Ally McCoist Legend

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

McCoist was inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame in 2007. He is also a member of the Scottish Football Hall of Fame, having gained 61 international caps. A prolific striker, he is the fifth-highest all-time goalscorer in the top tier of the Scottish football league system, having scored 260 times for Rangers and Kilmarnock between 1983 and 2001. Towards the end of his playing career, McCoist started a media career. Between 1996 and 2007, he was a team captain on the BBC sports quiz A Question of Sport. He began to scale back his media commitments in 2007, when he became an assistant manager to Walter Smith at Rangers. He succeeded Smith as Rangers manager in 2011, but the club then suffered from serious financial difficulties. Rangers went into liquidation in 2012 and the club was placed in the fourth tier of Scottish league football. McCoist helped them win successive promotions to the second tier, but after a poor start to the 2014–15 season McCoist handed in his 12 months' notice in December 2014 and was placed on gardening leave. In September 2015, McCoist and Rangers mutually agreed to terminate his contract.

In Their Own Story

The defining era of McCoist's career began when Walter Smith took over from Souness in April 1991. McCoist returned from a hernia on the final day to help secure the title, eventually winning both Players' Player and Sportswriters' awards despite starting the next season on the bench due to injury. In that 1991–92 campaign, he scored 34 league goals, partnering with Hateley as Rangers completed a domestic double. His tally made him Europe's top scorer, earning an Adidas Golden Boot trophy, though it is not counted in official European listings due to a suspension by organizers at the time. He secured this status with two long-range strikes against Aberdeen on the final day, admitting he had barely been fit after drinking with students the previous night. McCoist went on to win ten league championship medals, including the historic nine-in-a-row from 1989 to 1997. He also claimed one Scottish Cup and nine League Cups. In 2011, he succeeded Smith as manager but faced severe financial difficulties when Rangers entered liquidation in 2012. After guiding the club through successive promotions, he handed in his notice in December 2014 following a poor start to the 2014–15 season and was placed on gardening leave before mutually terminating his contract in September 2015.

Reader's Guide

McCoist's first professional club was St Johnstone, having signed from Fir Park Boys Club in 1978. He made his debut for St Johnstone on 7 April 1979. He scored 23 goals in 43 appearances that season. Sunderland manager Alan Durban signed McCoist in August 1981 for £400,000, making him Sunderland's record signing. McCoist scored nine goals in 65 appearances for Sunderland. At the end of the 1982–83 season, McCoist returned to Scotland and joined Rangers for a fee of £185,000. During his fifteen years with Rangers, McCoist achieved ten league championship medals, a Scottish Cup winner's medal, and nine Scottish League Cup winner's medals. He was the first player to be Europe's top goalscorer twice in a row (in 1992 and 1993), and in 1992 won Scottish football's two most prestigious Player of the Year awards.

Did You Know?

• McCoist was born at Bellshill Maternity Hospital and raised in East Kilbride.
• His high-school team coach and chemistry teacher was former Clyde and Scotland forward Archie Robertson.
• Upon leaving school, McCoist worked as a clerical assistant in the Overseas Development Administration branch office at Hairmyres.
• McCoist scored a hat-trick in the League Cup final victory over Celtic in March 1984.
• He scored another hat-trick in the Glasgow Cup final against Celtic.