In the early years of his career Ally McCoist played for St Johnstone and Sunderland before moving to Rangers in 1983, starting what would be a record-breaking stint at the Glasgow club.
He became the club's record goalscorer and won nine successive league championships between the 1988–89 and 1996–97 seasons.
McCoist continued to claim goals when he played for three seasons alongside long-time Rangers teammate and friend Ian Durrant for Kilmarnock – ending his playing career as the fifth highest goalscorer in the top tier of Scottish football with 260 successful strikes. The striker also played for his country, winning 61 international caps and scoring 19 goals for Scotland.
A successful media career began even before he retired from playing when he became a team captain in the popular BBC sports quiz A Question of Sport in 1996 – a position he would fill for more than a decade.
His management career started when he became Walter Smith’s Rangers depute in 2007, eventually stepping up to become manager in 2011. This was at the time of the well-publicised financial issues which saw the club liquidated and relegated to the fourth tier of Scottish football. McCoist remained at the club to win successive promotions to the second tier but ultimately resigned in December 2014 after a poor start to the season.
McCoist is now am in-demand football pundit, commentator and personality, most recently hitting the headlines after helping a nurse win £82,000 on BBC game show The Wheel.
Here’s what ‘Super Ally’ has had to say on a variety of topics over the years.
1. Ally McCoist on...how football has changed
"I could go fishing with Paul Gascoigne, I could go for a pint and a game of doms with Ian Durrant. There's no way I would play now rather than the era I played in. We had a life." Photo: Dan Smith
2. Ally McCoist on...his sporting hero
"The only picture I've got in my house - other than family photos, of course - is one of me with Muhammad Ali." Photo: Sebastian Artz
3. Ally McCoist on...the liquidation of Rangers
"I am the Rangers manager who ended up in a witness stand in the high court, thinking: 'Is this what it's come to?' There were people involved at our football club who had no right to be there and should never have been near the place." Photo: George Wood
4. Ally McCoist on...being a football fan when he was young
"I was as staunch a Rangers supporter as any wee boy could be without being bigoted. We did a lot of stupid things. We sang the songs, but with no real feeling, and didn't have a clue what we were singing about." Photo: Matthew Lewis