By Alistair Aird
On 16 May 1998, Ally McCoist made the last of his 689 appearances for Rangers. Heading for the Ibrox exit door at the end of a glittering, goal-laden 15-year playing career at Ibrox, he came off the bench in the Scottish Cup Final against Hearts to score his 434th goal for the club. He stands alone at the top of the club’s list of great goalscorers too, his total, which includes goals scored in testimonials and friendly matches too, being 14 higher than that of Jimmy Smith.
Smith was a phenomenon. Before the outbreak of World War II, he had registered 225 goals in 235 league appearances and 24 in the 25 Scottish Cup ties he had played in. And during the war years, he added a further 74 league goals. Including wartime football, Smith scored 420 goals for Rangers in 444 appearances.
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McCoist’s stats are impressive, but once you dig a bit deeper and actually analyse the goals McCoist scored in a Rangers jersey, then you find out that ‘impressive’ is in fact an understatement.
All Games
Total Appearances 689
Total Goals 434
Total Games McCoist scored in 311
Games won when McCoist scored 251 (80.71%)
Games lost when McCoist scored 27 (8.68%)
Ally McCoist made his Rangers debut in a pre-season friendly against Arlovs in July 1983. He scored the first of 27 hat tricks in a Rangers jersey in an emphatic 11-0 win.
Despite a rough start that could well have seen McCoist leave Rangers – Sunderland and Cardiff City were rumoured to be interested when he was struggling to score goals in the first XI – Ally became the darling of the fans. And the statistics above show just how important he was to the team too. When he scored, more often than not, Rangers won.
Breaking the above down we can see how McCoist’s 434 goals were distributed across the different competitions:
Figure – Ally McCoist Goals by Competition
If we discount goals scored in the Regional League Western Division and the Southern League during World War II then no player has scored more league goals for Rangers than McCoist. Jimmy Smith did register 299 league goals, but 13 came in the Regional League Western Division and a further 61 were added in the Southern League. Goals in these competitions are not usually counted in official records.
McCoist is also the club’s record goalscorer in the Scottish League Cup, and until recently, he was Rangers’ top marksman in European competition too. Alfredo Morelos supplanted McCoist, but as Ally was quick to point out, all bar three of his European goals came in the continent’s premier competition, the European Champions Cup which latterly became the Champions League. In contrast, Morelos’s only goal outside the Europa League came against Malmo in a Champions League qualifier in 2021.
So, how exactly are McCoist’s 434 goals broken down?
Premier Division
Total League Appearances 418
Total League Games Started 360 (86.12%)
Total Goals 252
Total League Games McCoist scored in 184
League Games won when McCoist scored 142 (77.17%)
League Games lost when McCoist scored 19 (10.32%)
McCoist’s first league goal for Rangers came at Parkhead in September 1983. Only 27 seconds had elapsed before Ally found the net. Sandy Clark was fouled by Roy Aitken, Robert Prtyz took a quick free-kick, and found David Mackinnon scurrying down the right wing. Mackinnon’s low cross was met by McCoist who thundered a right foot shot into the net.
Speaking in his recently released autobiography, Slide Tackles and Boardroom Battles, Mackinnon said that the move had been pre-planned:
In the week leading up to the game, Robert Prytz and I stayed back after training to practice free kicks. Prytzy was a very intelligent player and said that if we won a free-kick in the middle of the pitch, he’d take it quickly and play me in down the right.
Coisty had only just signed for us, but I approached him and asked if I had the ball where would he want me to cross it to.
“Play it between the six-yard box and the penalty spot,” was his answer. “Put it there and I’ll score.”
Within seconds of the kick off, Roy Aitken clattered into Sandy Clark just inside the Celtic half. Referee David Syme awarded us a free-kick and Prytzy grabbed the ball and nodded towards me. I scampered down the right wing and met his perfectly weighted pass just before the dead ball line. I rapped the ball into the penalty area as Coisty had instructed, he met it with his right foot and slammed it into the net.
McCoist became a league centurion for Rangers on Boxing Day 1987. Dundee were the visitors to Ibrox and McCoist scored both goals in a 2-0 win. He also passed up an opportunity to add another goal to his tally when he had a penalty kick saved by Bobby Geddes.
A McCoist missed penalty was indeed a rare occurrence. Of the 30 spot kicks he took while playing in the Premier Division for Rangers, he scored 26 of them. The other goalkeepers to deny him were Hugh Sproat (Motherwell) and Alan Main (Dundee United), while another effort from 12 yards against Morton in January 1988 struck the crossbar.
Dundee also provided the opposition when McCoist racked up his 200th league goal for Rangers on 11 November 1992, and it was Dunfermline Athletic that were on the receiving end of goal number 250 in March 1998.
There are some bones of contention to pick away at, though. In a number of sources, McCoist’s total league goals is quoted as being 251, and discrepancies exist because of goals scored in four league games in particular.
The first was against Dundee United at Tannadice on 1 October 1983. In the match report in the Evening Times, McCoist is credited with scoring the opening goal for Rangers in a 2-0 win. But on closer examination of the footage that exists on YouTube, it looks like Paul Hegarty got the final touch to the left-footed cross from David MacKinnon.
The second was in a match against Celtic at Ibrox on 9 November 1985. Rangers won 3-0, and the third goal is the one that has created conjecture. McCoist dinked a shot over Pat Bonner that struck the underside of the crossbar and bounced down. Ted McMinn came in and made sure the ball nestled in the back of the net. That touch from McMinn was enough for him to be credited with the goal in the Clydesdale Bank Scottish Football League Review. The Glasgow Herald gave it McMinn too, although McCoist was quoted at the end of the match report saying that when he had spoken to the linesman after the match, he had confirmed that the ball was over the line before McMinn touched it.
Confusion therefore reigns, and the clouds can’t be cleared by TV coverage as there wasn’t any TV cameras at the game due to a dispute at the time. There is footage from a camcorder on YouTube but it is inconclusive. But I can confirm now that it should be credited to McCoist. Why? Because in a reply to a Facebook post from the excellent The Rangers Archives page recently, McMinn magnanimously admitted that the ball was indeed across the line before he touched it.
Thirdly, Rangers defeated Falkirk 5-1 at Brockville on 18 October 1986. But the McCoist goal in this one has less dubiety than any of the others. Robert Fleck scored a hat-trick, Davie Cooper scored a penalty kick, and both the Glasgow Heraldand Evening Times credit McCoist with goal number four. However, the Clydesdale Bank Scottish Football League Review lists the scorers as Fleck (3), Cooper (2). That seems to have been an error, though.
Finally, we have the second goal in the 2-1 win at Parkhead on 1 April 1989, and of all the contentious goals this is the one that seems to split opinion. Rangers hadn’t won an away Old Firm league game since August 1980, but leading 1-0 courtesy of a goal from Kevin Drinkell, they were awarded a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area. Ian Ferguson thundered in a shot that Pat Bonner pushed up into the air, and like the predator he was, McCoist swooped on the goal line to head the ball into the net. But it’s unclear from photos and footage if the ball was over the line before McCoist touched the ball. As such, some sources credit the goal to Ferguson, others award it to Ally.
Thus, in summary, if you give the Parkhead goal to Ferguson, McCoist has 251 league goals, but if it goes to McCoist, it’s 252. I’m going for the latter!
McCoist’s 252 league goals were scored against 19 different teams. These are broken down as follows:
Figure – Ally McCoist League Goals by Opponent
McCoist scored 142 of his 252 league goals – 56.35% – at Ibrox. The other 110 were scored at 20 different venues as shown below:
Figure – Ally McCoist League Goals by Venue (excluding Ibrox)
McCoist’s season-best tally was 34 league goals – he achieved this in seasons 1986/87, 1991/92 and 1992/93 – and his lowest was a single goal scored against Aberdeen in season 1994/95. That match was significant as it was the first time that Rangers had played a league fixture on a Friday night.
And McCoist claimed a number of records too. In late 1989 he supplanted Frank McGarvey as the top goalscorer since the inception of the Premier Division in 1975 before scoring from the penalty spot against Celtic in April 1990, his 133rdleague goals for Rangers taking him ahead of Derek Johnstone as Rangers’ top goalscorer in league football in the post World War II era. He also surpassed Bob McPhail as Rangers’ all-time top goalscorer in the league, and in 1996, he took over from Gordon Wallace to become Scotland’s top post-war league goalscorer.
Scottish Cup
Total Scottish Cup Appearances 47
Total Scottish Cup Games Started 38 (80.85%)
Total Goals 29
Total Scottish Cup Games McCoist scored in 23
Scottish Cup Games won when McCoist scored 20 (86.96%)
Scottish Cup Games lost when McCoist scored 2 (8.70%)
The Scottish Cup is the one major domestic competition where Ally McCoist does not sit alone as Rangers’ top goalscorer of all-time. His tally of 29 is bettered by Jimmy Fleming (44 – nine of which came in the same game against Blairgowrie in 1934) Bob McPhail (31), Jimmy Millar (30) and Derek Johnstone (30). Ralph Brand is alongside McCoist on 29.
Remarkably, Rangers only failed to win three of the 23 Scottish Cup ties McCoist scored in. There was a 2-2 draw against Dundee United at Ibrox on 21 March 1989 – Ally scored the only goal in the replay at Tannadice – and two defeats against Hearts. The first was a 3-2 defeat at Tynecastle in January 1986, while the other was McCoist’s last game for the club, the Scottish Cup Final at Parkhead in May 1998.
His first goal in the competition actually helped spare Rangers’ blushes. Going into the final 10 minutes of their third round tie against Dunfermline Athletic in January 1984, Rangers trailed the Fifers, who were playing the Second Division, by a goal to nil. But a header from Colin McAdam resorted parity before McCoist, who had come on as sub for Sandy Clark, netted the winner a couple of minutes later.
But arguably McCoist’s most important Scottish Cup goal came against Celtic at a sodden and saturated Hampden Park in March 1992. Rangers had been reduced to 10 men after just six minutes – referee Andrew Waddell dismissing David Robertson after the left back had robustly halted Joe Miller’s progress – but taking a pass from Stuart McCall in his stride, McCoist thudded a shot beyond Gordon Marshall just before half time. A stoic rearguard action repelled everything Celtic threw at Rangers after the interval and a team that would more often than not triumph in the face of adversity under Walter Smith was born.
Although he was well-decorated during his 15 years as a Rangers player, McCoist only picked up one Scottish Cup winners’ medal. That was in 1992 against Airdrie. He missed the final against Aberdeen the following season with a broken leg, was on the losing side in 1994 when Dundee United denied Rangers a back-to-back Treble, and he was injured in the warmup ahead of the showpiece match against Hearts in 1996.
Scottish League Cup
Total Scottish League Cup Appearances 62
Total Scottish League Cup Games Started 55 (88.71%)
Total Goals 54
Total Scottish League Cup Games McCoist scored in 33
Scottish League Cup Games won when McCoist scored 32 (96.97%)
Scottish League Cup Games lost when McCoist scored 0
In the Scottish League Cup Final against Hearts at Parkhead in November 1996, McCoist scored two goals. The second of them took his tally in the competition to 50 and in so doing saw him overtake Jim Forrest as Rangers’ top scorer in the League Cup. And a second half brace from Paul Gascoigne ensured Rangers won 4-3 and earned McCoist a record ninth winners’ medal.
The first of those medals was collected in March 1984. Celtic provided the opposition at Hampden, but McCoist was the matchwinner. He converted a first half penalty after Murdo McLeod had felled Bobby Russell in the box before doubling his tally after half time when he latched on to a header from Sandy Clark and knocked the ball beyond Pat Bonner.
A cleverly worked free kick saw Brian McClair volley Celtic back into contention, and Mark Reid restored parity when he netted from the penalty spot after McCoist had brought McLeod crashing to the ground. But McCoist went from sinner to saint when in extra time he was barged in the back by Roy Aitken. Referee Bob Valentine awarded another penalty kick, and although Bonner dived to his left to thwart McCoist’s initial effort, Ally gobbled up the rebound.
That trio of goals wouldn’t be the last time McCoist would net in a League Cup Final. Sandwiched between that hat trick and the brace against Hearts in 1996 was a double against Aberdeen in 1988. McCoist opened the scoring from the penalty spot and after David Dodds scored either side of a rasping Ian Ferguson scissors kick, Ally grabbed the glory again, showing his predatory instincts when the ball broke to him at close range to sweep it into the net.
That was the second of the epic League Cup Final trilogy against Aberdeen. The following season the Dons finally got their hands on the trophy, but it is the semi final against Dunfermline Athletic that stimulated another debate over a McCoist goal. Rangers won 5-0, but it’s their third goal of the night that is up for discussion when it comes to who the credit should go to. Maurice Johnston dinked the ball into the area and McCoist headed it towards goal. It was going in, but Mark Walters slid in to make sure. The match report in the Glasgow Herald credits McCoist with the goal, and Jock Brown did likewise in commentary. But closer analysis of the footage on YouTube suggests that this one has to be handed to wing wizard Walters.
Ally McCoist scored in 33 of the 62 League Cup ties he played for Rangers. The Light Blues won all bar one of those matches. The only blemish was a 1-1 draw against Meadowbank Thistle in the second leg of the semi-final in season 1983/84.
European Competition
Total European Competition Appearances 54
Total European Competition Games Started 44 (81.48%)
Total Goals 21
Total European Competition Games McCoist scored in 17
European Competition Games won when McCoist scored 14 (82.35%)
European Competition Games lost when McCoist scored 1
McCoist’s European debut for Rangers was in Malta in September 1983. Rangers defeated Valletta 8-0 in the European Cup Winners’ Cup. Ally drew a blank as he did in the 10-0 return leg victory, although he did miss the latter as he was suffering from flu.
His first European goal came in Dublin against Bohemians a year later, one of only three he would net outside the continent’s premier competition, the European Cup which would eventually morph into the Champions League. That game is also unique as it’s the only European match Rangers lost when McCoist was on the scoresheet.
Ally was joint top scorer in the European Cup in season 1987/88 – Rangers were ousted by Steaua Bucharest in the last eight – but it would take him some time before he scored in the Champions League group stages. He would do so from the penalty spot on his thirteenth appearance in a group match against Grasshopper Zurich at Ibrox in November 1996. He promptly added another shortly afterwards in a match Rangers won 2-1.
McCoist’s 21 European goals broken down by competition are:
Figure – Ally McCoist Goals in European Competition
Note that the above doesn’t consider the matches against Leeds United in season 1992/93 as qualifying matches for the Champions League.
McCoist’s last European goals for Rangers came against GI Gotu of the Faroe Islands. In the first leg played in a stadium that sat on the top of a hill, McCoist, who came off the bench to replace Brian Laudrup, netted goal number 19 and 20 in continental competition. The first of those goals established McCoist as the highest-ever Scottish scorer in European tournaments, surpassing the 18 that had been scored by Willie Wallace. He scored in the second leg at Ibrox too but passed up an opportunity to extend his total to 22 goals when he saw a penalty kick saved by the Gotu goalkeeper, Jens Peter Knudsen.
Other Matches
Total ‘Other Matches’ Appearances 108
Total ‘Other Matches’ Started 94 (81.48%)
Total Goals 78
Total ‘Other Matches’ McCoist scored in 54
Ally’s first goal for Rangers came in a pre-season friendly against Arlovs on 21 July 1983. He completed the first of his 27 Rangers hat tricks that day too.
Of McCoist’s 78 ‘other matches’ goals, 16 came in testimonial matches. Among that 16 are two goals scored at Station Park in Forfar in February 1985. There is a compelling argument that falls in favour of the goals scored by McCoist in that match – which was held in honour of the former Rangers goalkeeper, Stewart Kennedy – being the most important of the 434 he scored for the club.
Ten days earlier, McCoist had been roundly booed by the Rangers supporters during a 1-0 defeat against Dundee at Ibrox. The songs sung that day were hymns of hate by a congregation that by now were exhausted with the lacklustre displays that pockmarked the early 1980s. The crowd told McCoist in no uncertain terms where he could go. It was without doubt the nadir of his fledging Rangers career.
McCoist was dropped for the following weekend’s league match against Hearts at Tynecastle. But while the first XI were losing 2-0, Ally was scoring twice as the reserves won 5-1 against the Jambos at Ibrox. And his brace against Forfar three days later persuaded Jock Wallace to reinstate him.
What followed was 10 goals in nine games – and a rendition of ‘Super Ally’ from the fans after McCoist scored against Celtic at Parkhead – and confidence that had been cracked and was crumbling was restored. The foundations were laid, and it’s fair to say that after that, McCoist never looked back.
Old Firm
Total Old Firm Appearances 54
Total Old Firm Games Started 45 (83.33%)
Total Goals 28
Total Old Firm Games McCoist scored in 23
Old Firm Games won when McCoist scored 13 (56.52%)
Old Firm Games lost when McCoist scored 3
The goal scored by McCoist on his Old Firm league debut in September 1983 was the first of 28 he would net in matches against Celtic. That total assumes that the contentious goals discussed earlier in the league fixtures in 1985 and 1989 are credited to McCoist.
The Old Firm goals broken down by competition are as follows:
Figure – Ally McCoist Goals against Celtic
46.42% of Ally’s tally against Celtic – 13 goals – were scored at Ibrox, with a further ten coming at Parkhead. That includes his last Old Firm goal, a diving header from a Jorg Albertz cross in the Scottish Cup semi final in April 1998. Parkhead was chosen as the neutral venue for the clash.
Among McCoist’s goals at Parkhead was another header and this one was another landmark moment. Rangers faced Celtic in the last eight of the League Cup in September 1995, and when McCoist rose at the back post to head a cross from Paul Gascoigne into the net, he became the first Rangers player to score in front of the newly opened stand at Parkhead. Never shy and retiring when it came to celebrating goals, McCoist danced with delight in front of the patrons who were less than enamoured to say the least.
Hat Tricks
Ally McCoist scored a phenomenal 27 hat tricks for Rangers. These are broken down as follows:
Figure – Ally McCoist Hat Tricks by Competition
McCoist managed to net five hat tricks in a calendar year twice – in 1987 and 1992 – and between 22 August 1987 and 26 September 1987, he scored three trebles. All three came at Ibrox – Falkirk, Dunfermline Athletic and Morton were the victims – and just over half of McCoist’s hat tricks came at the Stadium:
Figure – Ally McCoist Hat Tricks by Venue
McCoist has also netted four times in a single match for Rangers twice, against Solvesborgs in a pre-season friendly in July 1983 and Falkirk in the league at Ibrox in October 1992.
Managers
During his decade and a half spell at Rangers, Ally McCoist served under four different permanent managers; John Greig, Jock Wallace, Graeme Souness and Walter Smith.
His 434 goals are split by manager as follows:
Figure – Ally McCoist Goals by Manager
It is no real surprise that the manager under whom McCoist scored the most was Walter Smith. After a season on the periphery under Graeme Souness, McCoist was soon reinstated as the number nine in season 1991/92. His first goal under Smith came in a testimonial match for Maurice Malpas in July 1991. And he cemented his return a couple of months later wearing the unfamiliar number 11 jersey in a League Cup tie at Tynecastle, fastening on to a header from Mark Hateley to volley the ball into the net.
After that night at Tynecastle, McCoist scored a stunning 88 goals in his next 101 appearances for Rangers. The run was ended when he broke his leg playing for Scotland in Lisbon in April 1993. And in that timeframe, McCoist won the European Golden Boot – or Soulier d’Or’ – twice.
Although injury blighted the latter part of his time with Rangers, it didn’t blunt his goalscoring instincts. And when he was drafted back in at the end of season 1997/98, he almost resuscitated Rangers’ flagging title hopes by doing what he did best, scoring goals for Rangers.
Summary
Ally McCoist’s season-by-season record for Rangers is:
Figure – Ally McCoist Season by Season
This all equates to 689 appearances – 591 of which were as part of the starting XI – and 434 goals.
It is often said in football that no one is irreplaceable. Ally McCoist played his last match for Rangers over 25 years ago. Is there any Rangers supporter out there that can honestly say that we have seen his likes again since then? Maybe we will in the future but given that longevity with a single club is rare these days, it is unlikely that anyone will come close to matching or beating McCoist’s goals total.
Discussions over where players sit in the pantheon of greats is subjective. Different eras, different formations, different playing conditions, boots and balls give rise to that subjectivity. But at the same time, the stats don’t lie. When it comes to purveyors of the art of goalscoring, there is no debate. Alistair Murdoch McCoist MBE is without question the greatest ever to have pulled on a Rangers jersey.