McCoist lined up for top job at Rangers

Success at Gers could pave way

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BEST OF PALS: Ally McCoist, left, with Rangers manager Walter Smith.

ALLY McCoist will be rewarded with the Rangers manager’s job if he helps Walter Smith wrest the Premier League title from Celtic.

Rangers chairman Sir David Murray made the announcement on the eve of the Ibrox club’s SPL clash with Aberdeen.

McCoist, who became the Ibrox club’s record goalscorer during his glittering 15 years as a player there, gave up a lucrative television career to return in January 2007 as Smith’s assistant.

Chairman Sir David Murray has revealed that while there is currently no formal agreement for McCoist to succeed Smith, it is his intention to appoint the former Scotland international if the current management team prove successful.

“I would have thought, all things being equal, that he will become manager,” said Murray, who celebrates the 20th anniversary of his acquisition of Rangers this weekend.

“I hope he gets it. It hasn’t been talked about, but it is an understanding among us.

“Walter and I discussed it when he came back, that McCoist would come in, hopefully we would get back to a successful period and then he would get the chance.

“It will be success driven. If we are successful, if Walter is successful then the natural successor would be McCoist.

“But if we go another two or three years without winning the league then we will all be under pressure.”

Murray believes that beneath the light-hearted public persona lies a fiercely ambitious individual.

“He didn’t come back to Rangers for the money,” Murray said.

“You wouldn’t have thought of him as a manager 20 years ago, would you?

“But he has a very strong mentality. He is bright and makes a good coaching team with Kenny McDowall, so why shouldn’t he become manager?”

Meanwhile, Smith may limit Barry Ferguson’s involvement tomorrow after his return for Scotland against Argentina.

Another doubt is striker Kenny Miller, who pulled out of the Scotland squad with a calf injury picked up in Saturday’s 2-1 win over St Mirren.