THE football greats once graced the pitch of Hampden Park with their presence.

A genuine football legend and a more than promising wannabe were restricted to duty indoors yesterday, but provided the William Hill Scottish Cup draw with a vicarious glamour.

Marcello Lippi, who has coached teams to World Cup and Champions League triumphs, and Andre Villas-Boas, a 34-year-old who is obsessed with repeating the scale of these feats, both undertook the more humble duty of picking plastic balls from a bowl yesterday to determine the matches in the fifth round of the national competition.

The former Juventus and Italy coach and the leader of Chelsea were both in Glasgow to impart their wisdom to aspiring Scottish leaders on the pro licence course.

Lippi, who spoke through an interpreter, and Villas-Boas, who speaks English fluently, both were amenable to the idea of addressing matters with the accent on Scotland yesterday.

Villas-Boas, who already has a Europa League triumph as a coach on his cv, had encouraging words for his friend Ally McCoist in the latter's attempts to take Rangers back to the top of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.

"Ally has done a good job," said the Chelsea manager, who has recent, personal experience of a downturn in fortunes. "It started difficult for him but eventually he managed to turn things around," he added, in reference to defeats in Europe from Malmo and Maribor that condemned the Ibrox side to the sidelines of European competition this season.

He added of Rangers' domestic prospects: "Everything is now open, of course. It's two top clubs fighting for the league, but I think Ally for sure is able to turn it around. As soon as he finds the results he wants he can go on from there and have a good run, like he did at the beginning."

He was similarly upbeat about the outlook for Nikica Jelavic, should the Croatian striker negotiate a move to the Barclays Premier League. "Jelavic is a great goalscorer. He scores goals quite easily and for fun. Any transfer to the [English] Premier League is a difficult one, but a player of his talent – with the right motivation at the right club – can continue to produce."

In contrast, a Rangers striker of old was on the lips of Lippi, who named Kenny Miller as the Scottish player who had impressed him most. "I had the pleasure to manage teams against him on two occasions. I was really impressed by him," he said. "I recommended him to other managers in Italy. He scored against Italy, remember?" That goal came in September 2005 at Hampden in a qualifying game for the 2006 World Cup that Lippi eventually won with Italy.

He said if Scotland worked hard on its youth system and had faith and confidence, then the national team could end the drought of qualifying for finals that stretches back to 1998.