Gary Newbon: Great Scot McCoist is a broadcaster's friend

Scottish football legend Ally McCoist has always possessed a bubbly, friendly personality both as a footballer and broadcaster. He is currently co-commentator for ITV in the Euro 2024 tournament. In my opinion, Ally should be the main one on any channel.

Clive Tyldesley and Ally McCoist appear to be ITV’s second-string commentary team. I prefer them to the lead team of Sam Matterface and Lee Dixon but that is, like most television choices, a subjective view. I do not make the decisions anymore.

I first came across Alistair Murdoch McCoist OBE when he played for Sunderland from 1981-83 having been transferred from the St Johnstone, a club he had joined from Fir Park Boys Club in 1978.

Alex Ferguson (now Sir Alex of course) did not think Ally was good enough for his club St Mirren who he was managing at the time.

However, Ally showed good form at St Johnstone and several clubs were interested, including Sunderland, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur. Alan Durban was the Sunderland manager and in August 1981 paid £400,000 in transfer fees.

But it did not work out and McCoist scored just nine times in 65 games for the struggling first division club. He returned to his native Scotland two years later when he joined Glasgow Rangers for £185,000.

The striker had a great playing career at Ibrox which spanned 15 years. He became the club’s record goalscorer and won nine successive league championships.

I got to know him better in those halcyon days. In all, he won 10 Scottish Premier Division titles, one Scottish FA Cup and nine Scottish League Cups.

On an individual front, he was awarded two European Gold Shoes, one European Cup top scorer, one Football Writers Scottish Footballer of the Year and one Scottish Player of the Year.

Ally played 581 first-team games for Rangers and scored 355 goals. I used to bump into him quite a lot when in Glasgow, either working or, on one occasion, with his first wife Allison at a mutual friend’s wedding.

He had married Allison in 1990 but they were divorced in 2004. Now 61, Ally has been married to Vivien since 2014. Ally was first picked for Scotland, aged 23, in April, 1986. He went on to play 61 times, scoring 19 goals.

I am sure he would have played more if he had not broken his leg in March 1993 in a World Cup qualifier. I was ITV’s reporter with Scotland for the 1992 European Championships in Sweden. I knew the Anglo Scots – those who had played for English clubs such as McCoist, Stuart McCall, Gary McAllister, Richard Gough and Brian McClair.

But others I had never met or seen play. So ITV thought it would be a good idea for me to fly with the team for the friendly match with Norway in Oslo on June 3. When I arrived at Glasgow Airport, I went straight to a hotel where I knew the Scottish FA were meeting. The first person I saw was Ally who greeted me with that consistent smile of his and asked why I was there.

I explained and he then took me to every player in the squad. He told them: “This is Gary Newbon from ITV who will be with us in Sweden. He is my friend and I want every one of you to give him interviews whenever he needs them and all the help he needs for his coverage.”

This made the Euros 1992 the easiest major tournament that I have covered. The players were terrific as were the management team of Andy Roxburgh and his assistant Craig Brown. The 0-0 friendly in Oslo was an omen of what was to come! Scotland were drawn in Group 2 against Holland, Germany and CIS (a transitional national team of the Soviet Union).

The Scots lost 1-0 to the Netherlands, then 2-0 to Germany before beating CIS 3-0 but it was too late. The Dutch and Germans went through to the knock-out stage. Scotland who were third in the table went home but still as heroes. McCoist played in all three games but did not score.

His playing days finished at Kilmarnock at the age of 38, beating Celtic 1-0 in the League on May 20, 2001. He became a Scotland coach under his former Rangers manager Walter Smith in 2004 before then working with him as assistant at Rangers.

McCoist became the full Rangers manager in June 2011. He had to suffer the emotion of Rangers going into administration and being placed in the Scottish Third Division. He achieved two promotions before, after a spell of gardening leave, Rangers and Ally terminated his contract in September 2015.

He was a natural for TV and radio. He was a popular captain on the BBC’s Question of Sport for a record of 363 shows. He was a pundit for the BBC, made a movie, A Shot At Glory, with Robert Duvall, and has worked for ITV, BT Sport (now TNT Sport) Sky TV and Talksport.

He was awarded the MBE in 1994 for services to football, which was upgraded to the OBE this year for services to football and broadcasting.

Tuesday brings my thoughts on the state of England’s Euro 2024 position, in association with Utilita Energy, in the Birmingham Mail and Coventry Telegraph and online.