ALLY WOULD HAPPILY TRADE COMFORTABLE SOFA FOR HOT SEAT IF RIGHT ROLE CAME UP
THE offer of a plush TV studio sofa and a healthy payment for talking football — or one of the hotseats in an English league where firing follows hiring at an average rate of 11 months.
Those are among the choices for Ally McCoist on his job hunt these days and, while comfort is a consideration, it is not the priority.
So, following his reappearance as a pundit for last week’s England-Scotland clash, McCoist has no intention of returning full-time to picking up easy money.
His No 1 burning career ambition is to return to the dugout in the English game. Losing out, most recently, on the post at Queens Park Rangers to Ian Holloway will not deter the former Rangers boss from pursuing another post when a vacancy emerges.
Clubs with a revolving door attached to the manager’s office and a dysfunctional boardroom environment have limited appeal, while a move to the United States to coach would need to be perfect for family purposes to the dad of five boys.
But McCoist (below) is more fanatical than fussy, so the 54-year-old will continue to actively pursue a route back to becoming a boss, with south of the border the preference and USA soccer in the frame.
McCoist said: ‘I’m looking at England. If something comes up, brilliant, I’d love to do it. It’s what I want to do. But there are one or two things going on in America which I would seriously consider as well. I’ve been for a few interviews, a couple in the Championship a while ago. ‘I threw my name in for the QPR job last week which went to Ian Holloway. A few other jobs have come up but, just after I expressed an interest, people got in touch with messages to tell me not to go near it with a barge pole. ‘I’m in a fortunate position in that I can do some punditry and I have other business interests which I’m keen to work on. But if something came up that suits them, I would go for it. What’s the worst that can happen?’
Fortunately for his outlook, the worst that can happen has already occurred. The darkest depths of the role were encountered on a regular basis between 2011 and 2014 when he was in charge at Ibrox. The dream job at the wrong time.
‘Do I regret taking the Rangers job? It’s the opposite actually,’ he insisted. ‘I’m happy that I took it because I’m not sure what would have happened if someone else had.
‘I don’t know if they could have done the same for the club. And I wouldn’t have liked to take that chance and have found out. There wasn’t a scenario I didn’t have to deal with.
‘Sir David Murray said to me last week: “We still don’t know if you can manage — but we know you can crisis manage”.
‘That’s as near a compliment as I’ll get from him.’