**FRAN** -------------------Is Ally McCoist’s wages preventing Rangers from sacking the legend? BY ANDY MUIRHEAD · AUGUST 10, 2014 Sunday’s 2-1 defeat to Hearts in the SPFL Championship looks to be the final straw for Rangers fans. At both the half time and full-time whistles mass BOOS rang round Ibrox as the Rangers fans turned on not only their players but more importantly manager and club legend Ally McCoist. The day had started in superb form as Ibrox and the fans of both teams paid tribute to the late great Sandy Jardine. The fans in attendance were also graced with the Rangers team that won the 1972 European Cup WINNERS Cup as they helped to unveil what will now be known as the Sandy Jardine stand. Sadly for those Rangers fans in Ibrox, the celebration and remembrance of Jardine’s life as a man and as a legendary player was the only highlight of the day as the rain brought with it misery and despair at another poor Rangers performance. A performance that Rangers fans had praying for the glory days of 1972 to return. Much of the match was an anti-climax with missed chances from both sides, the usual dishing out of yellow cards and the fans getting increasingly frustrated. Former Rangers youngster Danny Wilson had given Hearts the lead on 53 minutes, but the game only really got going in the final six minutes. With the game looking as though Hearts would seal all three points thanks to that Wilson goal, Nicky Law equalised for Rangers before venting his anger at the home supporters for allegedly BOOING his sponsors man of the match announcement minutes earlier. But just as the Rangers celebrations of a point died down, up popped Osman Sow seconds later to silence the Rangers supporters and leave the players as well as McCoist aghast at a point thrown away. After three years of dirge on the Ibrox pitch against PART-TIME players, the first competitive league game against a full-time opponent proved the catalyst for Rangers fans to round on McCoist. It may be harsh to point solely to today’s defeat, as the calls for his departure from the managerial hot seat have been steadily increasing since 2012 when Rangers were in the then-Third Division. But tonight the cries of Rangers fans are no longer of ‘No Surrender’ but of ‘McCoist must go!’. This is McCoist’s fourth season in charge of Rangers and he has failed to impress in all four. Yes he had to deal with Rangers’ administration and liquidation. As well as the fallouts from Whyte and Green’s abysmal running of the club, but his time of being given the benefit of the doubt has long disappeared. However, Rangers’ financial state is proving to be the tipping point in all of this. The Ibrox board cannot sack McCoist as it would be too costly for them to do so. He may have dropped his wage of £800,000 per annum to help the club out financially, but he is still the most expensive paid manager in the Scottish game currently and to pay him off will mean Rangers have to not only pay him out of his current deal, but also all the backdated money that he cut to help the club out. Sacking McCoist could push the financially stricken Championship side back into administration. Their financial situation is so dire that they are having to woo the city of London with the promise of riches [on the scale of Scottish Premiership standards] in return for £4 million. Their attempts at trying to raise £10 million failed as quickly as the Rangers fans celebration today. If Rangers had not imploded financially at their own hands two years ago and misspent tens of millions of pounds since then, do you really think McCoist would still be in a job? Take a look at another Rangers legend, John Greig, he won two League Cups and two Scottish Cups with Rangers during his managerial reign between 1978 and 1983. But while he is regarded as Rangers’ greatest ever player, his managerial career was deemed a failure. Greig failed to win a single league championship as Rangers manager and under intense pressure from the terracing, the media and the club’s directors – Greig quit in October 1983. So what of Ally McCoist, who Greig coincidentally signed when Rangers manager, will he do what is best for Rangers and walk away or will he continue to pick up his pay check until Rangers’ journey to the promised land of the Scottish Premiership is complete? McCoist’s haul of lower league championship titles is not going to quell the angry mob that is baying for his head and two games into the season already against Hibernian and Hearts – two of Rangers’ title competitors – Rangers fans’ rectums are twitching at the thought of failing to secure promotion thanks to McCoist’s management style [or lack thereof] and his policy in ditching youth players for veteran players on higher wages. To make matters worse McCoist tried to pin the blame on former Rangers chief executive Charles Green and the timing of his news that he is trying to raise £10 million to invest back into the club. Speaking after today’s match McCoist rounded on Green, saying: “Whether he comes back or not remains to be seen. I thought the timing of it again… it is a big day for the players, a big day for the supporters and even bigger day for Sandy Jardine’s family. I just didn’t think the timing of it was great. “For the first time, one or two of the players actually said to me about the timing of all that kind of stuff. Everybody does their level best to keep players sheltered and away from it and we will continue to do that because they have to concentrate on results on the park. Sometimes it is a little bit of a sideshow we can do without.” While Green’s comments with George Soros have been rubbished in several Sunday papers, the sideshow surrounding Rangers has been going on for longer than Green’s reappearance earlier this week. Dave King and his Union of Fans puppets have been calling on Rangers fans to boycott the club’s season ticket sales to force them into capitulating to their demands – where was McCoist’s comments then? He kept silent despite the failed attempts of blackmail by King [who subsequently did a bunk] and the Union of Fans having a negative effect on the club’s financial health, their ability to RAISE CAPITAL and caused division among the Rangers support once more. Under Craig Whyte and Charles Green, McCoist happily rolled out in front of the cameras to sell season tickets to the masses, this year he decided to choose a vow of silence and refused to be the poster boy for Rangers season ticket sales. Was this his penance for back two individuals regarded as fraudsters by the Rangers fans? Either way with 18,000 less season tickets sold this year compared to last year – the boycott has had a damaging effect on Rangers finances much to the delight of the Union of Fans and the Sons of Struth who see this as a victory against a board that was not responsible for Rangers’ woes, during the Whyte or Green era. McCoist’s tactic of using Green as an excuse is an embarrassing one, as it shows up his lack of man MANAGEMENT SKILLS if he cannot get his players focused for the league opener and arguably their toughest test of the whole season. So why do the board keep the faith with McCoist in the face of widespread criticism and derision from the club’s supporters? Is it down to simply his legendary status? Is it down to their belief that he will come good eventually? Or is it simply down to the fact that they cannot afford to pay him off and they are waiting for him to walk away? Will the Monday morning papers or the radio phone-ins highlight the pundits opinions on McCoist and his time as Rangers manager or will they simply fob off the result as one of those things saying that Rangers do not have a god given right to win every game? Radio Clyde pundit Derek Johnstone has been one of McCoist’s greatest ally’s in the media both in print and on radio – will he now follow the fans and say time is up for McCoist or will he continue to play the dutiful pundit who just happens to be EMPLOYED by Rangers also? I cannot seem Big DJ rounding on McCoist on Monday night’s show, in fact I can envisage him defending his former team-mate in the face of angry Rangers punters calling for his head. Ultimately the decision on McCoist’s future as Rangers manager is not down to the fans, it’s not down to the media and it is certainly not down to the board who are trying to find as many pennies as they can down the back of the chairs at Ibrox. It is down to McCoist whether he walks away from the club he states he loves or continues to pick up a wage as Scotland’s highest paid manager. There is no denying that McCoist is still one of Rangers’ greatest sons, but sadly his managerial career is creating a love/hate relationship with the fans who once cheered and sang his name. Some players are right for management others aren’t and just like John Greig, McCoist is not one of those right for the managerial hotseat at Ibrox.
Posted on: Sun, 10 Aug 2014 22:28:16 +0000
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