McCoist - the case FOR him as manager

[Bluepeter9 5,167]

We all know Ally had a poor start with the European campaigns, went on a great run in the SPL had the team is now faltering as we head into the next OF game.

There has benn a lot of critisisim about McCoists tactics and in one of the 'apocolypse is now' threads someone asked if anyone could defend McCoist and I am happy to do so - and here is why?

1. I think any manager that goes to any club needs at least 18 months to really stamp their own mark on a team. 18 months gives that manager 3 transfer windows and some time to show his worth and churn a pool of players - I dont believe wholesale changes work.

2. Allied to point 1 is that Ally is managing a team in his own right for the first time and that 18 months allows him to develop and all managers make mistakes.

3. However any manager at Rangers is not going to get 18 months unless they are still at least challenging in the league and doing wel on the park (as PLG will testify) so some analysis of where we are is warranted.

- EUROPE: Was embarrasing even with it starting so early and even as we did not have many new players in - however we created enough changes to put both teams away but didn't so bad start.

- SPL While the Anti-ally brigade wont like this it has to be acknowledged that at Xmas we are still top of the league (and yes that MAY change on wednesday) but top of the league we are and if you are looking at a managers perfromance at this time then that counts for a lot. Celtic did go on a bad run early season and have turned it round - we went on a great run early and are now suffering a bad run but in the same way eltic had the ability to turn it around so do we.

4. Tactics: I think the stats and most people believe we are pretty sound defensively and I think there are many signs that Ally is looking to play more positively. At the start of the season our formation often looked like a 424 (playing Naismith, Wylde, Lafferty and Jelavic) and we were playing some good attacking football and McCoist reverting to a 451 away from home in two difficult looking games Hearts and Aberdeen , whcih he was harshly critisised for) but he did the most important thing, we came our of those two games with 2 wins. We then lost Naismith and it is proving a huge lose and a a squad losing this class player has been a blow but what did Ally do he brought in Aluko and again when fit / not suspended has been looking to play Wylde, Aluko Lafferty and Jelavic (hardly a negitive line up). Defensively we have been very solid and when our creative players/ forwards have been out (remember Lafferty has also mised a good few games through injury) Ally has reverted to tighter formations and followed the first rule of management - don't get beat but we have dropped points and this has led to critisism but playing attacking football without the correct players is just as likely to ship points. Also on tactics Ally makes substitutions much earlier than Walter ever did and a couple of times jis substitutions have coincided with a change of tactics on the park as the game developed and ended in uss winning games - hardly signs of lack of tactical nouse and demonstrating an ability to turn games.

5. Youth and other squad player development: Its seems that every young player we have is better than every first team player we have - I like some of our youth but Allys job is not about developing youth (and we do miss the reserve league for that) - Ally's job is to win and the mainstay of providing evidence of that is the league. and so what if he does not play McKay etc. he sees them every day in training and if they arent yet upto the job for what ever reason then that is Allys call to make.

Ally is a football man - I am sure he sees the issues in the squad and team and he, like us all will want improvement in performance and results. He has set the team out positively when the players have been available or fit to do so and has shown a decent level of tactical knowledge. However as a rookie manager in his first year he must now turn this shakey spell round and deliver results and I am confident he will do so and win or lose on Wednesday, in fact even if we do lose the league, he gets my full support and IMHO deserves the 18month to really show what he is capable of.

[The Monk 3,208]

[Edmiston Drive 3,846]

Sounds nice, but disagree he has been there involved for years. Is this mafferty any good, when, where did we sign him from?

[marmalade1872 40]

the jury will make their decision on thursday morning

i see a same kind of thing happening as what happend with davie white.

[Jimfanciesthedude 24,767]

why does mccoist get 18 months though when winning the league is of vital importance this season?

Did PLG get the vital 18months, now considering he came from a different footballing background, whereas mccoist was the assistant manager for the last 4 years, i find it strange that mccoist should get longer

Im not saying ally should be sacked in january or resign but you'll find that whyte maybe has to make the call, if we lose on wed night and then drop further behind them in the coming weeks, do we sit back and say "fuck the 20 points dropped since the start of november, give ally time"

if there were signs that ally had a plan and it was other factors going against him id agree, but he wanted david healy on a new deal, and when we need a goal away to st mirren where is healy? and yet bartley was thrown up front

Ally needs to be his own man, not a younger walter smith because times are changing now at ibrox, smith was able to assemble a squad using quite a bit of money, mccoist wont,

[Zappa6995 3,684]

We are not solid defensively regardless of what ststistics might say its a myth.

Most of the goals we concede are horrendous

[Bluepeter9 5,167]

Wednesday will answer a lot of questions I have about McCoist. If we lose with a toothless performance, and continue the bad form thereafter... it's going to be very difficult for him. Likewise, any sort of win, could well be a springboard for better things.

Celtic had a bad run at the start of the season, but they were not losing control of games like we are. They were generally controlling the games and due to being terrible in defence were losing goals. We are getting bossed with alarming ease from much lesser teams! Possession stats at times make dismal reading.

I think judging him on one gae away from home to Celtic is a not really the way to go - statistically chances are we lose - never mind our form but some will see it as another stick to beat McCoist/the team with. I prefer a bit of patience and judgement over a longer period, not one game nor one half season but 18 months would be my preferred option and I think he has shown enough to warrant that.

[Bluepeter9 5,167]

Sounds nice, but disagree he has been there involved for years. Is this mafferty any good, when, where did we sign him from?

Fixed the typo.

Involved is different from leading.

[Edmiston Drive 3,846]

I think judging him on one gae away from home to Celtic is a not really the way to go - statistically chances are we lose - never mind our form but some will see it as another stick to beat McCoist/the team with. I prefer a bit of patience and judgement over a longer period, not one game nor one half season but 18 months would be my preferred option and I think he has shown enough to warrant that.

Can you give your reasoning please.

After all Europe out of two competitions , league cup out to 1st division team, blowing handsome lead in the league, in a run of games that should have seen us going into Wednesday with lead intact.

So would argue that he has shown enough. Re his signings are they on his say so, if so, why are there a number of them sitting doing he haw week in and week out.

[Chef 436]

We all know Ally had a poor start with the European campaigns, went on a great run in the SPL had the team is now faltering as we head into the next OF game.

There has benn a lot of critisisim about McCoists tactics and in one of the 'apocolypse is now' threads someone asked if anyone could defend McCoist and I am happy to do so - and here is why?

1. I think any manager that goes to any club needs at least 18 months to really stamp their own mark on a team. 18 months gives that manager 3 transfer windows and some time to show his worth and churn a pool of players - I dont believe wholesale changes work.

2. Allied to point 1 is that Ally is managing a team in his own right for the first time and that 18 months allows him to develop and all managers make mistakes.

3. However any manager at Rangers is not going to get 18 months unless they are still at least challenging in the league and doing wel on the park (as PLG will testify) so some analysis of where we are is warranted.

- EUROPE: Was embarrasing even with it starting so early and even as we did not have many new players in - however we created enough changes to put both teams away but didn't so bad start.

- SPL While the Anti-ally brigade wont like this it has to be acknowledged that at Xmas we are still top of the league (and yes that MAY change on wednesday) but top of the league we are and if you are looking at a managers perfromance at this time then that counts for a lot. Celtic did go on a bad run early season and have turned it round - we went on a great run early and are now suffering a bad run but in the same way eltic had the ability to turn it around so do we.

4. Tactics: I think the stats and most people believe we are pretty sound defensively and I think there are many signs that Ally is looking to play more positively. At the start of the season our formation often looked like a 424 (playing Naismith, Wylde, Lafferty and Jelavic) and we were playing some good attacking football and McCoist reverting to a 451 away from home in two difficult looking games Hearts and Aberdeen , whcih he was harshly critisised for) but he did the most important thing, we came our of those two games with 2 wins. We then lost Naismith and it is proving a huge lose and a a squad losing this class player has been a blow but what did Ally do he brought in Aluko and again when fit / not suspended has been looking to play Wylde, Aluko Mafferty and Jelavic (hardly a negitive line up). Defensively we have been very solid and when our creative players/ forwards have been out (remember Lafferty has also mised a good few games through injury) Ally has reverted to tighter formations and followed the first rule of management - don't get beat but we have dropped points and this has led to critisism but playing attacking football without the correct players is just as likely to ship points. Also on tactics Ally makes substitutions much earlier than Walter ever did and a couple of times jis substitutions have coincided with a change of tactics on the park as the game developed and ended in uss winning games - hardly signs of lack of tactical nouse and demonstrating an ability to turn games.

5. Youth and other squad player development: Its seems that every young player we have is better than every first team player we have - I like some of our youth but Allys job is not about developing youth (and we do miss the reserve league for that) - Ally's job is to win and the mainstay of providing evidence of that is the league. and so what if he does not play McKay etc. he sees them every day in training and if they arent yet upto the job for what ever reason then that is Allys call to make.

Ally is a football man - I am sure he sees the issues in the squad and team and he, like us all will want improvement in performance and results. He has set the team out positively when the players have been available or fit to do so and has shown a decent level of tactical knowledge. However as a rookie manager in his first year he must now turn this shakey spell round and deliver results and I am confident he will do so and win or lose on Wednesday, in fact even if we do lose the league, he gets my full support and IMHO deserves the 18month to really show what he is capable of.

There is absolutely nothing in my thinking about ally needing to go, can we really expect anything better on his first season than being top at present, ally got us there and the lads and people like to point out this is due to how dire everyone else is, no that was ally and the team that got us there.

Is it any surprise when there is a positive thread on this board

About ally started by myself or someone else in the past that those people who slate him now never even said nowt in these type of threads, ally has failed already when it comes to rangers media and most within.

[Edmiston Drive 3,846]

Fixed the typo.

Involved is different from leading.

Not in my mind , the fact that Walter stated time and time again he was his replacement and would have involved him in the decision process. He also has know the strengths and weakness of the players as day to day involvement with them

Al we heard about is Ally was the joker as assist manager, there could be the main reason why we should not have made him manager , John Greig anyone, dressing room to manager!!

I have not been one who wanted Ally to get the position as Manager and still feel that way , stronger than ever .

Superb player for us, but, that is in the past and should have no bearing on his position now.

I do not want him to fail as it has a damaging effect on the club I love. Also please Ian Durrant..come on.

[marmalade1872 40]

Not in my mind , the fact that Walter stated time and time again he was his replacement and would have involved him in the decision process. He also has know the strengths and weakness of the players as day to day involvement with them

Al we heard about is Ally was the joker as assist manager, there could be the main reason why we should not have made him manager , John Greig anyone, dressing room to manager!!

I have not been one who wanted Ally to get the position as Manager and still feel that way , stronger than ever .

Superb player for us, but, that is in the past and should have no bearing on his position now.

I do not want him to fail as it has a damaging effect on the club I love. Also please Ian Durrant..come on.

i think its a well known fact that some fantastic players turned out to have very short terms in management.

i think you shouls allways go for ability rather than sentiment

[Edmiston Drive 3,846]

There is absolutely nothing in my thinking about ally needing to go, can we really expect anything better on his first season than being top at present, ally got us there and the lads and people like to point out this is due to how dire everyone else is, no that was ally and the team that got us there.

Is it any surprise when there is a positive thread on this board

About ally started by myself or someone else in the past that those people who slate him now never even said nowt in these type of threads, ally has failed already when it comes to rangers media and most within.

I do not class what my thoughts on Ally are negative. His first and most important job was to get us into Europe. He did not achieve this. I do not believe he has it in his make up to be a manager. personal belief but same time as mentioned before do not want to see him struggle as it damages the club.

Question

Are you happy with the football he sets the team up to play?

[Bluepeter9 5,167]

There is absolutely nothing in my thinking about ally needing to go, can we really expect anything better on his first season than being top at present, ally got us there and the lads and people like to point out this is due to how dire everyone else is, no that was ally and the team that got us there.

Is it any surprise when there is a positive thread on this board

About ally started by myself or someone else in the past that those people who slate him now never even said nowt in these type of threads, ally has failed already when it comes to rangers media and most within.

Yep agreed - it seems like being top as a rookie manager is not enough and what would this lead to?

Sack a manager every time we fail to win the league - chop and change everytime we hit a tough patch. I still remember that when we went a gaol behind at Ibrox that we started singing No Surrender and got behind the team to spur them on but now if we go a goal down the crowd boo and whinge and moan and RM goes aploletic with the "Blame Culture Loyal" in full force with their negative threads.

[Chef 436]

Not in my mind , the fact that Walter stated time and time again he was his replacement and would have involved him in the decision process. He also has know the strengths and weakness of the players as day to day involvement with them

Al we heard about is Ally was the joker as assist manager, there could be the main reason why we should not have made him manager , John Greig anyone, dressing room to manager!!

I have not been one who wanted Ally to get the position as Manager and still feel that way , stronger than ever .

Superb player for us, but, that is in the past and should have no bearing on his position now.

I do not want him to fail as it has a damaging effect on the club I love. Also please Ian Durrant..come on.

So we can thank ally for three in a row, what's the issue then, he will turn it around. Or is it selective with ally and his involvement like cup games where everyone seems to lay it at his door.

If ally was involved he deserves the credit along with Walter?

[minstral 5,375]

Ally should not go at the moment, but if he fails to win the title he should go. In my opinion Davie White was a better manager than Ally and he went because of a bad result in Europe.

[Bluepeter9 5,167]

Not in my mind , the fact that Walter stated time and time again he was his replacement and would have involved him in the decision process. He also has know the strengths and weakness of the players as day to day involvement with them

Al we heard about is Ally was the joker as assist manager, there could be the main reason why we should not have made him manager , John Greig anyone, dressing room to manager!!

I have not been one who wanted Ally to get the position as Manager and still feel that way , stronger than ever .

Superb player for us, but, that is in the past and should have no bearing on his position now.

I do not want him to fail as it has a damaging effect on the club I love. Also please Ian Durrant..come on.

Did John Greig not win a treble ? (No - fked up there - he won the cups but never the league)

.. and Ally did not go from dressing room to Manager - he did his time as assistant and as assistant helped win numerous leagues and cups? and has earned his right to manager and deserves our support as there is a big difference between involvement and the commitment of making decisions.

[Edmiston Drive 3,846]

So we can thank ally for three in a row, what's the issue then, he will turn it around. Or is it selective with ally and his involvement like cup games where everyone seems to lay it at his door.

If ally was involved he deserves the credit along with Walter?

Ally played his part in the 3iar, no doubt about that. His main role was the cheeky chappie with the players, whilst as i mentioned that he must have had a say in things with Walter.

So you must agree with me based on your reply that Ally is not a novice to the job. Repeat I do not want/like to see him struggle. But I do not believe he will make a manager.

[Edmiston Drive 3,846]

Did John Greig not win a treble ?

.. and Ally did not go from dressing room to Manager - he did his time as assistant and as assistant helped win numerous leagues and cups? and has earned his right to manager and deserves our support as there is a big difference between involvement and the commitment of making decisions.

No John Greig did not win the treble. Ally in his role as assist was the jolly chap in the dressing room , the players know him as Ally having a laugh with them That is a huge hurdle to overcome.

[Chef 436]

I do not class what my thoughts on Ally are negative. His first and most important job was to get us into Europe. He did not achieve this. I do not believe he has it in his make up to be a manager. personal belief but same time as mentioned before do not want to see him struggle as it damages the club.

Question

Are you happy with the football he sets the team up to play?

Would any fan be happy off late, I aint best pleased at all with many things and it has to change,but that don't mean I'm gonna call for ally to go or throw abuse towards every single person involved with the club, I know some are hurting but to this extent, blupeter is right with people needing time and any normal thinking person would see that.

We want improvement yet won't allow others time for that or allow him time to get it right his way, it's early days and I don't know where anyone's thinking is when I read like people have him sussed out as a manager, waaaaay to soon.

I never really slate anyone on here at rangers and to some it makes me Timmy when in reality it serves no purpose other than feeding the ones on here more ammunition to peddle, some of the criticism is way heavy and not warranted for where we are at present.

[kplfishtank 4,660]

Did John Greig not win a treble ?

.. and Ally did not go from dressing room to Manager - he did his time as assistant and as assistant helped win numerous leagues and cups? and has earned his right to manager and deserves our support as there is a big difference between involvement and the commitment of making decisions.

as manager? no JG never won the league.

[minstral 5,375]

Did John Greig not win a treble ?

.. and Ally did not go from dressing room to Manager - he did his time as assistant and as assistant helped win numerous leagues and cups? and has earned his right to manager and deserves our support as there is a big difference between involvement and the commitment of making decisions.

John Greig never won the treble.

[minstral 5,375]

Davie White was up against Celtic best ever manager, and Ally is up against a poor Celtic manager. Yet White done a good job, but had to go because of Europe, yet Ally has poor results in Europe and still kept his job.

[Edmiston Drive 3,846]

Would any fan be happy off late, I aint best pleased at all with many things and it has to change,but that don't mean I'm gonna call for ally to go or throw abuse towards every single person involved with the club, I know some are hurting but to this extent, blupeter is right with people needing time and any normal thinking person would see that.

We want improvement yet won't allow other time for that or allow him time to get it right his way, it's early days ans I don't know where anyone's thinking is when I read like people have him dissed out as a manager, waaaaay to soon.

I never really slate anyone on here at rangers and to some it makes me Timmy when in reality it serves no purpose other than feeding the ones on here more ammunition to peddle, some of the criticism is way heavy and not warranted for where we are at present.

I have mentioned in a few posts I do not like to see him struggle.At the same time I have said that i did not want him as manager , as i felt he did not have what it takes.

PLG was hounded out , I would have given him time as he had a few plus things going for him. We looked good in Europe for one and he saw the full potential in Charlie Adam playing him in the role we see him in know(and scored goals in Europe fro us) and equally got his weight in check. But for some reason the clique of certain players did not like the new guy coming into their club and trying to educate them.;

I believe the players must be sick of Ally's tatics, body language is a powerful sign that things are not as they should be .

[Bluepeter9 5,167]

John Greig never won the treble.

Cool fixed- where I got that from who knows - thanks