Why Ally McCoist must do walking away

I take no pleasure in writing this article. Ally McCoist was one of my early footballing heroes and I loved his cheeky chappy persona on programmes like A Question of Sport.

However, like many other Rangers fans I have now reached complete breaking point with Ally McCoist, the football manager. Wednesday's 3-2 defeat against Alloa was the latest in a long, long line of results that have embarrassed a club which still has the second highest wage bill in Scotland since McCoist took over as manager in 2011.

The manner of defeat at Alloa was nothing short of a disgrace. To lose a match against a team of part-timers, who had been working during the day with a comfortable lead with 15 minutes to go, shows the lack of confidence and standards that have been built into this McCoist Rangers team. To start the ball rolling on why he must go, consider the fact that Rangers have had three years of opportunities to win the Challenge Cup in various guises, and have failed every time.

The main problem right now is that due to the clubs perilous financial state, Rangers cannot afford to sack McCoist and coaches Kenny McDowell, Ian Durrant and Jim Stewart. So that's why one of the all time greatest Rangers players and a man who held the club together during the dark days of administration and liquidation in 2012, must walk away for the good of the club.

To put it simply, Ally McCoist is just not cut out to be a football manager. He played a vital role with Walter Smith, firstly with Scotland and then when the pair returned to Rangers as a coach. He was the one players could turn to when they needed a boost in their spirits. But not all assistant managers have what it takes to take the step up to be the main man and McCoist falls into that category.

The demotion to division three offered Rangers and McCoist a wonderful opportunity to rebuild the club and implement a new footballing strategy at the club. Instead he signed many SPL players on high wages, rather than giving youngsters the chance of a lifetime to give their all in a Rangers jersey and compliment them with players that knew what the likes of Division Three was about. Signing a Brazilian defender (Emilson Cribari) to play in the lowest tier of Scottish football sounded like the start to a bad joke.

Whilst McCoist can argue that he won the first two stages of the journey back to the top with ease, it is with respect to these teams that anyone could have led Rangers to the Division Three and League One titles. What was remarkable was the amount of slip-ups Rangers had on the way to the titles and the amount of games where the team scraped over the line against part-time opposition. In Division Three, Rangers didn't win an away match until the end of October and went through a spell of only two wins in six matches at one stage.

Home losses to Annan and Peterhead occurred and there was only one win in four matches against Stirling Albion (McCoist lost to a Stirling Albion side in October 2012 who didn't have their manager on the touchline as he was getting married). The home defeat to Annan showed how poor Rangers fitness was even against part-time players and the lack of effort to try and avoid a humiliating home defeat was hardly there. That result occurred in March 2013. Watching the game on Wednesday night, that attitude hasn't changed the club and that stems from McCoist.

Whilst many blame the board for staying away from Ibrox, I can't help but think that McCoist's style of play is also ensuring that fans are not turning up to the stadium in their droves. To put it mildly, Rangers have been consistently tough to watch under McCoist during his time in charge. A couple of wins over Celtic, fine cup performances against Motherwell and Kilmarnock and a couple of thumpings in the lower leagues aside there haven't been many enjoyable performances to view under McCoist. He has no concept of implementing a style and just thinks his players will go out and win a game.

His tactics are outdated and clueless in the modern age. Long balls were bread and butter for lower league defenders and the fact that fans are continuing to see those 'tactics' in the Championship against better sides, shows McCoist's inability to change a game. And as for his gold-medal attempts at arm folding on the touchline when a game is going wrong, I find that truly remarkable for someone who loves the club as much as someone sitting in the stands.

Where is the reaction to get the players going again? Where is the rage at conceding a soft goal? Sometimes there is barely any show of emotion when the opposition concede which is unacceptable.

McCoist may have managed to beat three top flight sides in cup competitions this season but overall his big game record is awful. As mentioned earlier, he's had three opportunities to win the Challenge Cup and he's failed every time with the worst moment coming in the final against Raith Rovers this year when he started players who were clearly unfit and he paid the price as Raith won 1-0.

Cup games against Dundee United (twice), Inverness and Hearts (twice) and Hibs also show his inability to pit himself against the best and truly get the best out of his players when it matters. That was prevalent when many senior players lost their discipline at Tynecastle when Hearts won 2-0 a couple of weeks ago. The ill discipline of many players at the club shows that they feel they can get away with a lot of things under McCoist. Look at Ian Black even betting against Rangers. Would that have happened under Jock Wallace, Graeme Souness, or even Ally's mentor Walter Smith? I very much doubt it.

Right now, Rangers are a shambles on and off the park. McCoist is largely responsible for the mess that has been created on the park this season which leaves the side nine points behind Hearts before Christmas. For me, McCoist is now in a similar position as to which David Moyes was at Manchester United last season. 

Rangers may well go on an eight game winning streak again like they did after the loss to Hibs in September, but McCoist is always one bad result away from a crisis now. A draw and defeat to Alloa and a defeat to Hearts in the last three weeks has now multiplied the anger ten fold. When a manager knows he is in that position with the fans, then it is going to be uber hard to turnaround those feelings and a deficit in the league.

I met McCoist once and I have no problem in admitting I was slightly starstruck even at the age of 20. I found him to be nothing but a gentleman and countless others have told me similar tales.

But it takes more than being a nice gentleman to be a successful football manager. I'm afraid McCoist is becoming more and more like a modern day John Greig. A legendary player but not cut out to command respect in a dressing room.

That soundbite in the days after administration; "We don't do walking away" has become a noose around McCoist's neck. It's time he loosened its grip and shows a bit honesty towards the fans and say "I'm just not up to the job."

If he did that, then he will protect his legacy which is in some danger of being ruined currently.