Mccoist is happy for Pressley to shoot from the lip
STEVEN PRESSLEY was as vocal as anyone over the summer on the need to make sure newco Rangers were not given an easy route into the First Division.
The Falkirk manager also turned his guns on those running the SFA and SPL by decrying their patent lack of leadership during a confounding and embarrassing summer.
The 38-year-old has certainly developed a reputation for taking no prisoners during his eventful two-year career in the dugout.
To some, Pressley has been a breath of fresh air.
If rumours are to believed, though, there are plenty of others who most certainly do not have him on the Christmas card list. It would be easy to assume Rangers manager Ally McCoist stood in the latter of those two camps as Pressley regularly voiced his view that all-round structural change was far more important than finding a solution for the reborn Light Blues.
However, the Ibrox manager insists the opposite is true.
‘Elvis is a good lad,’ said McCoist, who takes his side to Falkirk on Tuesday evening in the second round of the Ramsdens Cup.
‘I think he is great for the game in the way he thinks and talks about it. He says things that upset people and has the odd fall-out. I might even have the occasional fall-out with him and might not agree with everything he says, but I like the fact he is keen on freedom of speech.
‘If you look around the top coaches and managers, the vast majority of them are not afraid to open their mouths.
‘You can go back to the likes of (Brian) Clough and then there’s (Jose) Mourinho and Sir Alex (Ferguson).
‘We need people like that in the game.’
McCoist suffered at Pressley’s hands last September when a young Falkirk side recorded a 3-2 League Cup win over his side at the Westfield Stadium.
Neil Alexander, Lee McCulloch, Dorin Goian and Carlos Bocanegra were all involved that night and realise a similar performance this time round will not be tolerated. ‘We passed the ball around in the first half with no real urgency at all,’ recalled McCoist.
The Rangers boss certainly seems more like his old carefree self following a period where he looked like a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders and was reportedly ready to quit because of problems with chief executive Charles Green.
‘Charles and I have had one or two disagreements, but he’s been out taking cups of tea to supporters, arguing and defending the club,’ he said.
‘We haven’t had that for a long time.’