Ally McCoist

He has appeared in a film, been the captain of successful sports quiz show, and co-hosted a radio program. All that and I have not even mentioned his incredibly successful football career for club and country.

Ally McCoist was born on the 24th September 1962 in Bellshill, Scotland. Seventeen years later, his professional career began at St. Johnstone,  but only a year earlier he was rejected by the then St. Mirren boss Sir Alex Ferguson.

In his first two seasons at Muirton Park he failed to score in nineteen appearances but by the following season, 1980-81, he began to show the form that would eventually make him a Scottish legend – bagging 22 goals in 38 games.

This caught the attention of Sunderland who signed the 19 year old for £400,000. It was a move that did not work out for the club or the player and after just two years and eight goals with Sunderland he was bought by Rangers manager John Greig for £185,000 in 1983. It was here that he would go on to play his best football and earn himself legend status.

In fifteen years at Ibrox McCoist scored an incredible 28 hat-tricks for the club, his highest goal tally for one season was 34, which was achieved in three different seasons.

A good way to get the fans on your side when you arrive at a new club is to score against their local rivals and McCoist managed a hat-trick against Celtic in the League Cup Final in his first season at the club. Indeed he managed 27 goals in total against their Old Firm rivals. This made him the second highest goal scorer for Rangers against Celtic.

McCoist had a knack of being in the right place at the right time, his quick reading of the game allowed him to move into the correct positions and outwit defenders before they realised the dangers.

He made his international debut in a scoreless draw against Holland in 1986. Later that year Graeme Souness would take over at Ibrox and begin a more successful period in the club’s history. McCoist won the first of ten top flight championship medals with Rangers in 1986/87.

Graeme Souness and Walter Smith then went on to guide Rangers to their famous nine in a row league title wins.

Souness with the first three and then Smith with the last six, and McCoist was one of just three players that featured in all of these championship winning seasons.

In 1991/92 he won the European Golden Boot award for bagging 34 goals in the season as Rangers won the treble. This was the first time that a Scotsman had won the award and he won it a second time a year later.

Nineteen goals were scored in his international career in sixty-one appearances, over a period of twelve years. Although in 1993 he suffered the first of his two career leg breaks playing for Scotland against Portugal.

During his fifteen years at Rangers he won a stunning ten Scottish Premier titles, nine Scottish League Cups and one Scottish cup, this along with two European Golden Boat awards.

His last appearance for the Gers was in the 1998 Scottish Cup Final, and in typical style he bagged a goal but eventually Hearts went on to win the game 2-1.

Kilmarnock signed McCoist in 1998, and he spent three years at the club scoring twelve times but also suffered a second leg break before he retired on 21st May 2001, aged 38, after playing part of a win against Celtic.

A stint on television was next on the agenda for McCoist as he was a regular team captain on popular sports quiz show ‘A Question of Sport’ for eleven years between 1996 and 2007.

In 2004, he joined former manager Walter Smith as a member of the coaching staff for the Scottish national team. This lasted three years until Smith moved back to Rangers for a second spell in charge, McCoist followed and became his assistant manager.

Three years later and the two are still in charge of Rangers and there have been rumours that Smith is preparing McCoist to take the managers job when he retires.

McCoist was awarded an MBE in 1994 for his services to football, and in 2007 he was inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame and he is also included in the Scotland Football Hall of Fame.

These awards just prove what a great servant to the Scottish game McCoist was and indeed still is. There is no doubt that McCoist isn’t done with the game and there is every chance his coaching career will bring yet more success for the Rangers golden boy.

Profile

Name: Alistair Murdoch McCoist
DOB: 24 September 1962
POB: Bellshill, Scotland
Height: 5ft 10 inches
Position: Striker [retired]

Senior Career

1979-81 St. Johnstone 57 [22 goals]
1981-83 Sunderland 56 [8 goals]
1983-98 Rangers 418 [251 goals]
1998-01 Kilmarnock 59 [12 goals]

National Team

1980-81 Scotland U-18 10 [7 goals]
1983 Scotland U-21 1 [0 goals]
1986-98 Scotland 61 [19 goals]