McCoist, Ally
From RangersPedia
| Ally McCoist
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Put quite simply, Ally McCoist is the most prolific goal-scorer in the history of Rangers. 15 years as a Rangers star gave him the platform to achieve his huge number of goals but who knows what the tally might have been but for a broken leg and the fact that he had turned down Rangers twice before he arrived at Ibrox?
From East Kilbride, Ally had always been a Rangers fan but when manager, John Greig, tried to sign him as a schoolboy, he declined and, instead, found his way into the St Johnstone team in 1978 at the age of 16. A couple of years later and Ally was attracting the attention of bigger clubs by banging in over 20 goals for the Saints. Once again, Greig tried to sign him but, this time, it would cost money for the privilege so £300,000 was offered. Unfortunately for Gers, Sunderland offered £400,000 and Ally was off to Weirside at the age of 18.
Sadly for McCoist, but not for Rangers, his time at Sunderland, a struggling side, was not the happiest on the field. By the summer of 1983, he was ready to come home and John Greig finally signed him for £195,000 – probably the best bit of business Greig ever did for the club as its manager. Despite at last playing for his boyhood club, things didn’t go as planned in his first two years at Ibrox. Indeed, within less than two seasons, he’d be playing under a new manager, Jock Wallace, and trying to impress him. Despite a match-winning hat-trick in the 1984 League Cup Final against Celtic, for many months after that, McCoist had still to convince the Rangers fans that he was the real McCoy, if not McCoist. He had won over his manager but many fans remained sceptical.
Ironically, by the time the fans had become worshippers of the man, another manager in the form of Graeme Souness had to be convinced of the striker’s worth. By now, he had picked up the nickname Super Ally and had been capped for Scotland by the time of Souness’ appointment. He was scoring goals by the barrow-load and, as if that wasn’t enough to make him the fans’ hero, he had an engaging personality that perhaps was a factor in his ability to score goals. McCoist was a bubbly, chirpy, extrovert character who always played with a smile on his face. He was always ready to joke with his team-mates, opponents and fans alike. If he missed a chance he had the ability to grin and bear it, shrug it aside and be ready to pounce on the next one. He never seemed afraid of missing chances and certainly never hid in a match. An intelligent, educated, witty and articulate man, his press interviews and television appearances merely extended his popularity so that even opposition fans whose team suffered at his hands - or should that be feet? – found him a likeable personality.
Only 5 feet 10 in height and weighing 12 stones, Ally was not a physical forward although he could handle himself in the penalty box as all great strikers must be able to do. He was brave, alert, quick off the mark and brilliant at getting into the right place at the right time to finish off moves with a goal. When he scored with his head, it was not the type of soaring header that players like Mark Hateley would later become renowned for. McCoist’s headers normally came about because his anticipation and quick reflexes enabled him to get across his marker or in front of him allowing him the deadly header. Ironically, or perhaps not, as McCoist matured he seemed to score with more headers and better ones at that!
During his time at Ibrox, he apparently went through over 40 striking partners in the course of breaking his various scoring records. Most would agree though, that his pairing with Mark Hateley was the most successful one. Having said that, the season before Hateley’s arrival had seen McCoist create a great double act with Mo Johnston. It was in this season, 1989/90, that McCoist broke the Premier Division scoring record and, by scoring two goals in the final Old Firm match of that season, he overtook Derek Johnstone’s post-War Rangers’ record of 132 league goals. This productive partnership, however, was dissolved after a season when manager Souness decided that the best strike combination for Rangers was one of Hateley and Johnston.
Thus started McCoist’s most frustrating time at Ibrox when, with typical humour in the face of adversity, he nicknamed himself The Judge, an allusion to all the time he was spending on “the bench”! At least he had the consolation during this time of knowing that the Gers fans were on his side – and letting Graeme Souness know it! When he did come off the bench, McCoist invariably scored a goal and always showed the necessary industry and spirit that would make it harder for his manager to ignore his claims for a starting place. Two fantastic, match-winning goals against Aberdeen at Ibrox were typical of McCoist’s substitute performances, eliciting no praise from Souness.
When Walter Smith became Rangers’ manager, McCoist’s fortunes changed once again. Smith decided that a McCoist-Hateley pairing was his preference and Ally never looked back. He was just about to enjoy the greatest season of his life at that point. In season 1991/92, he scored 41 goals which brought him to a career total of 200 for the Scottish League. His spectacular season resulted in him being awarded both the Scottish sportswriters’ and players’ Player of the Year awards as well as winning the European Golden Boot for being top league scorer throughout Europe. Had he peaked? Not a bit of it! The following season was Rangers’ Treble one and Ally’s goals made a huge contribution to that achievement.
Once again, he won the Golden Boot award with 34 goals in 34 league games and his total in all competitions was 49. This record was even more remarkable considering the fact that he broke his leg that Spring while playing for Scotland in a World Cup match in Portugal. Who knows how many goals could have been added to his tally if he’d played until the end of the season? That injury actually cost him his place in the Scottish Cup-winning side of 1993, clinching The Treble at Parkhead. In fact, this tournament was never a lucky one for Ally, with only one winner’s medal to his name. The following season, with Gers poised to complete back-to-back Trebles, McCoist was injured in the warm-up before the Final against Dundee United that Rangers lost by 1-0. The presence of Super Ally might just have got Rangers the goal they so desperately needed in that match. In the only other two Rangers’ Finals after that, McCoist, due to injury, missed out on the 1995/96, 5-1 win against Hearts but played in the 1997/98 Final that was won 2-1 by Hearts, his final match for the club.
Even in that last game, the McCoist “Roy of the Rovers” story might have been repeated for a thrilling finale. With Hearts leading 2-0, McCoist scored, giving Rangers a lifeline with around 10 minutes to get the equaliser. The tide had turned and it looked like coming. Then, in the final minute, McCoist racing through the middle was fouled right on the 18 yard line. Everybody, including McCoist thought that ref, Willie Young had given the deserved penalty kick and Rangers the chance to put the game into extra time. Imagine the horror when the referee, who’d been 20 yards behind the play, awarded a free kick to Gers all of one inch outside the box! Thus, went Super Ally’s last chance to save Rangers with a goal near the end of a game the way he had done in so many matches in the previous 15 years.
Having recovered from that 1993 leg break, he suffered numerous niggling injuries that reduced his appearances in the final seasons of his career at Ibrox. It’s fair to say that his total of goals would have been even greater had he played more often in the side that had the genius that was Brian Laudrup creating goals throughout that time. At least he had enjoyed the help of Mark Hateley while banging in all those goals. This partnership, at its peak, was the most prolific in Gers’ history. In a 2 season spell, especially, they scored over 140 goals between them. Apart from complementing each other in size, ability and style, it was almost as if they’d developed a telepathic understanding between them. They might have been the only Rangers’ strike combination that could arguably have been put in the same class as the Millar and Brand one of the early 60s.
By season 1995/96, McCoist had created a new Rangers’ scoring record when he surpassed the legendary Bob McPhail’s league total of 233 and, although injury restricted his appearances in his veteran seasons, he could still do the business as witnessed when he scored the opening goal against Celtic at Parkhead in a 2-1 Scottish Cup semi-final victory in 1998. For the first half of that season, injury and the incredible scoring exploits of Italian hit-man, Marco Negri had kept McCoist out of the side but when Super Ally had replaced the injured Negri in the new year, he scored 16 goals in 26 games. Indeed, his final goal against Celtic saw him equal Jimmy McGrory’s Old Firm match total, only surpassed by the feat of R.C. Hamilton’s haul 100 years previously!
By the end of his glittering Rangers career, he had become the club’s most prolific striker and one of the greatest characters to have entertained the fans at Ibrox. His smile and celebrations after scoring a goal will never be forgotten. He remains the player with the most Scotland caps (61) while playing for Rangers.
McCoist's latest reincarnation has been to become the Assistant Manager of the club to Walter Smith. As a fans' banner declared on the first appearance of the new management team at Ibrox, " When duty called, you came!"
Assistant Manager With Rangers
Ally's 15 year association with Rangers was to get even longer when he joined Walter Smith on 10 January 2007 to become assistant manager. They inherited a mess of a team due to a destructive regime by Paul Le Guen. They set about fixing the defense, bringing in a Scottish core to the side and closing the gap on Celtic and securing 2nd place, which was achieved quite easily in the end.
During the 2007/08 Scottish Cup campaign, which ended in success for Rangers over Queen of the South, it was revealed that McCoist had been manager for that competition and the League Cup . We won both cups that season although some of the performances were a struggle. He was given almost the same role for the next season and we got to the League Cup final against Celtic but Walter took over for that one, a game we lost in extra time. He's not given full control of the team during the cup games but he gives team talks, press conferences etc... which will be handy when he becomes manager for the 2011/12 season. Walter signed a one year deal as long as Ally would become manager and we hope his managerial career is as successful as his playing one.
Rangers Career Statistics
| Season | League | Cup | League Cup | European | Minor | Friendlies | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |
| Total | ||||||||||||||
Honours
10 League Championships - 1986/87, 1988/89, 1989/90, 1990/91, 1991/92, 1992/93, 1993/94, 1994/95 (9 games), 1995/96, 1996/97
9 League Cups - 1983/84, 1984/85, 1986/87, 1987/88, 1988/89, 1990/91, 1992/93, 1993/94, 1996/97
3 Glasgow Cups - 1983/84, 1984/85, 1985/86
Scottish Cup - 1991/92
Forum Cup (Kilmarnock International Tournament) - 1991/92
Ibrox International Challenge Trophy - 1995/96
Images
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Videos
External Links
Alistair McCoist - fan site for Scotland’s greatest ever goal-scorer.
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