Ally McCoist

Alistair (Ally) Murdoch McCoist MBE, born September 24, 1962 in Bellshill, Scotland, is a former professional football player who played as a striker.

His first professional club was St. Johnstone. Several clubs wanted McCoist but it was Sunderland who beat off the efforts of Rangers to sign the rising star. His time at Sunderland, however, was unsuccessful; he managed only 8 goals in 56 appearances. It was in 1983 that Rangers manager John Greig signed him.

From his time at Rangers, McCoist has an impressive array of achievements including ten league championship medals, a Scottish Cup medal, and nine League Cup medals. He was Europe's top goal scorer twice (in 1992 and 1993), as well as being named Scotland's "Player of the Year" in 1992. McCoist is Rangers' all-time leading goalscorer (with 251 league goals; 355 in all competitions), and Scotland's fifth-highest scorer (with 19 goals in 61 internationals). He is also a member of the Scotland Football Hall of Fame, having gained 61 international caps.

McCoist finshed his career at Kilmarnock F.C., where he spent two seasons. In 2004 he joined the Scotland national team coaching staff under his former manager at Rangers, Walter Smith.

McCoist is also known for his television work. He has been part of the A Question Of Sport team since 1996 and is a pundit for ITV's football coverage. McCoist, along with John Motson, are ex-long-term commentators for the FIFA video games series from EA Sports. They were replaced by Clive Tyldesley and Andy Gray for FIFA 2006.

Career

(Table contains league appearances and goals only)

Season	Club	Apps	Goals
1978-79	St. Johnstone	4	0
1979-80	St. Johnstone	15	0
1980-81	St. Johnstone	38	22
1981-82	Sunderland	28	2
1982-83	Sunderland	28	6
1983-84	Rangers	30	9
1984-85	Rangers	25	12
1985-86	Rangers	33	24
1986-87	Rangers	44	33
1987-88	Rangers	40	31
1988-89	Rangers	19	9
1989-90	Rangers	34	14
1990-91	Rangers	26	11
1991-92	Rangers	38	34
1992-93	Rangers	34	34
1993-94	Rangers	21	7
1994-95	Rangers	9	1
1995-96	Rangers	25	16
1996-97	Rangers	25	10
1997-98	Rangers	15	5
1998-99	Kilmarnock	29	8
1999-2000	Kilmarnock	12	3
1985-1998	Scotland	61	19

Trivia

• Scored his country's only goal in their Euro 96 campaign with a 25-yard strike in their 1-0 victory over Switzerland
• Is good friends with singer David Sneddon and affectionately calls him the 'SneddonMeister'
• Has built a life-long rapport with Rangers and Scotland fans.
• Starred in the film A Shot at Glory alongside his favourite actor Robert Duvall
• Has released his own footballing quiz book named Ally McCoist's Question of Soccer
• Was involved in a high-profile divorce in 2001 after it was rumoured that he was having an affair with actress Patsy Kensit
• His nickname at Rangers was "Super Ally"

biggest fan stephen patrick

External links

• Ally's profile at itv.com