on how his health suffered when Rangers manager

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E10H said:
I would agree to some extent and disagree similarly mate.

I just don't think he should've done it as long as he did but he got the promotions, that was what counted most, so along with the fact he had legendary status, it was fu(kin hard to see him lose his job while winning the Leagues we were in.

I'm softening my approach to his management through time but still a couple of things rankle with me after his time in management, won't go into it.

All this considered, 27 goals in 50 odd games against the yahoos is always gonna see me have an affection for the man, for ever more.

Hard not to like the bugger and I know if I met him my instant reaction would be a smile, want to shake his hand and thank him.

That's my reality with Mr McCoist.
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I think if we had gone for an experienced Manager, we really could have built something special and McCoist just didn’t have it in him to do that, hence buying the Blacks and Sandazas of the world. This set us back as a club massively and led to huge unnecessary over-investment with no return, culminating in us having to replace entire squads for about 3-4 years. An experienced Manager could have cruised up the leagues for far less and had a settled squad and style in place for when we ultimately hit the top league. We are in part where we are due to McCoist’s abysmal tenure.

As a player and Rangers idol growing up, totally agree, an entirely different story.
 
Superrangers said:
I think if we had gone for an experienced Manager, we really could have built something special and McCoist just didn’t have it in him to do that, hence buying the Blacks and Sandazas of the world. This set us back as a club massively and led to huge unnecessary over-investment with no return, culminating in us having to replace entire squads for about 3-4 years. An experienced Manager could have cruised up the leagues for far less and had a settled squad and style in place for when we ultimately hit the top league. We are in part where we are due to McCoist’s abysmal tenure.

As a player and Rangers idol growing up, totally agree, an entirely different story.
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We would both have done it differently and ideally would be watching 6 lads in our first team just now who progressed through the leagues with us, constantly improving.

As our manager, no matter what league, you cannot fail and Ally knew this.

For all the shit players we had, he did the minimum expected until we reached the championship.

I wouldn't changed the appointment of Ally, by god we needed him, just some of his signings and time spent as gaffer.
 
Superrangers said:
I think if we had gone for an experienced Manager, we really could have built something special and McCoist just didn’t have it in him to do that, hence buying the Blacks and Sandazas of the world. This set us back as a club massively and led to huge unnecessary over-investment with no return, culminating in us having to replace entire squads for about 3-4 years. An experienced Manager could have cruised up the leagues for far less and had a settled squad and style in place for when we ultimately hit the top league. We are in part where we are due to McCoist’s abysmal tenure.

As a player and Rangers idol growing up, totally agree, an entirely different story.
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We would have needed a board at that time who would have supported that type of forward planning. There is no way those charlatans would have done that in my opinion they were too busy pillaging everything they could.
 
Jellytot2000 said:
We would have needed a board at that time who would have supported that type of forward planning. There is no way those charlatans would have done that in my opinion they were too busy pillaging everything they could.
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Whilst I agree re the Board, the management could have been far better.
 
Number Six said:
I’m glad it was you Ally when all of that stuff was going down

Maybe on the pitch didn’t work out, but who knows what we’d have as a club if you didn’t back our club

Thank you
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Totally agree,God only knows what was going on behind his back and when you consider he refused a wage during it says more about his love for the club than anything. I actually feel gutted for him that he certainly did not get the backing Walter enjoyed,one wonders what might have been if he had. And when you factor in all the abuse he took which I thought really unfair no wonder he fell I'll,trying to be there for the supporters and at the same time couldn't really say anything about what the beaks we're up to,maybe in hindsight he should have,don't think he'd have anything to lose,but a horrible position to be in. He's still a legend to most of us,if not all and should be welcomed back to some capacity.
 
I was at Annan speakers night when Novo was Speaking.

His words were bang on.

Look at Ally before he took the job and look at Ally just before he finished.

He looked fecking I’ll.

Him being a manager is a different thread altogether.

Was good to see him laughing at Killie when he heard his name sung and piss himself when Sutton got abuse x 2
 
Dado's Bandage said:
Comparing the jobs though is like chalk and cheese. The equivalent of McCoist being Prime Minister to Gerrard being a local councillor. Stevie G has arrived to a stable club with a completely professional approach and is able to get on with what he’s paid to do. Ally was involved in battles every single day to the point he was rarely allowed to do much relating to his job as football manager. I think people underestimate just how much of a disaster zone the club was behind the scenes.

It not only impacted on his health but had a huge impact on Durrant and McDowall too. If you ever hear their thoughts on it all they let you know in no uncertain terms just how much of the burden Ally took to try and protect everyone else and did things simply to try and help people feel an element of positivity.
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Yes all is true, however, there is always a but. Ally was a good statesman during the dark times but his management was found lacking and perhaps lazy. An example was Robinson who was sticking out like a sore thumb when playing, we bought Stevie Smith instead along with a bus load of finished journeymen - the Spivs did not sign these guys.

Ally had a once in a lifetime opportunity to reshape the team with a new approach, he failed on this item.
 
Always a legend in playing and done stuff offield when Manager a lot doesn’t see but a football manager, nope not for me.
In my opinion, he had the chance to restart the club playing wise, mix youth and experience and build a legacy that would be in full flow today but chose to get Black, Kyle, Cribari and so on.
That being said, he will always be a Rangers pkaying legend, was my favourite player growing up and all in the past.
 
Can I be greatful for Ally’s efforts but at the same time need a break from hearing him at the end of a bad relationship?

I love him but need some time apart.
 
E10H said:
We would both have done it differently and ideally would be watching 6 lads in our first team just now who progressed through the leagues with us, constantly improving.

As our manager, no matter what league, you cannot fail and Ally knew this.

For all the shit players we had, he did the minimum expected until we reached the championship.

I wouldn't changed the appointment of Ally, by god we needed him, just some of his signings and time spent as gaffer.
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I like your posts. Always positive. You've got good energy.
 
He gave more to the club in our times of trouble than should have been demanded of any single man.

By all known accounts he stepped in and saved our titles.

We will forever be in his debt IMO
 
Superrangers said:
I think if we had gone for an experienced Manager, we really could have built something special and McCoist just didn’t have it in him to do that, hence buying the Blacks and Sandazas of the world. This set us back as a club massively and led to huge unnecessary over-investment with no return, culminating in us having to replace entire squads for about 3-4 years. An experienced Manager could have cruised up the leagues for far less and had a settled squad and style in place for when we ultimately hit the top league. We are in part where we are due to McCoist’s abysmal tenure.

As a player and Rangers idol growing up, totally agree, an entirely different story.
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Sorry mate that notion is a bigger fairytale than Cinderella. It’s complete mince. We’re still recovering now and that’s nothing to do with Ally. The notion we would ever have a squad who progressed through the leagues and were then ready to challenge is ridiculous. The place was complete and utter chaos behind the scenes. We’ve had 3 managers (including Murty) since Ally working in far far better conditions who still couldn’t make a success of the job. It’s a huge job and doing it under the conditions McCoist did it under makes it completely impossible.
 
Folk will rarely change their opinion on McCoist's conduct in his tenure as Manager, despite the facts of the matter.

IMO his only overall positive was his dissent on our title stripping attempts, that's pretty much it.
 
I loved Ally as a player, loved him as assistant, he never had it as Rangers manager.
He made some awful decisions and selections, however you only have to look at the difficulty that DK and Co are having in trying to clear up the mess that the band of bastards left us in, then you realise just how hard it must have been to try and manage at the same time.

It’s a time when most Rangers fans were at their lowest and finding it hard to support anybody employed at the club. They supported the name Rangers and our history in great numbers but very few people.
 
Superrangers said:
I think if we had gone for an experienced Manager, we really could have built something special and McCoist just didn’t have it in him to do that, hence buying the Blacks and Sandazas of the world. This set us back as a club massively and led to huge unnecessary over-investment with no return, culminating in us having to replace entire squads for about 3-4 years. An experienced Manager could have cruised up the leagues for far less and had a settled squad and style in place for when we ultimately hit the top league. We are in part where we are due to McCoist’s abysmal tenure.

As a player and Rangers idol growing up, totally agree, an entirely different story.
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Do you seriously think Green etc would have given a manager money to build something whilst he was in the process of stripping all assets?
 
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McCoist wasn’t up to being a Rangers manager.

He didn’t though get a fair crack at being Rangers manager, the circumstances in which he had to manage us were mental.

I would also say though even in a world where we were managed by King and had a coach the level of Warburton we were never going to build something special in the lower leagues of Scottish Football, titles aren’t won and build to at places like Elgin and Annan.
 
The challenge of managing Rangers eventually had a negative impact on John Grieg as well as Ally. It could be that promoting a player who contributed magnificently on the park without a spell managing at a smaller club was optimistic to the point of being unwise. Certainly, Ally had more serious off field issues to contend with than John Grieg ever had to face but John seemed more able to handle the disappointment of not making it as manager, in a more considered way than Ally. Both of these men brought so much to Rangers, which many will be very grateful for. It is good that John Grieg continues in seen around our club and in spite of some of his questionable judgements, hope that Ally will always be welcomed as well.
 
It took JG a few years to recover his legacy after leaving the managers office.
 
Always a legend and what he did to save us from Green trumps any failings in the dugout for me. He saved our titles from a spiv who would have sold the skin off his own back if he'd made a fiver out of it
 
BunsenHoneydew said:
In the dugout, probably the worst manager in our history. Outside the dugout, he was the man we needed. And on the pitch, he remains a legend.
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Did you sleep through murty and pedro????
Wasn't the greatest at management but certainly not the worst in our history.
 
imager said:
Do you seriously think Green etc would have given a manager money to build something whilst he was in the process of stripping all assets?
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Exactly. The notion we could have built anything with they b*stards in charge is mentalism. Any decent young player we brought through would have been sold so they could line their pockets.

Ally done the best he could in horrendous circumstances.

We had our best ever start in the SPL under Ally with 9 wins in the first 10 games when he had a good squad to work with.
 
I always felt his biggest mistake when we were in the bottom tier was to keep Durrant and McDowall.
Someone like Billy Reid beside him who had a great knowledge of the leagues and players would have been a great help to him
 
I can't believe people are still saying he should have brought through the youth, they weren't good enough not his fault
 
There was an element of double edged sword when it comes to the youth that came through, or could have been picked up as we moved up the leagues when it came to Ally. The youth were poor, but he done little to improve many outwith MacLeod and his selection of youth was, like all other decisions during McCoists tenure like flinging sh*t at the wall in the hope it stuck.

As a manager – solely his ability to manage – that was a constant failing of McCoist – it all seemed to be done in hope and the expectation others should just “be more gooder than the rest just like 9in a row” that is what Ally knew and that is how Ally managed.

He was an awful football manager and he was from the first summer he had the job till the day he left.
 
Barryhopez said:
Folk will rarely change their opinion on McCoist's conduct in his tenure as Manager, despite the facts of the matter.

IMO his only overall positive was his dissent on our title stripping attempts, that's pretty much it.
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You won't get many people, if any, saying they enjoyed McCoists time as manager. It was just Smith's tactics, he was really the only person Ally worked under, but I don't think he had the same motivational skills as Smith.

His only semi sensible season was his first season in the SPL though and even that was against a backdrop of Whyte lying about transfer budgets and stealing money then put us into Admin. Almost everything in the lower leagues was complete chaos and nobody had any idea what they should be doing. Do you buy lower league players? Do you buy SPL quality players? Do you just play the youngsters? I think the Challenge Cup in the last 2 season's has shown that just playing the kids wasn't really an option so it's finding the balance.
 
I think nitpicking over his managerial tenure is a bit crass in a thread about his health and well-being. As angry as people might still be about elements of his reign I doubt anyone actively wishes harm on him. Some things are more important than football.
 
Mexi said:
Having an ex-player as manager suited the board. He took the attention from them
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Yes, you do have to think we had say a Warburton in charge, they would have felt a lot of more force and a hell of a lot more quickly. That’s not really McCoist’s fault of course, just circumstance.
 
Installer said:
McCoist should be employed at the club on a full time basis as an ambassador, he should be seen as the model for future young players/supporters coming through.
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Installer said:
I was referring to new players/supporters coming through, not McCoist.
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Apologies if I've picked you up wrong bud but that was your post.

Serious question and probably one that will split the forum; on the basis of the player model. Should that not be Barry F then?

Who else has come through the youth system that's been as successful as Barry the Rangers player. I'm probably in the minority however I would like to see him employed by the club on some level or other
 
I think he made the on-field part of his job much harder with some mind-boggling signings and tactics.

Promote from within, sign some young players, play decent football against part-timers - surely it’d have been a more uplifting experience?
 
I've let my gripes with McCoist as manager go. He wasn't good enough but he did a hell of alot of work behind the scenes to protect the club.

I'm far too young to have ever seen McCoist in his prime for us but I grew up on stories about him and videos/DVDs of the goals he scored so he is, and always will be, my favourite ever Ranger.

I'm delighted to see him looking much healthier and happier doing his media work.
 
ICA_86 said:
I think he made the on-field part of his job much harder with some mind-boggling signings and tactics.

Promote from within, sign some young players, play decent football against part-timers - surely it’d have been a more uplifting experience?
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All McCoist had ever known as assistant was Smith which was based around defending with experienced players and being clinical in the final 3rd.
 
This thread is exactly why I hated him being our manager when he was, anything that could tarnish his reputation as a Rangers legend in any fans' eyes was a worry for me.

FWIW I don't think he was great as a manager, I never thought he would be but as a Ranger, there is few above him in my eyes. I remember when he talked of leaving Rangers as a player and his sadness at not coming into training every day, I truly believed that the Club was everything to him.

I'm not going to argue with anyone who thinks otherwise, it's all about opinions, but for me there is not many Rangers players who I have idolised more than Ally, a true Rangers great IMHO.
 
bluenosebazza said:
All McCoist had ever known as assistant was Smith which was based around defending with experienced players and being clinical in the final 3rd.
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You’d think McCoist would know that Smith’s management style is a unique one and that only certain managers could get away with it, with McCoist not being one of them.

It was always just my overriding emotion leaving Ibrox under Ally, that he could really be making this much easier on himself.
 
themightyi said:
I've let my gripes with McCoist as manager go. He wasn't good enough but he did a hell of alot of work behind the scenes to protect the club.

I'm far too young to have ever seen McCoist in his prime for us but I grew up on stories about him and videos/DVDs of the goals he scored so he is, and always will be, my favourite ever Ranger.

I'm delighted to see him looking much healthier and happier doing his media work.
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There was nothing better than a McCoist goal against Celtc. And there was a lot of those.
 
I still hope that one day Ally will tell us everything that went on during his time as manager. His first season wasn't great although it had its moments. But Jelavic was sold, Naismith seriously injured and Whyte was planning Armageddon behind his back. As soon as we were condemned to the lowest tier everything changed. All that mattered was getting us up through the divisions. It was never happening with youth so he brought in seasoned pros to get us through. And it worked as far as the Championship. And even then McCoist's luck deserted him with Hibs and Hearts joining us in the fight to get to the SPL. Most of us backed the signing of Boyd and Miller and Ally must have been gutted at their performances that season especially as they subsequently went on to hit the type of form Ally would have been hoping for.
Walter Smith once called McCoist the player a "lucky bastard". No one could ever say the same for McCoist the manager.
 
Let's be honest a managers main worry is avoiding relegation/winning trophies.

Mccoist basically had to save an entire institution no wonder it took his toll. Would have ended lesser men
 
Gets a bit tiresome seeing people whinge about him taking the money he was contractually entitled to during his time as manager.

Who’s pocket would rather that money be in? Ally’s or Green and his team of spivs? And don’t say you’d have rather seen it be used for the club because we all know that was never an option while those spiv cùnts were in power.
 
thebluenosebear said:
Apologies if I've picked you up wrong bud but that was your post.

Serious question and probably one that will split the forum; on the basis of the player model. Should that not be Barry F then?

Who else has come through the youth system that's been as successful as Barry the Rangers player. I'm probably in the minority however I would like to see him employed by the club on some level or other
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'He should be seen as a role model for the future young players/supporters coming through.
My bad grammar, I missed the 'the'.
A role model as in someone who loves the club, was successful at the club and is still relatively young in terms of young players knowing who he is and what he achieved as a player.

In terms of Ferguson and I know McCoist was no angel but for me McCoist had a bit of class about him that Ferguson could only dream of. I think McCoist was well respected throughout football, I'm not sure Ferguson achieved that.
 
Gdawg said:
Stressful stuff getting paid £800k to be pish at your job, knowing you'll get a big payout at the end of it all i.e. at the end of gardening leave you milk getting paid full salary for playing golf and enjoying yourself.

Training looked particularly challenging, especially when one of the duds he signed was accurate enough to blast a ball off his arse at point blank range, although I'm sure the all you can eat buffet that was set up helped a bit, I know that big fat Sebastien Faure was particularly keen on that.

The stress if whether we would win the 2nd division undefeated was tough too. The decision not to play any youths after the league was, to achieve that great accolade must have been a tough one.

He did seem happier right enough after he left, although the stress must have taken his toll when he forgot to vote 2 years in a row for new shares to be issued to inject more funds in to the club. Of course, that would have meant either diluting his own shareholding or putting some of the millions paid to him by Rangers back in to the club, coincidence I'm sure...

I'm sorry, but gie ma heid peace. He was a disgrace as a manager, and his only interest is number 1. I have separated the Super Ally I idolised as a youngest from the person we see these days.
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wasnt faure the one player who called ally out re training and lack of professionalism?
 
Sadly his tenure as manager means many have split opinions. Yes it was difficult situation but I don’t think he’s anyone’s idea of management material I hope he enjoys his pundit role
 
As a player an absolute legend but as a manager the complete opposite.
Better sticking to the Tv work Ally
 
If it wasnt for McCoist we'd have lost titles.

His tenure was unprecedented. Would we have won the league if it wasnt for admin?

When we were demoted he done what WS would have done, went for experience. Sadly he didn't have the gravitas that WS had.

I'm still a bit gutted for him, I wonder what he would have been like if we didnt have the shite going on in the background. That was a major distraction to the club.

It's done now, I'll always be thankful for him being there at the right (wrong) time.
 
I love Ally McCoist
Always have
Always will

As mentioned, when we were in SPL under him we got enough points to usually win the league, circumstances from February onwards weren’t helpful,
In the lower leagues he signed experienced heads who done what was expected and got us up. Nothing more or less.

As for those saying he should’ve played more young players, in reality he actually did, there was a list posted on here a while back of young players he did play. It was a long list.
 
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