In the second part of Ibrox Noise’s Ally McCoist exclusive, we speak to Rangers’ legendary striker about Derek McInnes, the passing of Bobby Duval, and his old stomping partner Mark Hateley.
Not to mention Ibrox and the weekend’s wee kickabout in Govan.
Have you been surprised by your old buddy Derek McInnes and his season at Hearts? Do you believe he is Rangers manager material of the future?
“I’m not embarrassed to say I’m slightly biased because I know Derek, I played with Derek, but it’s absolutely no surprise to me. Derek’s a very, very competent, knowledgeable football manager and coach.
“He did a great job at Aberdeen. I thought he was a little bit harshly treated in the end. He did a very, very good job at Kilmarnock. I think he probably left Kilmarnock at the perfect time for Derek, which he deserved and which was warranted. And he’s just taking Hearts to a new level, you know?
“He will keep his feet firmly on the floor. But I tell you what, at the same time, he’ll be in that dressing room telling them, ‘You better believe this. You better believe it.’
“He’ll be filling them full of belief. He’ll be playing his cards saying, ‘You know, we’re gonna take one game at a time.’ And he’ll be saying all the things that managers say. But he’ll have them believing, no doubt, no doubt about it. And so he should.”
Your old mate Mark Hateley once told us he reckoned a partnership like you and he today would be worth £120M. Would you go along with that?
“I’m telling you right now, the big man’s got it wrong! Totally wrong again. He’s selling himself short, because by my reckoning he’s only valuing himself at £20million. And I’m finding that quite unbelievable. Big Mark, one thing he’s not shy in coming forward. How could he possibly only value himself at £20 million at the peak? It’s ridiculous!
“I’m only kidding, but we had something like 180 goals between us in two years. We were flying, we were unstoppable. And one of the biggest regrets is, when we played Marseille the year they won the Champions League, we didn’t get the chance to play in either of the games up front together.
“Something I still look back on and am a little bit disappointed about, because would I have done alright? Would I have done okay?
“But yeah, I did have a smile on my face when I saw that. In fact, as soon as I come off this phone, I’m going to ask him why he only valued himself at £20million!”
You would obviously have been sad at your former ‘co-star’ Bobby Duval’s passing. We spoke to you before about Shot at Glory – how much did he help you with that movie, and also well done on making a Rangers fan out of him!
“I loved him. He was just a brilliant man. One of the greatest actors of all time. I don’t care what anybody says. If you ask a man on the street, ‘Who’s your top five actors?’
“A hundred out of a hundred will have Robert Duvall in the top five. You might not have him at number one, but they’ll have him in the top five. He was just brilliant.
“He started off in To Kill a Mockingbird. He was in True Grit with John Wayne. It’s just amazing the films he’s been in. What a catalogue of movies. And when he came up to do that film, he was just a proper human being.
“He was great and he loved being in the company of the boys because when we did that film, it was guys from Airdrie, a couple of Celtic boys, a couple of Rangers boys, Raith Rovers, and we all played the game.
“We used to sit up and play head tennis during breaks and things like that. And he would just pull up a seat and watch us playing head tennis. There were no airs or graces to him. He was just an absolute superstar that didn’t act like one.”
And finally, what do you feel makes Ibrox as a stadium stand out among others? What is special about
the old stadium that makes it different to every other?
“You can just feel it. I mean, Sunday, that place will be absolutely rocking. The RB Leipzig semi-final, that would probably be in my top three. The ones I played, I remember we beat Dynamo Kiev when they had the Russian national team. We beat them 2-0. And they had Oleg Blokhin, who had been World Player of the Year, and Igor Belanov, who was, I think, European Player of the Year.
“They just had an unbelievable team. The noise that night was incredible. Then the night we beat Leeds, when they had Eric Cantona, Gordon Strachan, and Gary McAllister, the noise that night, jeez. But that Leipzig game would certainly have been up there as well.
“It’s just a special place, you know, it really is. And as I say, I’m expecting the same atmosphere at the weekend.”
This interview was in association with TalkSport Casino Bet.