LEE McCULLOCH insists Ally McCoist can be a successful manager in England and believes he deserves a chance to prove his credentials following a tortuous spell in charge of Rangers.
McCoist was placed on gardening leave last Sunday to end an exhausting three-and-a-half year reign at Ibrox that brought administration, takeovers, two lower-league titles, police investigations, a season ticket boycott and at least five chief executives along with a number of embarrassing exits from cup competitions.
The 52-year-old has stated that he has ambitions of working in the Barclays Premier League in future and McCulloch, recently given the role of first-team coach at Rangers to go along with the captaincy, is clear when asked whether his former boss is capable of succeeding south of the border.
"I don't see why not, with the respect he gained from the dressing-room here and the way he is as a man," he said. "I don't see why he couldn't go down there and be a big hit.
"You do all these coaching badges and all the rest of it, but nobody explains what it will be like to go through what Ally McCoist has been through as a manager. They do not prepare you for that.
"That is one of the biggest things, the way he has handled the full situation.
"I think it would be good if he got a fair crack of the whip."
McCulloch believes McCoist left Rangers with a sense of unfinished business with the club, currently 12 points behind Hearts in the Championship, yet to complete their return from the bottom rung of the game to the SPFL Premiership.
"You would have to ask him, but I would imagine so," he said. "I think all he wants is for us to go and win promotion."
Rangers travel to Easter Road for a lunchtime kick-off against a Hibernian team that recorded a comfortable 3-1 win at Ibrox in September. McCulloch concedes his side have failed to handle the challenges provided by the other teams at the top of the Championship and has demanded an improvement this afternoon.
"We have come short a wee bit against the title rivals, Hibs, Hearts and Queen of the South," said McCulloch. "Falkirk is the only team looked upon as promotion contenders, really, that we have done well against.
"Saturday is a good chance for us to change that.
"There is an obvious gap there between ourselves and Hearts that we don't want to let get any bigger."
McCulloch refuses to accept, however, that Rangers being taken by surprise by the standard of competition at Championship level is some kind of explanation for the way their campaign has unravelled.
"We knew it was going to be difficult with the teams involved and the organisation of the teams," he said. "We knew it would be difficult with the teams that had come down from last year as well, so we are not surprised."
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