The Goalie
Well-Known Member
Ally McCoist has mastered the art of co-commentary – he is an utter delight
As live football receives more coverage and there is a match on virtually every night, the art of co-commentary is becoming more and more prevalent. A few years ago, commentators often went solo because there was less coverage of live games, or once or twice when a broadcaster felt he might be undermined by not having total control of the output. Anyway, the current batch of sidekicks features lots of talents, the best of whom for my money is Ally McCoist. And boy are the TV companies keeping him busy.
Take McCoist’s recent schedule for proof of that. On a Tuesday last month it was a late night at Exeter for the FA Cup match with Nottingham Forest, which went to extra time and penalties. The following day it was a dash up to Liverpool for the Merseyside derby. Then on Sunday it was to Newcastle, who took on Brighton in the Cup.
More recently from Newcastle to Europe, starting with Aston Villa’s match in Bruges, then on to Paris St-Germain against Liverpool before heading east to Istanbul for Fenerbahce against Glasgow Rangers. Ally is at it again this week, too. Leverkusen on Tuesday for their defeat by Bayern Munich, and back to Villa on Wednesday night for the return leg.
McCoist has the perfect knack of being informative and amusing without trying to dominate his colleague. Although he has an obvious Scots accent, he is easily understood, unlike some of football’s giants from north of the border. Mind you, he will sometimes produce a phrase that we Sassenachs don’t often hear, such as to “header it” or “go back the way”. There is no doubt he is enjoying himself, despite all the travelling.
Some years ago, Ally abandoned his prolific media career. At the time he was a regular captain on A Question of Sport, acting in films and co-hosting a chat show. In peace nothing so became Ally as modest stillness and humility, but soon he would have to stiffen up the sinews and summon the blood for it was time to go to war. His beloved club Rangers had fallen on hard times – financial irregularities had meant that this powerhouse of Scottish football had been demoted to the bottom tier of the game. Time for McCoist to roll up his sleeves and come to the rescue. First he rejoined the club as coach and then as manager.
That is all in the past and Ally is back to his jovial self. I had the pleasure of working with him at both the BBC and ITV. We found ourselves covering the European Championship in Portugal in 2004. One night in Porto we went with the great Sir Bobby Robson to the only Indian restaurant we could find. Bobby was not happy. “I’ve never had a curry or drunk lager in my life,” he said. With some cajoling from the rest of us, he decided to sample both and by the end of the evening was enjoying plentiful supplies of each. Ally nudged me, “Look at him,” he said, “he’s only one step away from his first crack cocaine!” We roared –Bobby too.
