If my last entry on McCoist
suggested he was under some pressure, the opening day debacle doubled that
pressure and pushed him to the brink.
Going into the visit of Hearts it
was pretty clear the match was must-win. With all Rangers’ new signings and the
importance of getting off to a flier, victory was essential. A decent
performance was high on the agenda too but was not absolutely critical. For
momentum it would be nice but ultimately the bread and butter is points and
three were needed.
Robbie Neilson’s side came to
Hearts as an entirely unknown prospect. After all, it is a new team cobbled
together over pre-season and Neilson is not only a first-time manager but he is
a mere 34 and totally inexperienced in this field. In effect he is a total
rookie so McCoist surely had the advantage of his years of assistant manager to
Walter and now manager.
Well…if there was an advantage it
did not show and indeed the rookie manager really did outwit McCoist with some
embarrassing ease, it has to be said.
From about 15 minutes onward it
was pretty clear Hearts were far more comfortable on the ball, used it better
and looked extremely dangerous going forward. But then, given the form and
formation of Rangers these days it does not take a lot to look better than them.
McCoist once again set his pals
out, McCulloch partnering Zaliukas with McGregor ridiculously dropped to the
bench to accommodate it. Indeed, even the supporters seem to be getting rather
sick of ‘Big Jig’ as his name was greeted with only lukewarm applause when he
went to unfurl the title flag for last season. Once the man was a hero, and now
he is becoming the most unpopular selection at the Club.
The rest of the team, to be fair
to McCoist, actually was not the worst XI he could have put out, but unfortunately
he did put out MacLeod to the left wing to accommodate the frankly useless Law.
To describe Nicky Law as a totally awful signing understates just how
staggeringly poor the former Motherwell man has been at Ibrox. And, his totally
undeserved goal aside, once again he was the invisible man.
Meanwhile, as mentioned MacLeod,
who had had a decent match V Hibernian playing as a central attacking
midfielder, struggled out on the wing v Hearts. All because McCoist has to play
his favourites, no matter how abject their form is.
A lot has been said also of Ian
Black, and while I concede his form has been lacklustre for some considerable
time, until November last year he was actually rather good. The man is capable
of form but like everyone else is suffering from the AllyJig factor. The same
factor has also reduced Mohsni from a colossus at the back to a whimpering
bombscare.
Which brings me back to the
central point, and one Alistair Murdoch McCoist. The fact is that time and time
again he has proven himself tactically inept and obsessed with pleasing his
favourites, and that compulsion was his downfall again on Sunday when he was
outwitted by a 34-year old rookie on his first day on the job.
Hearts were far from magical but
they were sharper, more alert, quicker, and smoother on the ball. They looked
like they had already forged an understanding with each other despite being
newly-assembled, while Rangers, their team ‘built’ over the past three years
following the previous squad’s departure, look like total strangers.
On Sunday night a dramatic rumour
surfaced that McCoist was about to be shown the door following a meeting at
Ibrox. My information, and I profess I cannot verify it fully, is that Rangers are looking for a new manager and
McCoist will be departing. Three days later though he is still Rangers manager.
Fans may argue if he has not gone
now he is surely staying, but then the Club still has not given him any ‘vote
of confidence’. Furthermore yesterday a rumour broke about Lee Wallace being transferred
to Brighton to the tune of £800K. The Club
dispelled the story inside an hour. Yet here we are three days after the
McCoist one and no Club statement dismissing it.
Furthermore for McCoist to
basically blame Charles Green post-match for Rangers’ performance showed
desperation on his part. He also blamed his own defenders. The one person who
never ever takes responsibility for anything going wrong is Ally McCoist. Look
at the following from Mourinho following a Chelsea
loss in November last year V Swiss giants Basle:
“It’s not the kind of game where I’m very
upset with the players because I think I get it: I understood. Maybe I should
have made more changes from Saturday, but when the team’s played so well, you
want to give them more confidence, you want them to keep that going. But I
could see many signs of fatigue.”
He did blame individual
performances but he also held his own hands up and admitted failure on his own
part. That is only human. To make mistakes. You gain respect by admitting them.
But McCoist’s response was different:
“Whether he (Green) 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.”
Everybody, that is, except Ally
McCoist. And Kenny MacDowall for that matter, who recently complained the
fringe players were not doing enough to get into the first team.
“When we get the equaliser we are
looking at a positive reaction for the last five minutes to win the game and it
floored everybody. They saw a gap because Richard Foster came off and Darren
McGregor came on and he wasn’t in his position quick enough. I will need to
look at it again. I don’t think he was on the park quick enough for them to
take centre. But if he is not on the park we should have stopped the game and
not let them take centre until we had regrouped. He is definitely not in
position when they take centre but I am not saying for a minute that’s his
fault.”
The actual cheek here to blame
the defending while claiming he is not blaming an individual is absolutely
staggering.
It is abundantly clear McCoist’s
time is up. The vast, vast majority of fans are absolutely sick of his dreadful
management, and we all love Super Ally the hero striker who is the greatest in
the Club’s history. It just has not worked out for him in the hotseat, as it
likewise did not for John Greig.
Great players do not always make
great managers, and the McCoist example epitomises that.
It is time for us to move on.