Ally McCOIST

Ally McCoist joined Rangers, his boyhood heroes, in June 1983 for what can now be regarded as a bargain fee of £185,000. Marked out as one of the finest young Scottish prospects in the early Eighties, twenty-year-old Ally arrived at Ibrox intent on reviving his reputation that had been badly bruised during a difficult two-year stint with Sunderland in the English First Division.

However, the Rangers team that McCoist joined in 1983 was in the midst of a fraught period in their history. They had not won the Scottish Premier Division title since 1978 and, having just endured a barren campaign in 192/83, manager John Greig was coming under increasing pressure from the demanding Ibrox followers to return the club to her former glories. McCoist was expected to deliver the goals that would propel the Glasgow giant back to the summit of the Scottish game, and he made a decent start in a light blue jersey, scoring his first goal for the club in a 4-1 League Cup win over Queen of the South and finding the net just twenty-seven seconds in to his Old Firm debut against Rangers' archrivals Celtic in the league at Parkhead. However, despite an encouraging start, McCoist could do little to halt Rangers' depressing decline, and following a dismal run of five successive league defeats, Greig resigned from his post as manager.

He was replaced by the colossal figure of Jock Wallace, who had steered Rangers to two domestic Trebles in 1976 and 1978. His arrival in October 1983 was a pivotal moment in McCoist's career, as the former jungle fighter's notoriously tough training regimes helped the young upstart gain the strength that would help him survive in the rough and tumble of the Premier Division.

Wallace's return galvanised Rangers and the club embarked on a stunning match unbeaten run in the league and reached the Final of the Scottish League Cup where they faced Celtic at Hampden Park. This was McCoist's first appearance in the Final of a senior competition and he marked his debut in some style, netting a terrific hat-trick as Rangers secured the trophy with a 3-2 victory after extra-time. Those three goals took his League Cup tally to nine and, added to the eight he scored in the league and three in the Scottish Cup, gave him an impressive return of twenty goals in forty-seven appearances at the end of the 1983/84 season.

McCoist's second season in Glasgow, 1984/85, was far more uncomfortable, though, with goals hard to come in the early matches. He was guilty of spurning a guilt-edged chance against Inter Milan in a UEFA Cup tie in November, and he plummeted to the nadir of his Rangers career when he was dropped to the reserve team in February 1985 following a poor performance against Dundee in the Scottish Cup. McCoist was now at a career crossroads, but he knuckled down, restoring his battered confidence by scoring regularly in the second team, and when he returned to the first XI, the goals finally began to flow. In the final nine league matches of the season, Ally scored ten times to become top goal-scorer at the club for a second successive season. His final goal tally for the campaign was eighteen, but once again Rangers struggled in the league, finishing fourth. They did win the League Cup for a second successive season, defeating Dundee United 1-0 in the Final, but the Holy Grail continued to elude them.

Now thriving on the confidence that is a pre-requisite for any successful striker, McCoist enjoyed his best season in a Rangers jersey in 1985/86, scoring twenty-seven times and earning his first cap for Scotland in a friendly against Holland at the end of the season. His tally of twenty-five league goals took him to the top of the Premier Division scoring charts, but his success was not mirrored by his team-mates, as Rangers' fortunes nose-dived to a new low. They finished fifth in the league, and it took a final day win over Motherwell to ensure that there would be European football at Ibrox in the 1986/87 season. The wretched run cost McCoist's mentor Jock Wallace his job, and heralded the start of a massive rebuilding programme at Ibrox, with Scotland captain Graeme Souness recruited as the club's first-ever player-manager in an attempt to arrest the alarming decline. His impact was stunning, and aided and abetted by the red-hot goal-scoring form of Ally McCoist, Souness and Rangers embarked on one of the most successful eras in their distinguished history. (Alistair Aird, Author of Ally McCoist - Portrait of a Hero)

Graeme Souness' arrival in the manager's office at Ibrox in the summer of 1986 stirred a sleeping giant from an almost decade-long slumber. Arguably one of the few Scottish footballers in the last thirty years to truly earn the tag 'world class', Souness reversed the trend of the time by enticing some of the cream of the talent from the English First Division north of the border, signing players of the ilk of Terry Butcher, Chris Woods and latterly Graham Roberts, and very soon the attention of the footballing world was focussed on Rangers once again.

Ally McCoist thrived under the new regime. Having immediately ingratiated himself with his new manager by netting a hat-trick against champions Celtic to secure the Glasgow Cup in Souness' first match in charge, McCoist burst out of the blocks when the competitive action kicked off, scoring four goals in the first three Premier Division matches of the 1986/87 season. His goal-scoring instinct and innate ability to be in the right place at the right time when goal-scoring chances were created marked him out as a potent weapon in the Rangers arsenal, and by the end of the campaign, McCoist had netted thirty-one league goals, becoming the first Rangers player to breach the thirty-goal mark since Jim Forrest back in 1965. He was the only man to play in each of the Light Blues forty-four league matches, and his dynamic frontline partnership with the diminutive Robert Fleck yielded a total of sixty goals over the course of the campaign.

Unlike in the previous campaign, though, the team matched McCoist's performances. After recovering from a sticky start that left them nine points adrift of league leaders Celtic in December, Rangers stormed back to claim their first League Championship for nine years. They also won the Scottish League Cup, defeating Celtic by two goals to one in the Final.

McCoist continued from where he had left off when the 1987/88 season got underway. He netted from the penalty spot in a 1-1 draw with Dundee United on the opening day of the season, and added a further three goals as Rangers successfully negotiated the first two rounds of the Scottish League Cup with victories over Stirling Albion and Dunfermline Athletic. The goals continued to flow as the season progressed, with Ally scoring a hat-trick in a 7-0 mauling of Morton and another treble as Dunfermline were vanquished by four goals to one in the League Cup.

Rangers' season was badly handicapped, though, in November when talismanic skipper Terry Butcher broke his leg against Aberdeen, and they surrendered their league title to Celtic, who claimed the Double in their centenary year. The League Cup was retained, though, in an epic Final against Aberdeen, with McCoist scoring in the shoot-out as Rangers won on penalties after the teams shared six goals at Hampden Park.

Although the campaign was disappointing domestically, Rangers made significant strides in the European arena, reaching the last eight of the European Champions Cup. McCoist netted what proved to the winning goal in the first round tie against Dynamo Kiev, and added three more before Rangers were eliminated by the Romanian side Steaua Bucharest in the quarter-finals. McCoist's participation in the first leg of that tie was remarkable considering that he had undergone surgery on his knee just seven days before the match!

The 1988/89 season was one that was interrupted by injury, though. Ally missed five matches early in the campaign, but recovered to score twice as Rangers defeated Aberdeen in the League Cup Final at Hampden in a re-run of the previous years final. However, he tore his hamstring against St Mirren in October and was absent for several months before he made a scoring return to action against Dundee in January.

The injury lay-offs meant that McCoist made just thirty-three appearances in 1988/89, but his eighteen goals, including nine in the league, were vital as Rangers reclaimed the title from Celtic. It would prove to the first of a record-equalling run of success for the Light Blues, and McCoist would remain a prominent figure throughout that sequence. (Alistair Aird, Author of Ally McCoist - Portrait of a Hero)

Ally McCoist would have a new striking partner for the 1989/90 season. Close friend and international team-mate Maurice Johnston arrived at Ibrox in a blaze of publicity - he was the club's first high-profile Roman Catholic signing - with the Rangers management team hoping that the duo could replicate at club level what had been a productive front-line partnership in the international arena.

Although they scored freely in the pre-season matches, neither McCoist nor Johnston were particularly prolific when the competitive action got underway, but they soon found their rhythm and their goals propelled Rangers to a second successive league title. Ally missed only two matches in the title race and scored fourteen goals, two of which were of great significance. In December he notched Rangers' 7000th league goal with an exquisite chip shot in a 3-1 win over Motherwell at Ibrox, and the goal rung up a personal milestone too. It was his 128th Premier Division goal, which meant he supplanted Frank McGarvey as the league's record goal-scorer. And a few months later he claimed another record when his penalty against Celtic at Ibrox saw him overtake Derek Johnstone as Rangers' top post-war league goal-scorer.

After enduring a disappointing 1990 World Cup with Scotland in Italy, McCoist returned ahead of the 1990/91 season looking to continue where he had left off in previous campaigns for Rangers. Many expected to see him once again link up with Johnston in attack, but the expensive acquisition of Mark Hateley increased the manager's options in that department. With Souness favouring a 4-4-2 formation that meant one of the forwards would have to be sacrificed, and despite being in prolific form in each of the four seasons that Souness had been in charge, it was McCoist who made way. He spent much of the season warming the substitutes' bench, earning himself the nickname 'The Judge', but when he was called into action he still managed to find the net regularly. Despite playing second fiddle to Hateley and Johnston, Ally notched a total of eighteen goals, picked up his sixth League Cup winners' medal, and played his part as a late substitute in the epic final-day title decider against Aberdeen at Ibrox.

Rangers opened the 1991/92 season under new management. Walter Smith had succeeded Graeme Souness at the helm in April 1991, and his appointment reinvigorated McCoist's Rangers career. Although injury counted him out of the opening league fixture against St Johnstone, Ally eventually returned to the fold and netted his first goal of the season in a 4-0 win against Dunfermline Athletic at Ibrox in early September. He was then handed his first appearance in the starting eleven since March when he was selected to face Hearts in the League Cup, and he repaid his manager's faith by netting the only goal of the game with a blistering volley.

Those goals kick-started a wonderful chapter in Ally's Rangers career, and by the end of the campaign he had chalked up thirty-nine goals, thirty-four of which came in the Premier Division. He was rarely absent from the starting XI, and he picked up another Championship medal as Rangers made it four-in-a-row and claimed his first-ever Scottish Cup winners' medal, scoring the second goal in a 2-1 victory over Airdrie in the Final.

In addition to adding more medals to his collection, the 1991/92 season saw McCoist win one of the highest personal honours that the game has to offer. His league goals tally was the best across all of the European leagues, which meant that Ally was awarded the Soulier d'Or (Golden Boot), the award given to the Continent's best marksman. He was the first UK winner of the award since Ian Rush some eight years earlier. (Alistair Aird, Author of Ally McCoist - Portrait of a Hero)

The 1992/93 season represented the zenith of Ally McCoist's distinguished playing career. His prolific return to the first-team fold at Ibrox in the 1991/92 season had earned him the European Golden Boot, and he was now recognised as one of the deadliest marksmen on the Continent. He would continue in that rich vein of form in the new campaign and, in the process, help Rangers embark on one of the finest seasons in their illustrious history, in addition to becoming the first player in the history of the game to retain the European Golden Boot.

Despite failing to find the net for Scotland at the 1992 European Championships in Sweden, McCoist soon rediscovered his goal-scoring touch, opening his account for the season with the only goal of the opening league fixture of the season against his former club, St Johnstone. That goal opened the floodgates and by the end of November, Ally had netted a staggering thirty goals in just twenty-two appearances. Included in his haul were two hat-tricks against Motherwell, a treble in the League Cup semi-final against St Johnstone, a four-goal haul against Falkirk in the Premier Division, and two goals in a 4-2 aggregate win over Leeds United in the European Cup. His partnership with Mark Hateley continued to flourish, with countless defences across the country ripped asunder by the Dynamic Duo's lethal finishing.

Although a calf injury counted him out of a handful of matches over the festive period, McCoist's hot streak of goal-scoring continued unabated in 1993, and when he found the net against Motherwell in February, he surpassed Jimmy Wardhaugh's total of 206 league goals, which meant that he now had the distinction of scoring the most goals for one Scottish side in the post-war era. A half century of goals for the season was now within touching distance, and he looked set to reach that milestone when he chalked up his forty-ninth goal of the campaign in the Scottish Cup semi-final against Hearts on April 3. However, just twenty-five days later that dream lay in tatters when McCoist sustained a broken leg while representing Scotland in a World Cup qualifier against Portugal in Lisbon. The injury brought Ally's finest season in light blue to an abrupt halt, but his final tally of forty-nine goals in fifty-two appearances had been a decisive factor in helping Rangers secure the domestic Treble for the fifth time in their history.

The recuperation from his leg break took a little longer than expected, but McCoist eventually returned to the first-team in October in a 1-1 draw against Raith Rovers. He returned to the team in time to take his place among the substitutes for the League Cup Final against Hibernian, and on that day at Parkhead he made another significant contribution to the history of Rangers Football Club. When he replaced Pieter Huistra in the 67th minute the teams were tied at 1-1, but Ally won the Cup for Rangers when his audacious overhead kick roared beyond Jim Leighton in the Hibernian goal.

His second goal of the season followed six days later in a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Celtic, but thereafter his campaign was disrupted by a number of niggling injuries, and at the conclusion of the 1993/94 season - a campaign that brought a sixth successive league title to Ibrox - he had made just twenty-eight appearances and scored eleven goals.

It was much the same story for Ally in the 1994/95 season. Although he was in the starting eleven for the opening league match against Motherwell, he was substituted inside the opening half hour when he picked up a calf injury. The injury kept him out of action until October, and although he netted his 299th goal in a Rangers jersey in a 1-0 win over Aberdeen in November, it would be the only goal that he would register over the course of the campaign. His season was eventually ended when he damaged the ligaments in his ankle in a 1-1 draw against Dundee United in February. (Alistair Aird, Author of Ally McCoist - Portrait of a Hero)

After enduring two seasons that had been blighted by numerous injuries, the 1995/96 season was shaping up to be one of the most important in Ally McCoist's football career. With his Ibrox contract due to expire at the end of the season, he knew he would have to remain largely injury-free and return to goal-scoring form if he was going to prove to the Rangers hierarchy that he merited a new deal.

McCoist set out to reach his goal with great gusto, kicking off the season in style, netting his 300th goal in a Rangers jersey in the opening round of the League Cup against Morton at Ibrox and then opening his league account with a double in a 4-0 win over Raith Rovers. Although he was occasionally troubled by injury over the course of the season, Ally maintained his early season form throughout the campaign, chipping in with a number of vital goals as Rangers set their sights on eight league titles in succession. Arguably his most important strikes came in a tense 4-2 victory over Raith Rovers in Kirkaldy on March 30. With the game entering its closing stages, the Light Blues trailed 2-1, and it seemed that three priceless points were about to slip away. But McCoist, who had scored Rangers' goal from the penalty spot, turned the tide back in Rangers' favour with two late goals, which were supplemented by a further strike from Gordon Durie to earn a 4-2 win.

Those three points kept Rangers' noses in front of Celtic and they eventually clinched the title with a game to spare. The Scottish Cup was also added to the trophy cabinet, although McCoist missed the Final against Hearts through injury. However, despite missing out on another winners' medal, Ally's performances over the course of the season - a campaign in which he netted twenty goals in thirty-seven appearances - earned him a new, two-year contract and he looked set to end his playing days at Ibrox.

In a similar fashion to the previous campaign, McCoist also hit the ground running in the 1996/97 season. He grabbed a hat-trick in a 5-2 win over Dunfermline and he netted another treble when Rangers thumped Russian champions Alania Vladikavkaz 7-2 in the Champions League qualifying round. Ally was also among the goals when Rangers claimed the first silverware of the season, scoring a brace in a thrilling 4-3 win over Hearts in the Final of the League Cup. That earned him a record ninth winners' medal in that competition, and he entered the record books once again in December when his double against Hibernian took his career league goals tally to 265. That took him beyond Gordon Wallace's landmark of league goals and Ally now stood out on his own as the most clinical marksman in Scottish league football in the post-war era.

Although appearances in the first-team became more sporadic as the season progressed, McCoist still played a pivotal role in earning Rangers their much-coveted ninth successive league title. He scored ten goals in twenty-five league appearances, which took his total during the record-equalling series to 136 in 231 appearances, an awesome return.

The arrival of Marco Negri saw McCoist relegated to a regular place on the sidelines during what would prove to be his final season at Ibrox, 1997/98. Although he netted a hat-trick against Falkirk in the third round of the League Cup, he appeared in just six of the first twenty-seven league matches and was linked with a move away from Ibrox in the New Year, with Newcastle, Sunderland and Birmingham City touted as potential suitors. However, with Rangers struggling to find form in the latter stages of the season, McCoist was recalled to the first XI and he repaid his manager's faith by re-igniting the Club's season. He scored four times in the final eight league matches and grabbed the opening goal with a fine diving header when Rangers defeated Celtic 2-1 in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup. He scored his 355th and final goal in Rangers colours in the Scottish Cup Final, but on this occasion his strike failed to net the Light Blues the silverware. Hearts won 2-1 and that added to the fact that Celtic had pipped Rangers to the title meant that arguably the greatest era in the Club's history ended without a trophy.

Ally McCoist left Rangers on a free transfer to Kilmarnock in the summer of 1998. During fifteen seasons at Ibrox he had made an indelible impression in the history of the Club, scoring a record 355 goals in 581 appearances and claiming myriad goal-scoring records, many of which are unlikely to be surpassed. He will always have legendary status in the eyes of the Rangers followers, and when he returned to the Club as assistant manager in January 2007 he was afforded a hero's reception. The prodigal had returned. (Alistair Aird, Author of Ally McCoist - Portrait of a Hero)