McCoist can’t believe what he’s seeing at his beloved club and knows exactly how they could have done better in the summer
Ally McCoist reckons Rangers should have stumped up for Vaclav Cerny and Abdallah Sima – rather than some of the “unacceptable” recruitment they’ve opted for instead.
And there’s one bit of business that’s flown under the radar that he just can’t wrap his head around.
Things keep going from bad to worse for Russell Martin who is a goner in the eyes of fans despite the board throwing their support behind him in the wake of their damaging 2-0 defeat to Hearts.
Ibrox hero McCoist had his head in his hands on talkSPORT when asked for his thoughts on the current crisis engulfing his beloved club.
He believes they’ve got a lot wrong in the transfer market, singling out the signings of Youssef Chermiti, Oliver Antman and Thelo Aasgaard as questionable bits of business.
But it’s the decision to loan out Oscar Cortes, after the club were locked into a permanent transfer for the Colombian prior to the new owners’ arrival, that he really can’t believe.
And he reckons, rather than messing about with “gambles”, they should have gone for sure things like previous loanees Cerny and Sima. Or the man who sunk them at the weekend – Hearts captain Lawrence Shankland.
McCoist said: “I can understand the fans to a certain degree. The fact is that Rangers have spent an awful lot of money.
“They’ve brought an awful lot of money in. Igamane going out for the best part of £10m, Jefte’s away, Dessers is away, Yilmaz, Propper.. So they’ve probably brought in about, I don’t know, £25m, whatever it may be.
“But the problem is they’ve spent a lot of money as well. You spend £4m on Antman. £3.5m on Aasgaard. This is the one I can’t believe – you spent £4.5m on Oscar Cortes and put him out in loan. I mean, that is just unacceptable. Absolutely unacceptable recruitment.
“But it goes deeper than that. Straight away, you spend £9m or £10m on Chermiti – give the lad a chance, he’s only just in the door – but he’s going to be a gamble. And I’m thinking to myself, I don’t care what anyone says, you’re better with the player you know.
“I would have gone and got Sima and Cerny. Two players that you know can perform at Rangers, have done well at Rangers, know the league, know the club, instead of taking another gamble.
“Rangers and Celtic are fantastic places to play when things are going well. They are unbelievably difficult places to play when things aren’t going well.
“One of my concerns with Rangers is when things are not going well, the supporters can make that place a unbelievably difficult place to play. And I’m looking at the mettle and the makeup of the squad, and I’m not sure it can handle it, to be honest.
“Well beaten at the weekend by a good, organised Hearts team. Incidentally the irony of Lawrence Shankland, who Rangers should have got 18 months ago – and I believe would have won them the league – he scores the two goals.
“Rangers have incredibly disappointing in the league so far, and the performance in Bruges was shocking.
“It would be wrong of me not to mention horrendous refereeing decisions. But don’t let that overshadow the fact that Rangers have been really poor.”
The Nico Raskin saga is another major black mark on Martin’s record in the eyes of fans. He’s been bombed out of contention after a rift with the boss and watched from the stands as Rangers were bossed by Hearts.
Ibrox punters sung the Belgian’s name in response and McCoist believes Martin owes the fans a clear explanation if he’s going to keep him out of the team.
“Now, there’s obviously a problem with Raskin,” McCoist went on. “There’s no doubt about that, something has happened. But from where I’m sitting, you cannot bite your nose off to spite your face. If you’ve got a problem with Raskin – and he clearly has – I think he’s got to let the public know what that problem is.
“Because we’re all sitting there watching that game at the weekend, and Raskin would walk into that team. He scored for Belgium during the week in an international. There’s nobody on the planet going to tell me that Raskin should not be in the Rangers starting 11.
“Why is he not in the starting 11? There has to be an incredible reason for it, because you can’t leave him out if it’s to the detriment of the team. The team’s the most important thing, not an individual problem between a manager and a player.”