McCoist to be next Rangers manager

SIR David Murray, the Rangers chairman, has confirmed that Ally McCoist will become the next manager of the Ibrox club if he helps current incumbent Walter Smith reclaim the SPL title from Celtic.

McCoist, Rangers' all-time record goalscorer during his glittering 15-year playing career, gave up a lucrative television career to return to the club in January 2007 as Smith's assistant.

While Murray has not reached any formal agreement for McCoist to become the 14th man in Rangers' history to manage the club, he says the line of succession is already a conditional arrangement as far as he is concerned.

"I would have thought, all things being equal, that he (McCoist) will become manager," said Murray. "I hope he gets it. It hasn't been talked about, but it is an understanding among us.

"Walter and I discussed it when he came back, that McCoist would come in, hopefully we would get back to a successful period and then he would get the chance.

"It will be success driven. If we are successful, if Walter is successful, then the natural successor would be McCoist. But if we go another two or three years without winning the league, then we will all be under pressure."

Murray, who marks the 20th anniversary of his ownership of Rangers this weekend, admits he would have regarded McCoist as the unlikeliest of potential managers when he bought the club on 22 November 1988.

Like most people who get close enough to McCoist to discover the depth of personality and character beneath his light-hearted public image, however, Murray has come to admire and appreciate the intelligence and ambition of the 46-year-old.

"He didn't come back to Rangers for the money," added Murray. "He came here for a lot less than he was earning (in television). You wouldn't have thought of him as a manager 20 years ago, would you? But he has a very strong mentality. He is bright and makes a good coaching team with Kenny McDowall, so why shouldn't he become manager?"

Under Murray's stewardship, Rangers have won 30 trophies, including 13 championships. They have now seen Celtic win three successive titles for the first time since the Jock Stein era, however, and ending the current dominance of their great rivals is key to Murray's vision of McCoist taking the helm.

He admits Rangers are handicapped financially this season following their shock elimination from Europe by Kaunas in the second qualifying round of the Champions League but believes Smith still has the necessary resources to win the domestic title.

"Celtic are strong right now, they have done well and you can't take anything away from them," said Murray. "We must respond. It all depends on what happens on the park. We have players good enough to beat Celtic, we have already done that this season.

"On their day, they have players capable of beating us. The future of Scottish football is that Rangers and Celtic will continue to compete against each other. We are at a big disadvantage this year because we don't have European income, but I still think we've got a good enough squad to win the league.

"We were rudderless and going nowhere until Walter came back. We asked him to steady the ship. He gained a bit of ground and then could well have won the league last season. I don't think there is any doubt our European run affected it. Fair-minded people would see that.

"Celtic have the money from the Champions League this season, which everyone is assuming they will spend in January, but let's see if they do. But there is no doubt this is the wrong year for us to be spending money, what with going out of Europe and the financial restrictions right across the globe. It is very concerning. Every one of us has to be more financially prudent in our daily lives and we are no different as a football club.

"I don't think much will change, other than we will reduce the size of our squad and definitely have to bring in younger Scottish players to make up the balance of the squad. If we don't start doing that, then there is no point having the Murray Park training academy."



MURRAY HITS OUT AT CELTIC CHAIRMAN, PAGES 66-67

WHY PAUL LE GUEN HAD TO GO, PAGE 65