Ally McCoist's time as Rangers manager came to an end on Sunday night after he was placed on gardening leave for the remainder of his 12-month notice period.

So where it has gone wrong for the Light Blues' record scorer as manager?

SIGNINGS

Despite the club's financial implosion, McCoist has had money to work with during his three-and-a-half year reign as boss. But the 52-year-old repeatedly put his faith in players he knew with Scottish Premiership experience who failed to recreate their former performance level.

Allies of the manager will point out that he did not have a scouting network to rely on, but moves for highly-paid figures like Ian Black, Nicky Law, Jon Daly, Kenny Miller and Kris Boyd simply did not work, while others signings such as Emilson Cribari, Francisco Sandaza and Arnold Peralta were outright failures.

STYLE OF PLAY

The signs were good for McCoist when he first took over and Rangers managed to rack up a 15-point lead over Celtic in his first season. But as that lead was thrown away, a frailty in his management was brutally exposed.

But worse was to come for the former Scotland striker as despite the mammoth resources he could call upon as he faced up to part-time minnows following the club's liquidation, his side often struggled.

Tactically naive, one-paced and lacking creativity, the club's loyal faithful soon grew tired as they toiled against sides they should have been ripping apart.

CONTRACT

Rangers have staggered from one crisis to another - all the while wasting millions of pounds in the process.

But McCoist did himself no favours by accepting an £800,000-a-year deal to manage the club while it was marooned at the depths of the Scottish game.

Even when he volunteered to take a 50 per cent wage cut, many fans were disappointed that it took several weeks of negative headlines before it was finally agreed.

McCoist's salary then increased to £750,000 a year when he handed his notice in and as recently as Friday the manager was adamant he would see out his notice period.

YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

Many Gers supporters thought that by going down to the Third Division, Rangers would be able to flood their team with young recruits while they stock-piled cash for their Premiership return.

But McCoist was reluctant to put his faith in his Murray Park youngsters, claiming they were not good enough to see the club back through the divisions.

The only youngster to have made any impact in recent years has been Lewis Macleod. The Scotland Under-21 midfielder is undoubtedly a promising talent but one graduate from an entire youth system seems wasteful to many.

CUP RECORD

Since replacing Walter Smith in the summer of 2010, McCoist has failed to win a single cup competition in 11 attempts.

Rangers remain in this season's two major domestic knockout tournaments but suffered fresh shame when they blew a two-goal lead against Alloa as they crashed out of the Petrofac Training Cup semis earlier this month.

Other humiliations include losing last year's Challenge Cup final to Raith Rovers and being taken to a replay by League Two outfit Albion Rovers.