Ally McCoist: what to do with a man who cannot walk away?

[Steve1872 4]

THE next crisis is scheduled for just after high noon on Saturday.

Ally McCoist faces his biggest on-field challenge yet against Dundee United. Picture: SNS

 

 

However, Rangers supporters, bloodied and bruised by two extraordinary years of turbulence, will be reminded bluntly about the realities of their club somewhat sooner that the William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final with Dundee United at Ibrox this weekend.

The season-ticket renewal letters will be sent out tomorrow, with informed sources suggesting an 18% hike. These missives might precipitate a period of reflection among supporters.

The crisis at the club is political, financial and professional. It has seeped from the boardroom to the playing field. The crux of the matter in the wake of the Ramsden Cup victory by Raith Rovers appears to be the future of Ally McCoist, the Rangers manager. A simple investigation of "should he go or should he stay" has more twists than Agatha Christie on a Waltzer.

Rangers are believed to be in the almost unique position in football of having a manager who can't walk away from a club that can't sack him. The belief is that the board and McCoist are welded together by mutual necessity. Being Rangers, however, it is not as simple as that.

McCoist remains determined, even defiant. He has been sorely tested by the events both before and after liquidation. He has made mistakes both on and off the field.

But he has become the rallying point for a support who have been introduced to more chancers and comic singers than a matinee audience at the Glasgow Empire.

The Rangers manager could be forgiven for deciding that his future lies away from a club that he loves and a job that he craved. His professional abilities have been scrutinised with some rigour in the aftermath of defeat to Raith Rovers.

The accusations include: his recruitment policy is and was flawed, his tactical acumen is limited, and his ability to make a game-changing decision is hardly conspicuous. There is a validity in all of this but McCoist is entitled to point out that players were necessarily bought in haste, that his tactics have been good enough to ensure only two defeats all season and who needs to change the flow of a game that your team is already winning?

The pressure, though, is growing and is in danger of becoming intolerable. McCoist, famously, cannot do walking away.

A personality with a strong sense of self-will and a belief in self-reliance, McCoist must wait on the deliberations of the board, however constituted that may be in the immediate future.

The accepted truth is that he cannot be sacked in deference to his place as Rangers legend and as the enduring beacon in the most stormy of times at the club. This is no longer correct. First, there is a loud element of the Rangers support who are looking for change in the manager's office as well as the boardroom.

Second, the present board includes those who have little time for McCoist. This disaffection stretches far beyond his capabilities or otherwise as a football manager. McCoist's decision to give the proxy vote on his shares to a supporters' club at the club's annual meeting in December was handled delicately by Graham Wallace, the chief executive.

However, it was greeted with some anger by other members of the board. The chance of a united front against the requisitioners was weakened considerably by the manager's stance. This has not been forgotten or forgiven.

There are also those on the periphery of power at Ibrox who are not admirers of the manager and have called on him to be sacked.

McCoist has had a good relationship with Wallace but there are reports that this has been severely dented, if not fractured, in recent days. If they continue to sing from the same hymn sheet, it is with strained voices.

There is, too, a constituency that argues that the sacking of the manager would give the sale of season tickets a necessary and timely boost. More sober voices point out that the level of uptake of season tickets may be beyond any such move given the continued uncertainty in the boardroom and the prospect of competing in the SPFL Championship with a squad that is not considerably improved.

There is also the belief that finding a replacement for McCoist may be easy, but that does not mean it carries a guarantee of success on the pitch. "This place is bedlam," said a Rangers insider. "There is no budget, no scouting and no stability.

"Who wants such a job? And are they the sort of people who could make it work?"

Despite all this, of course, McCoist could be sacked and there would be little concern over any pay-off.

"Can you imagine Ally suing Rangers?" said one cynical but acute observer last night.

The manager thus prepares for a defining match against Dundee United against a backdrop of severe sniping, unyielding criticism and increasing pressure. He would be forgiven if he remarked with his trademark smile: "So what's new?"

This rhetorical inquiry may be answered by Dave King, the South African businessman, who is pressurising the board to accept his plan for an immediate investment of £50m backed by a rights issue.

The issuing of the season-ticket book reminders might prompt King to make another verbal intervention as he seeks to persuade fans that he offers the last best hope of a swift re-invigoration of the club.

His supporters insist he would provide funds for a strengthened squad for next season's campaign. King would almost certainly also back McCoist, at least in the short term. However, King did not become a multi-millionaire on the back of a penchant for patience and a predilection for backing those who do not give him what he wants.

Rangers now stand just more than a week away from the publication of the business plan that will set out the way forward. It is difficult to see how it can satisfy King.

McCoist, meanwhile, must select and set up a team to defeat a quick, inventive and increasingly confident Dundee United side. The Rangers manager, ever the optimist, will point out his team are just 90 minutes away from unlikely redemption.

Until, that is, the next crisis.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/football/what-to-do-with-a-man-who-cannot-walk-away.23908867?

 

[RANGERRAB 3,258]

Another thing that needs to be considered is whether the board are willing to meet the costs of getting a replacement for Ally. In addition to any pay-offs due to Ally and his staff any new manager would surely want his own men brought in (at what cost?) and inevitably a budget for players to replace some of the dross we currently have. Are our board prepared to push the boat out to do that? Or is keeping Ally and his pals in charge the preferable cheaper option?

[barca72 440]

Shit-stirring article. We are quite capable of handling it ourselves internally. We do not need another mhedia inspired meltdown.

[Calgacus 8]

I thought it was a useful analysis of the situation

[Darthter 542]

any new manager would surely want his own men brought in (at what cost?)

 

Would that cost be any more than we're paying already??? McCoist is VERY well paid considering the clubs position, and the Scottish game in general. I think there would be few managers would turn down a £400k wage packet. There is also the ongoing challenge of properly rebuilding the team - players & scouting etc.

[Darthter 542]

Shit-stirring article. We are quite capable of handling it ourselves internally. We do not need another mhedia inspired meltdown.

 

The article is only echoing what is being said within this forum - difference being, its published in a national newspaper. I'm sure there will be many bears who don't read forums who will agree with it.

[Frankie 8,150]

Hugh MacDonald is no friend of ours but I think this article is a reasonable analysis of the situation.

[chilledbear 16]

Shit-stirring article. We are quite capable of handling it ourselves internally. We do not need another mhedia inspired meltdown.

 

We should get used to it, will be played out in public, these things always are.

[bluebear54 0]

The wolves are howlin' and the durn injuns are circlin'

This is about to become a media frenzy.

I wonder if DK will say anything?

[ian1964 10,415]

Ally McCoist has to bear the brunt for Rangers' Ramsdens flop for signing players not fit to wear the jersey, says Gordon Dalziel

 

FORMER Rangers player Dalziel slated the Rangers side for their "disgraceful" performance in Sunday's 1-0 Ramsdens Cup Final defeat to Raith but says McCoist will have to shoulder the majority of the blame.

 

GORDON DALZIEL has branded Rangers’ Ramsden Cup flops a “disgrace” and told them they’re not fit to wear the jersey.

 

The former Ibrox striker – who scored for Raith Rovers when they won the League Cup against Celtic 20 years ago – believes certain members of Ally McCoist’s squad can’t handle the pressure of playing for Gers.

 

Dalziel admits McCoist must shoulder a large chunk of the blame for their embarrassing 1-0 defeat to the Fife side on Sunday.

 

But he’s convinced the Rangers boss will now realise some of his expensively assembled squad don’t belong at Ibrox. Dalziel is adamant McCoist won’t quit but admits he’s under big pressure to beat Dundee United in Saturday’s Scottish Cup semi-final.

 

He told Record Sport: “Ally has been a Rangers man for long enough to know that a result like Sunday’s is not acceptable.

 

“He is a legend at the club and his playing exploits will always live in the memories of the fans.

 

“But he must have been standing on that touchline at Easter Road knowing he was looking at a group who aren’t fit to wear the jersey.

 

“They have to take a long, hard look at themselves because on Sunday they were a disgrace to Rangers. And I don’t think Ally will accept that.

 

“The manager has to take the brunt of it because he brought the players to the club. But, I’m sorry, there are guys out there who I wouldn’t let in the door.

 

“They still have an opportunity to get to a Scottish Cup Final but let’s not kid ourselves. If they perform like they did at Easter Road, United will batter them.”

 

McCoist stated in the aftermath of the Raith defeat that he didn’t fear for his future. Dalziel says it’s not in his former team-mate’s DNA to quit but he knows the abysmal showing against Rovers makes the semi even more vital.

 

He said: “Ally is a born winner and not the type to walk away. There’s no chance he will quit.

 

“He knows the club and will know he has been let down. But his mantra is, ‘We don’t do walking away’ and he’ll stick to that.

 

“Ally regards it as a great honour to be Rangers boss.

 

“He’ll say his remit was to go through the leagues and anything in the cups would be a bonus. But he has a problem after this loss.

 

“He’s at home against United with the chance of reaching a Scottish Cup Final at Celtic Park, something that doesn’t come along too often. So there’s massive pressure on the manager now and his team. The big question is, ‘Can they handle it?’

 

“The board will be getting tetchy. Ally was on a hiding to nothing against Raith but he knows this defeat won’t have helped him. He will come in for a lot of criticism.

 

“I just hope for his sake that he gets a result against United.”

Rangers fans' fury after Ally McCoist is pictured singing on karaoke just hours after Ramsdens Cup Final flop

 

If he does, McCoist will need big performances from players who failed to turn up on Sunday.

 

But Dalziel fears there are now serious doubts about whether the likes of Jon Daly, Ian Black and Nicky Law have what it takes to cope with the demands of being a Rangers player. He spent four years at the club between 1979 and 1983 and said: “Rangers have players who should have been able to beat Raith.

 

“When Ally brought some of them in everyone thought, ‘They’re good, they’ll do a job.’ But unfortunately some of them can’t handle playing for a club the size of Rangers.

 

“They were good enough at the provincial clubs. Look at someone like Dean Shiels who was in the running for Scotland’s Player of the Year when he was with Kilmarnock. Daly was a

recognised striker at United, Law was excellent at Motherwell and Black bossed a Scottish Cup Final for Hearts against Hibs.

 

“You’d have thought they were very good signings. But it’s okay doing it for ‘run of the mill’ clubs in the Scottish Premiership. At Rangers it’s a different ball game and these guys have struggled.

 

“They’ll come in for a lot of criticism. But it’s incredible to think they could be heroes again next weekend.

 

“Can you see it? No, you can’t. But could you see Rovers winning?”

 

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/ally-mccoist-bear-brunt-rangers-3387155