Ally not keen on Paisley job ...or any others

looked at myself and thought: ‘Jesus, that’s not right!’ That’s what happens in the management game. That happened just before I left Rangers. It was definitely taking its toll.

“I wasn’t feeling great, I wasn’t sleeping at all. But that goes with the territory of being a football manager these days – particularly at the Old Firm, I would’ve thought.

“Back then there was a combination of things.

I was unlucky with the timing of the management job at the club. That had a big bearing on the way things were going.

“However, I look at guys in the dugout now and think: ‘I can see the pressure they are under.’ Pressure does strange things to people.

“Don’t get me wrong – I wouldn’t have swapped anything. In many ways, when the club was going through that period, I was probably quite happy it was me because I knew Rangers as well as anybody could have at that particular time.

“But I certainly don’t miss that feeling of not feeling well and not looking too clever.”

Even so, he accepts that there will be no shortage of applicants for the vacancy in Paisley and any others which may arise.

“I get that some guys are absolutely desperate to get back in, I understand that totally,” he said. “They either need the drug or the finances and so they have to get back in. I get that.

“But looking at it in the cold light of day, if you’re not going to a football club where your board will 100 per cent support you and help you, you have no chance.

“The directors’ ambitions have to be realistic. I’m not closing the door but I would be doubtful now.”