Frightening quotes from Ally

[SteveC 150]

"There wonâ??t be a massive, massive improvement." Way not to sell tickets!

 

"re 10million: "but, if I am going to be totally selfish about it, I would have to spend it to get out of the division "

 

"People say you can build a team from youth, but has it ever happened in the last 20 or 30 years?" Er, but Ally, no big club has been in our position, ever. Crewe began their last game with an entire team from their own academy in a much harder league where rivals actually spend money.

 

 

the full thing: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/rangers/10037002/Rangers-face-bittersweet-end-to-season.html

 

 

 

Ally McCoist and his players will parade the SFL3 trophy after their final match against Berwick Rangers, the culmination of a campaign that was preceded by one of the greatest mugâ??s bets ever â?? the bookiesâ?? odds on Rangers getting through the entire season without dropping a point.

As matters stand, Rangers have lost three and drawn eight of their games and should they drop points again on Saturday afternoon, they would finish the season without maximum reward from a third of their fixtures.

â??We want to win the game, make no mistake,â? McCoist said. â??Should there be celebrations? Oh I think if anybody should celebrate, it's the fans. It's a sell-out again and that's just incredible.

â??And so should the young boys and the team. If you don't celebrate the good times, then you shouldn't be in the game at all because no matter what anyone says, they've won the championship and they have won it very comfortably.

â??The fans certainly deserve some recognition from the players as well. I'd be very hopeful there'd be mutual respect and thanks. So, yes, celebrations are certainly the order of the day.â?

McCoist, though, will be unable to avoid mixed feelings about the occasion, because of the tumultuous â?? and at times grotesque â?? consequences that were unleashed by the financial default brought about by Craig Whyte, which cast Rangers into what had been previously regarded as the outer darkness of the lower leagues.

â??Iâ??m hoping itâ??s the end of probably the two weirdest seasons of my life and we can start afresh,â? he said. â??Football wise itâ??s been everything we expected it to be - there were bizarre moments, happy moments and sad moments.

â??We knew it wouldnâ??t be the cake walk a lot of people thought it would be and that was certainly the case. Thereâ??s a lot of things that club can be very proud of this season.

â??We brought full houses to places that probably havenâ??t had it for a good number of years. It would take some clubs seasons to earn what they did in their two home games against us.

â??We should be very proud of that - plus in the vast majority of cases, our supporters have bonded fantastically well with the people in the towns theyâ??ve been visiting.

â??If someone had told me what my first two years as Rangers manager would be like, I just wouldnâ??t have believed them. Right at the start we had a rough idea things werenâ??t right then when the players we were looking for were getting knocked back.

â??We were promised all sorts of money to spend and weâ??ve been promised money to spend again [by Charles Green, the recently departed chief executive] and - I donâ??t know, maybe Iâ??m turning into an old cynic - Iâ??m not sure that £10 million will be there.

â??Itâ??s terrible how football does this to you. This glass half-full man is getting battered but I shall not turn into a pessimist. Some of the off-field stuff quite frankly has been an embarrassment.

â??You just wonder what the great Rangers people would have made of it â?? not a lot I would have thought. We just need to get back to some form of normality which we donâ??t have at the moment.â?

McCoistâ??s strategy meeting with Craig Mather which, as Telegraph Sport revealed, was scheduled for early in the week, had to be postponed because of a funeral attended by McCoist, but the pair sat down yesterday to begin planning for the close season and beyond.

Asked if â?? supposing it were available â?? a £10 million transfer kitty would be appropriate in the humble context of SFL2 â?? McCoist replied: â??Probably not, but, if I am going to be totally selfish about it, I would have to spend it to get out of the division and keep me, Ian Durrant, Kenny McDowall and the rest of the staff in a job.

â??You canâ??t have it both ways. You canâ??t not spend it and then be criticised by everybody. I didnâ??t spend any money this year, with the exception of David Templeton, and, whether we like it or not, we were criticised heavily for our performances.

â??The objective was to get out the league and it will be the same next year. There wonâ??t be a massive, massive improvement. Look at the players we lost - Whittaker, Naismith, Jelavic, Lafferty, these were all £3 million or £4 million signings that went out the door.

â??Since then we have brought in a couple of £500,000 players. Even a marquee free transfer would cost you bundles. That is the only reason they will come to SFL2 and that isnâ??t going to happen.

â??Your top, top players arenâ??t going to be in SFL2. We are not going to get the top youngsters at the moment because, simply, they are under contract. The ones not under contract wonâ??t want to come to SFL2.

â??We wonâ??t be back until we spend money. People say you can build a team from youth, but has it ever happened in the last 20 or 30 years?

â??Manchester United brought through five or six youngsters at the same time, but we have had kids coming in to the side one or two at a time over the last 15 years. We have never had seven or eight. I donâ??t see any reason why that would change.

â??You bring seven or eight youngsters into the division we are in, and they would struggle to survive. We'd struggle in the SPL, that's for sure. I think we'd probably stay up, but in terms of competing?

â??There's no reason why, when you lose 30 players, you should be able to get a team who will challenge the league you've just left. So it's not a surprise. It's going to take time before we're up challenging again.â?

McCoist keen on Clark

Rangers manager Ally McCoist has confirmed his interest in Queen of the South striker Nicky Clark.

McCoist has already held talks with the player's representative and his father, former Gers player and current Palmerston assistant Sandy, about a switch to Ibrox next season.

McCoist now hopes to meet with the player, who has netted an impressive 40 goals for the Irn-Bru Second Division champions this season, in the coming days.

He said: "I've spoken to Nicky's agent and I've spoken to his father, who I know reasonably well, just to let them know that we have an interest in talking to Nicky and meeting up with him and seeing if there is a possibility of him coming to the club.

"We are no further down the line than that, but I spoke to Sandy and I'm very keen to meet up, as are Sandy and Nicky, so hopefully we can get a meeting in the next couple of days.

"His goalscoring record is fantastic and we certainly need strengthened in forward areas, as we do all over the park."

[Super Cooper 0]

I don't believe the manager said that, he is surely not that stupid. I am praying it was taken out of context or the quotes are made up.

[calscot 0]

Seems to me that he's talking sense...

[Calgacus 8]

I do believe he said those things - (1) it ties in with other things he's said & (2) Forsyth is a fair journalist.

[der Berliner 3,320]

I'd rather call it realism and pragmatism ...

 

"There won’t be a massive, massive improvement." - Way not to sell tickets!

 

We'll be playing in the Second Divison / Third tier next season. So what do you expect to hear? I for one assume he speaks of the standard the Rangers set for themselves these last 20odd years. Does anyone on here expects a team like that next season? I doubt it. Hence, "no massive, massive improvements" are all too reasonable. We will see improvement of what we have witnessed in spells this season, no doubt.

 

"re 10million: "but, if I am going to be totally selfish about it, I would have to spend it to get out of the division "

 

We all have seen the lack of "quality" or "application" by quite a few in our side, many of whom would be sold by yesterday if we had any influence on things. Then again, I'd like to see this quote first .

"People say you can build a team from youth, but has it ever happened in the last 20 or 30 years?"

Er, but Ally, no big club has been in our position, ever. Crewe began their last game with an entire team from their own academy in a much harder league where rivals actually spend money.

 

Nice for Crewe (I assume they had no choice at the time, but someone will probably claim that they have a brilliant youth set-up and excellent youth players ...) ... we blooded 19 of our own youngsters throughout the season. Most of them did a fine job. But that did not stop the team as a whole having poor spells, including the youngsters. It would have never worked for Rangers (in Europe, challenging for titles et al?) and will most likely never work either. Sure it would be great to fill the squad with McKays, Macleods, Stoneys and the like, but that will not see you through a season against seasoned pros who will not only raise their game because they play against "greenhorns", but also because they play against Rangers. And the fans of the latter are not easily appeased by comments such as "but he's a great prospect and needs time et al" ... after the same folk said "if he's good enough, he's old enough" before.

Edited May 4, 2013 by der Berliner

[bluebear54 0]

The correct example to follow is QoS.

Apparently they blew £350k.

And they romped the league in style. Cuffing us in the Ramsdens too if I recall.

AJ is going to be a class act if he continues.

Despite my respect and devotion to Ally, I don't think he will have a long illustrious future in management.

At this time more than any other, we need to recover by playing sellable football, winning and looking like we are going somewhere.

[Crimson Dynamo 128]

Agree we have to get back to playing good football. Although we have had success. We haven't played good football for a long time. We have a chance to instill that now in our youngsters and by doing that we can get the fans truly excited about going to games again....

[der Berliner 3,320]

The correct example to follow is QoS.

... Cuffing us in the Ramsdens too if I recall..

 

I recall that the player who scored their equaliser from an offside position in injury time that was ridiculous was on the field because of the incompetence of a ref, who should have sent him off for a reckless second challenge on one of our players in the first half ...

 

You can lear nfrom AJ and QotS, no doubt about it. But they have to prove themselves more than once (and in the Scottish third tier) before becoming a role model for a club of our stature, I would suggest.

[Guest JCS]

I find it difficult to comprehend that anyone would consider Ally's 'interview' to be either rational or sensible. Simply to make the comment that he may have to spend 10 million to win the Div 2 title says everything about his total lack of perspective. Many have quoted the example of QOTS, and it is a valid one. Over the course of this season we have watched many part-timers make our full time professional players look like rank amateurs, yet we seem unable to identify and sign this type of player when other clubs clearly can. We're have signed players who are clearly out of their depth (Cribari and Faure spring to mind immediately), and who have looked second rate in the fourth tier of Scottish football.

 

I am NOT an Ally basher, and I have studiously avoided joining in any of the ALLy-bashing thredas that are prevailent on this and other Rangers fans sites, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to continue to support him as manager of our team. He seems out of touch with reality, and mired in the Rangers 'old school'.

[bluebear54 0]

DB - I don't think the the debate is about stature. There are few clubs in the world who have our stature. That's why we are hated here.

But if you are honest, you will admit that QoS were a lot better value for money than us this season. And a lot more watchable too.