Towards the end of his three years in charge of Rangers, Ally McCoist was forced to confront the quid pro quo of modern management.
In return for a large salary and a status as public property, the men who pick football teams can expect to acquire stress lines, high blood pressure, bags under the eyes and grey hair. Assuming they last long enough.
‘I remember my missus saying to me: “Come here you, have a look at yourself in that mirror”,’ said McCoist on Tuesday, before adding with a grin: ‘Normally, I’m quite good at doing that. And she’ll tell me when I’ve been standing there half an hour...
Ally McCoist admits that the stress of being Rangers manager took its toll on him
‘But I looked at myself in all seriousness and thought: “Jesus, that’s not right”. That’s what happens in the management game now.
‘This must have happened just before I left Rangers and, honestly, I just looked and thought: “That’s not right”.
‘It was definitely all taking its toll on me. I wasn’t feeling great, I wasn’t sleeping at all.
‘And that goes with the territory of being a football manager these days — particularly at the Old Firm, I would have thought.’
On a number of factors, McCoist could count himself fortunate. In return for three years of stress, grief and Charles Green, he earned a salary managers like Kenny Miller and Alan Stubbs could only dream of.
Former Ibrox striker Miller lasted just two league games before leaving Livingston. Stubbs — a Scottish Cup winner with Hibernian — was sacked by St Mirren on Monday after only four.
A resident of a leafy Renfrewshire village, there are aspects of managing St Mirren which would suit the former Ibrox boss fine. He lives half an hour from the Ralston training ground. In theory, there would be few of the bizarre circumstances which led to a reality check in a bedroom mirror.
Enjoying life as a BT Sport and TalkSPORT pundit, however, the 55-year-old offers a blunt admission. The view from a broadcasting gantry feels a good deal safer than that facing the next manager of St Mirren or Livingston.
Taking sanctuary on higher ground, he can’t say for sure now that he’ll ever manage another football team.
McCoist recalls finding it hard to sleep and his health was impacted by the job at Ibrox
Linked with the Paisley job last summer, he joked: ‘They’ve offered me a month’s contract... I’m going to speak to them about it. I mean, seriously, what’s going on?
‘If ever there was a reason not to go back into management, then you’ve just given it to me.
‘It’s my local club and I’m the only one who can get away with floating between Paisley and Morton.
‘I go to St Mirren, I get stick from Morton and, when I go to Morton, I get stick from St Mirren.
‘But it’s just madness these days. It’s so difficult when you look at what happened to Stubbsy. What was it? Four league games?
‘I don’t know, but it just seems to me there is a lack of realism in the expectation levels throughout clubs in general.
‘Kenny Miller got even less time and we’ve now lost two Premiership managers with six league games between them. Sometimes, you need to take a step back and ponder that.’
Guiding Rangers from the lowest rung of Scottish football after the liquidation of the oldco, McCoist eventually resigned in December 2014.
He was close to the Queens Park Rangers job, fancied a return to Sunderland and refused to rule out St Mirren a few months ago. Now? He’s not so sure.
The Scot believes there is too much expectation in football and it needs to be more realistic
‘I get that some guys are absolutely desperate to get back in, I understand that totally,’ he said. ‘They just need the drug or the finances and need to get back in.
‘But if you look at it in the cold light of day, if you are not going to a football club where your board will 100-per-cent support you and help you, then you have no chance. Or very little chance. There have to be realistic ambitions.
‘I am not closing the door, but I would be doubtful now. I would be surprised. I really enjoy what I’m doing just now, I really enjoy my weekends watching football.
‘I watch the kids play football and, the Saturday before last, I was at four games. I really enjoy my BT Sport stuff, going to Fir Park or Kilmarnock watching Rangers, Celtic, Aberdeen or whoever. So I am very comfortable and fortunate.
‘For some guys, it’s like a drug but I am very fortunate where I am in a position where I really enjoy what I am doing and I don’t have to get back into management.’
It took time to reach a point where McCoist could even contemplate a return to football. Placed on gardening leave and under unreasonable pressure to tear up his contract, he finally severed his ties with Rangers in September 2015.
He looks and feels better now. He sleeps a solid eight hours a night.
McCoist famously wrote the epitaph for his own gravestone the day he rolled down his car window in the midst of an insolvency crisis and declared: ‘We don’t do walking away.’
The day he actually did, he now concedes, he felt only relief.
‘A wee bit I have to say, yes,’ admitted McCoist. ‘It was as if somebody lifted a weight off my shoulders.’
McCoist led Rangers to the third division title as the club worked their way back up
In time, he hopes his legacy of 355 goals scored over 15 years as an outstanding Rangers striker will take precedence over a stressful and unhappy reign as manager.
‘I think Greigy (John Greig) did that, didn’t he? I certainly hope so.
‘No matter what happens, no one can take the goals away from me. Those and the performances are always there. As is the managerial record, of course.
‘I appreciate people have different opinions on that, but I do not have a problem with people saying: “He was a lousy manager”. Or people saying: “He was a good goalscorer”.
‘Everybody is entitled to their opinion, but what I did as a Rangers player won’t go away because you can’t argue with statistics or history.
‘I was unlucky with the timing of the management job at the club. But I look at guys in the dugout now and I can see the pressure they are under. Pressure does strange things to people.
‘Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t have swapped anything.
‘But I certainly don’t miss that feeling of not feeling well... and not looking too clever.’
Ally McCoist was speaking at a William Hill media event. William Hill is a proud sponsor of the Scotland National Team.
Link articlehttps://hienalouca.com/2018/09/05/i-saw-myself-in-the-mirror-and-looked-terrible-ally-mccoist-on-perils-of-management/
Main photo article Towards the end of his three years in charge of Rangers, Ally McCoist was forced to confront the quid pro quo of modern management.
In return for a large salary and a status as public property, the men who pick football teams can expect to acquire stress lines, high blood pressure, bags under...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves Sport HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/09/04/23/4FB59E9000000578-0-image-m-43_1536099829637.jpg
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