THE hard facts of Ally McCoist's time in charge of Rangers are there for all to see.

There are some hidden intangibles, however, which may also be worthy of consideration.

If reports are to be believed, the beleaguered Ibrox boss has lost the confidence of the board, and the majority of the supporters who used to idolise him, but centre-forward Jon Daly last night revealed a moving personal story which illustrates exactly why you won't find any of the Rangers players bad-mouthing their manager any time soon. It involves a low-key journey to a church in Dublin.

"What has he done for me personally?" asked Daly. "I will tell you the mark of the man. I was only at the club three or four months and my father passed away. Ally gave me the week or so to go back home and then on the day of my dad's funeral I turned around and there he was, standing at the back of the church.

"I have obviously been at other clubs too [Stockport, Hartlepool and Dundee United, plus loans at Bury and Grimsby Town] and no person from any other club was there," added the striker, also the first Catholic from the Republic of Ireland to sign for the club. "That meant a lot myself and to my family. It showed me the type of man he is.

"Because of that it hurts me that he is under pressure and that he is feeling it. I don't think he deserves to be under the pressure he is, but that is the business we are in and it is up to us as players to make sure we turn that around for him. There is no use pointing fingers at each other. We have to take a look in the mirror and ask ourselves if we have done enough. On the night against Alloa I don't think we did."

Whether or not the board do indeed want rid of him, there are 1.5 million reasons for the fiscally-challenged Ibrox club to keep their manager, and his backroom staff of Kenny McDowall and Ian Durrant, in place. Some feel his position has become untenable after the shock 3-2 Petrofac Cup loss to Alloa, but those expecting McCoist to throw in the towel cannot be basing this assumption on his playing career.

While Rangers fans are right to feel that there is room for improvement in their team's performances, McCoist is nothing if not stubborn. He is equally entitled to feel he can still ride this all out, and still win promotion, via the play-offs if the gap with Hearts cannot be closed. There is always the example of his erstwhile Mike Ashley stablemate Alan Pardew to consider. The Newcastle manager survived a supporter campaign earlier in the season to remove him from the premises and has managed to miraculously rehabilitate his reputation.

"That has happened a couple of times this year in the English Premiership - with Sam Allardyce [at West Ham] and Alan Pardew - and I hope it can again here," said Daly. "In this day and age it seems to be that if a manager has a couple of bad results the first thought is 'quick, change the manager'. But if you give the manager time things can change and you can be sat there at the end of the season having won the league."

McCoist's situation is further complicated by the fact this job is as much a figurehead as football manager - part of his job description which he has generally excelled in despite trying circumstances.

"He does take a lot of the problems on," said Daly. "He has probably had to deal with an awful lot more than the players have. But there has been no change in him at all. He is always bubbly. He creates a good atmosphere about the place.

"I really like the manager," Daly added. "Every manager you work with has different qualities, but I would say he is up there with the best I have dealt with. He is good with the lads and working towards games. We go into each game with a different game plan. The boys work hard on it in training, but for a couple of reasons in a couple of games this year it hasn't happened for us."

One of the reasons for failure at the Indodrill Stadium on Wednesday was the fact Lewis Macleod lasted just 13 minutes before succumbing to a hamstring injury. It is the latest of a long line of Rangers woes on artificial surfaces and an injury McCoist could well do without.

"I'm not 100 per cent sure what part if any the surface played," said McCoist. "But he did get injured there the last time we played too and it's a sore one for us because he has been doing ever so well. We have had a few injuries on plastic pitches, as well as Lewis, David Templeton got injured down at Annan, and I have made my views perfectly clear - I'm not the biggest fan of them."

For all of the vitriol poured in his direction, it hasn't all been one way. "I have had hundreds of messages of support," said McCoist, "and it has been nice to receive them."