‘I’ll be a flop until we get back on top’ - Ally McCoist

IN YEARS gone by, a Rangers manager could look at his team at the midway point of the season and know that his success would be judged by how many trophies his side went on to acquire.

According to yesterday’s mid-term report by the man himself, current Rangers manager Ally McCoist may not be considered a success until season 2015-16, or possibly earlier if league reconstruction goes ahead. All he can do till then is fail.

“It is strange,” said McCoist, “because I don’t think I will get judged until – hopefully – we are back in the top flight. And hopefully I get the opportunity to do that.

“I am probably running the risk that the only thing I am faced with is failure. I don’t think there is going to be any success, if you know what I mean.

“I am not sure a lot of people will judge success as winning the league, winning the next league and winning the next one after that. In a lot of people’s eyes that should be guaranteed. So I think, unless we do that, I will only be judged as a failure. Which is fine because that is where we are.

“It is bizarre, the whole situation is bizarre. Football managers will generally be judged, or should be judged, on results and that is all you can ask for, but I am not sure winning the league will be a fantastic success in many people’s eyes so it really is a strange situation.”

The disastrous events of the first half of 2012 when the club plunged into administration have been followed by a revivalist fervour around Ibrox as the team finally got its act together and now tops the Third Division as expected. But the full effects of the collapse of “oldco” Rangers have not emerged, according to McCoist.

“Probably a lot of people won’t realise the damage that has been caused,” said McCoist. “There has been some serious damage caused which will take us years and years to recover from.

“It is obvious to myself. The club has lost a team and a half, two teams, that were more than capable of competing in the SPL, possibly winning the SPL.

“It is the support that has kept us going. The heart has kept beating but, like any wounded animal, it will take us a while to recover.

“Until we have a team that has a possibility of winning the SPL, of getting back in Europe, that will be when we are back.

“The fans do have to be patient but to be fair they have been brilliant. I genuinely think the vast majority of them know the situation and know where we are now.

“It is anything but an overnight fix. If you look at the team against Annan, we had ten boys who had come through from Murray Park. We are not kidding ourselves that that particular team would win the SPL. We all know it wouldn’t. But we have to build a team that will be capable of winning it.”

McCoist made a direct plea to those corporate players who have invested in the new Rangers ownership company to stay with the club rather than cash in – some investors could already make a quick killing as Rangers shares began trading on the stock market at 70p each on 19 December and at one time on Friday were trading at at 94p.

He said: “I can’t tell them what to do, of course I can’t, because they have better business brains than me, but it would be fantastic of them to show continued support.

“Businessmen do what businessmen need to do, of course I appreciate that, but at the same time there is a wee bit of romance about the whole thing.

“They can stay with, hopefully, a great story. If it does become a great story then they will get greater rewards. We are delighted with the support they have shown, but it would be great if they showed continued support and I would certainly ask them for that.”

Chief executive Charles Green is sure to stay, said McCoist: “All of us couldn’t see what was happening, we couldn’t see beyond the next day, but Charles has come in and I would have to say that he has been gripped by the whole thing as well.

“The fact that he is even talking about Champions League football, the way that only Charles can do, is great, because there was a long time when you didn’t have somebody at your side fighting with you.”

Green has followed other Englishmen in falling for Rangers and Glasgow, as McCoist said: “It is one of the biggest compliments that you can pay the club and indeed the city and the people within the city because we are not slow to batter ourselves and put ourselves down, but we must have something if all these great players – England captains, goalkeepers, centre-forwards, Gascoigne, Wilkins, all these boys – come up and have a real genuine affection and affinity with the place, and indeed Glasgow.”