Nine-in-a-row and a Euro final...but even Walter copped flak
TALKING RANGERS
ALLY McCoist saw legendary Rangers manager Walter Smith get pelters as his star-studded side crashed to a 3-0 defeat to Hibs at Ibrox.
So the fallout from the 3-1 loss his own team suffered to the same opponents on Monday night has not come as any great surprise to him.
There have been calls for McCoist to be sacked from his position as boss by many irate Gers fans following the SPFL Championship result.
However, the Light Blues gaffer is not allowing the growing pressure on him to deflect his attention from his task of winning the second tier title.
For he witnessed his mentor Smith, pictured below, cop the same sort of flak from fans for similar results and go on and enjoy enormous success domestically and in Europe.
“Home defeats against Hearts and Hibs are not good,” he said. “I understand and accept the criticism that will come with it. But it is my job to do something about that. We are less than a fifth into the season. There are miles and miles to go.
“It is important that after good performances, like the ones that we had against Raith and Inverness, we don’t get carried away.
“At the same time, I am not going to get too upset after a 3-1 defeat at home to Hibs.
“I just made a point of checking and in 2010 we had a team that had nine guys who played in the Uefa Cup that lost 3-0 to Hibs at home.
“That was a team that had McGregor, Weir, Papac, Bougherra, Naismith, Davis, a great team. Three years before it Ivan Sproule scored a hat-trick as Rangers were beaten 3-0 at home by Hibs.
“Now that is not a fob off. We were beaten 3-1, we had a mad 20 minutes, we need to do something about it. But it is not unique. This isn’t something that has happened once in a lifetime. So, as I say, we don’t get too carried away when we have good results and I think it is important there is a level of sanity after a poor result.”
McCoist added: “I’ve not been saddened. I am not going to sit here and tell you it’s enjoyable when you are getting stick. Of course it’s not. But I have a real acceptance that it goes with the territory.
“If the great managers can get it so can I. If Walter Smith can get Nine-in-a-Row and get to the Uefa Cup Final and can get dog’s abuse, then it is fair to say that we will get our fair share of criticism.
“It ain’t great. But it goes with the territory and it will happen to the next manager who comes in and the next one after him and the next one after him. It is a fact of life.”
McCoist realises that, as manager, he will be directly in the firing line when results fall below the standard expected at Rangers.
But he has stressed that additional investment is required if the Ibrox club are to reclaim their place at the forefront of Scottish football.
HE said: “Being in the manager’s chair at Ibrox means you are going to get the brunt of most things. That’s fine because you know the rules before you get into the game.
“I’m a big enough boy to take a pat on the back and I’ll take the criticism as well. The one thing that I find it a bit difficult to understand is there is no middle ground at all.
“You beat Raith Rovers 4-0 with a great performance and then you beat Inverness who are top of the league to knock them out of the cup. Then you have a mad 20 minutes against Hibs and it’s Holy Moly Guacamole! There’s nothing in there.
“I just find that a little bit strange, but if that’s the way it is to be, then that’s the way it’s to be and I’ll get on with it.”
McCoist continued: “We absolutely need investment. For us to get back at a level that we are competing in the top flight again, then we will need investment.
“I don’t think this is rocket science. When you lose £40 or £50million worth of players and replace them with free transfers, then of course there is going to be a gap.
“But I am not criticising my players because those free transfers that we’ve brought in have won a league by 24 points and then 39 points.
“So I am eternally grateful for them doing that. But it’s like anything in life, you’ll generally get what you pay for.”