GOALS INCORPORATED

Jimmy Nicholl recalls highs of hitman Mccoist’s glittering Ibrox career

ALLY MCCOIST arrived at Rangers with modest striking intentions and left the Ibrox club a goalscoring legend.

It was 37 years ago today, June 8, 1983, John Greig made it third time lucky and signed the 20-year-old on a £185,000 deal from Sunderland.

It was a good piece of business, not least as Greig had offered £325,000 to the

Roker Park club just 12 months previously after initially losing out when the

frontman left St Johnstone in a £400,000 deal in 1981.

Mccoist led Rangers to nine in a row, won 20 medals in 15 years as a player at Ibrox and scored a club record 355 goals.

On arrival he said: “I must make sure the pressure doesn’t get to me but if I get the goals I would like to get back into the Scotland scene, hopefully at Under-21 level.”

He later recalled: “I met John Greig and Tommy Mclean at the Crest

Hotel

in Carlisle. I went to a payphone and phoned my wee granny in Thornliebank. First person I phoned. I can still hear her voice down the phone.

“You could have given her a million pounds and it wouldn’t have meant just as much.”

The signing of Mccoist, pound for pound, is arguably the best piece of business completed by any Rangers boss in history.

Jimmy Nicholl played in the First Division at Sunderland with Mccoist and had two spells at Ibrox as a player alongside the ex-scotland star.

Former Northern Ireland star Nicholl said: “One of our first games together was September 1982 when Sunderland lost 8-0 at Watford. We were a good side but struggling at the bottom and Coisty wasn’t scoring many goals. That day was an embarrassment.

“Elton John had just paid for new electronic scoreboards and every time they scored little space invader men came up on the screen and did a dance.”

Mccoist only scored nine times in two seasons at Roker Park but hit 19 in his first term at Ibrox.

However, only seven came in a league campaign in which they struggled against the emergence of the New Firm as well as Celtic.

The fans infamously turned on him but Mccoist has never lacked character and soon won them over, retaining a place in their hearts and earning respect for helping hold the club together as manager during the wilderness years from 2012.

Nicholl added: “I still remember the shouts of ‘Ally, Ally, get to **** ’. But his hat-trick against Celtic in the 3-2 League Cup Final in 1984 changed everything.

“He’s as brave as a lion, hardy and determined. Not once did he hold his head in his hands after missing a chance to let the support know how much he was hurting.

“He walked backwards out the penalty box, never turning his back on the keeper, his head held high like all good strikers, waiting to pounce on the next half chance.

“God, I know how much it hurt him. It says a lot for Ally he refused to play the sympathy card. Mentally, he’s strong as they come.”