IT takes a lot to get Ally McCoist down.
A man so consistently chipper and upbeat that he should be tested for happy pills, even the seemingly never-ending sequence of problems that has engulfed Rangers over the past few years has failed to dampen his spirits. There will have been times, of course, when the smile has come close to a grimace but McCoist's ability to put on a brave face in times of adversity has been unflagging.
There was a hint, though, yesterday that he is starting to become quite weary of the soap opera that Rangers has become. No other manager will surely have experienced anything like McCoist has had to endure in his first two years in charge. The Craig Whyte era, followed by administration and then liquidation, would have been draining enough had that been the sum of Rangers' troubles.
Now, after a period of relative off-field calm, there is turbulence once more with the departure of chief executive Charles Green, a reported boardroom split, and uncertainty about the future as the club awaits the findings of an independent investigation into claims of "connections between Whyte and former and current personnel of Rangers". And all the myriad football issues that any manager has to deal with on top of that.
Rangers will likely not face another summer like the last when Green completed his protracted takeover and the club, in the guise of a newco, entered uncharted territory in the third division. That is not to say McCoist is expecting a period of calm as he plans a radical overhaul of his squad, despite a transfer embargo, ahead of a new challenge in the second division. There is a rapport to be built with Craig Mather, the interim chief executive, and other aspects such as pre-season trips to be finalised. The smile was still there yesterday but it was apparent all the turmoil has taken its toll on McCoist.
"I'm hoping it's the end of probably the two weirdest seasons of my life and we can start afresh," he said. "It's been eventful. If someone had told me what my first two years as Rangers manager would be like, I just wouldn't have believed them. It's terrible how football does this to you. The [glass] half-full man is getting battered but I shall not turn [into a pessimist].
"It's just not right. It's absolutely not right. Some of the stuff quite frankly had been an embarrassment, to be honest with you. You just wonder what the great Rangers people would have made of it – not a lot I would have thought.
"We have to get the standards that have been at the club for well over 100 years back, to get the respect we have always had back. That is going to take a lot of hard work and time. But that is what keeps you on the straight and narrow."
There will be a break from the ongoing tribulations for McCoist this afternoon when, after their final match of the season at home to Berwick Rangers, he and his players will collect the third division trophy. It may be a somewhat less auspicious occasion than Rangers have previously been accustomed to but McCoist urged supporters to enjoy it regardless.
"I think if anybody should celebrate, it's the fans. It's a sell-out again and that's just incredible. And so should the young boys and the team. If you don't celebrate the good times, then you shouldn't be in the game at all because no matter what anyone says, they've won the championship and they have won it very comfortably. The fans certainly deserve some recognition from the players as well. I'd be very hopeful there would be mutual respect and thanks. So celebrations are certainly the order of the day.
"Football wise [this season] has been everything we expected it to be. There were bizarre moments, happy moments and sad moments. We knew it wouldn't be the cake walk a lot of people thought it would be and that was certainly the case.
"The whole thing is a rebuilding process and the first couple of bricks have been put down by winning the league and hopefully we can get a few in and lay some more bricks. But the building won't be completed for a good number of years until we are back at the top level and hopefully qualifying for Europe again. So that's all, it's a step. It's a step that had to be taken, should have been taken and has been taken, and we need to move on to the next one."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article