It’s Ally’s players who must step up
Take heat off Ibrox boss, urges Drinkell
HISTORY is not on the side of Rangers as they face up to tomorrow’s seismic Scottish Cup semi-final. No less than a quarter of a century has elapsed since the Ibrox club l ast defeated Dundee United in the nation’s oldest tournament.
Five wins in a row for the Tannadice side, one of them after a replay, stands as a quite remarkable record given the pre-administration power that Rangers wielded within the Scottish game.
The last triumph for the Light Blues came in a quarter-final replay on Tayside back on March 27, 1989. There are no prizes for guessing the identity of the matchwinner that evening.
It was the very same man who is now desperate to record another victory over United this weekend.
Ally McCoist displayed his trademark predatory instincts to react first after a Mark Walters shot was deflected onto the bar, firing the ball beyond Billy Thomson in the Tannadice goal. Rangers, then under the command of Graeme Souness, went on to reach the final that year, where defeat against Celtic denied them a domestic Treble.
Circumstances are, of course, decidedly different in the present day. Despite dropping only four points in a cruise to the League One title, McCoist finds himself under fire from angry supporters following last Sunday’s dismal defeat to Raith Rovers in the final of the Ramsdens Cup.
The one-time goalscoring darling of Ibrox is facing perhaps the most intense scrutiny of his managerial tenure since succeeding Walter Smith in the summer of 2011.
Tomorrow would therefore be the perfect time for McCoist to rediscover the old knack of coming out on top when i t matters. Nowadays, though, it is up to others to find that decisive goal.
‘It’s another important game for Ally this weekend,’ said Kevin Drinkell, McCoist’s strike partner 25 years ago.
‘But there is one thing I learned during my own time on the management and coaching side. As much effort as you put in as a manager, it is down to your players. They are the ones who take the field.
‘Life was made easier for Souness because he had the captain of England (Terry Butcher) and a load of other internationals in his team. Players who all wanted to do well and who had set standards.
‘The current situation at Rangers is a shout to the players as much as Ally. He can try to get them pumped up and committed to the cause, but really they have to do that themselves.
‘The precursor to that, of course, is that you have to sign the right players. But once you have them in there, it is up to the players.
‘I’m sure after the criticism they have had, they will be much more involved in the game on Saturday — if that’s the right phrase.
‘They will be trying to win for themselves, for Ally and for the fans. Last week was such a big let-down.
‘The good thing for them is that they have a chance to bring it back. If they can put on a performance in front of their fans and get a result then, while last week won’t be forgotten, they will be moving forward again.’
Success would unquestionably be McCoist’s finest result since Motherwell were defeated at Ibrox in the early rounds of last season’s League Cup. That win provided a brief flicker of success against top-flight opposition, which was then extinguished by 3-0 defeats against Inverness Caley Thistle and Jackie McNamara’s side — the latter ending their hopes in the Scottish Cup.
United are aiming to knock Rangers out of the tournament for a third successive season, having recorded a 2-0 win in Govan just nine days before administration hit Ibrox in February 2012.
Other victories in 2010, 2001 and the 1994 final complete a run of success dating back to when the Berlin Wall was still standing.
‘I remember scoring a header in front of the Copland Road in the initial tie against United in 1989 and then Ally scored the winner up there at the tunnel end of Tannadice,’ recalled Drinkell.
‘Ally was injured a lot that season, so it was always nice when he played — it took the pressure off me. A lot of the time I had to play on my own or Mark Walters would come in off the wing. We brought Andy Gray in that season to give us another option up front.
‘It was my first year in Scotland and they were always tight games against United. They had a right good team back then and that was a tough tie to get through.
‘ We needed something inspirational — and Ally came up with it as he so often did. A tight game, but he got half a yard in the box, got on the end of something and got a finish in.’