Ally McCoist has revealed Rangers never actually told him they weren’t renewing his contract before he left.
The Ibrox legend scored more goals for the club than any other player over 15 years in Govan. McCoist struck 355 times in Royal Blue to cement his status in Gers history. His final appearance came in the final game of the 1997/89 season in the Scottish Cup final. The late Walter Smith was departing that summer along with a host of household names that formed the bedrock of the heralded nine-in-a-row era.
The hitman came off the bench in the second half and got his side back into the game with a late strike. But the damage had been done as goals from Colin Cameron and Stephane Adam finally ended a 36-year trophy drought for the Jambos. Along with the likes of Richard Gough and Ian Durrant, McCoist were approaching the end of his time in Royal Blue. Dick Advocaat ’s imminent arrival marked the start of a new dawn at the club that summer.
But McCoist recalled how he never received official confirmation that he was to be released at the end of his deal. And it's led him to the tongue-in-cheek suspicion that he may have been expected to report back for pre-season training the following summer,
“I never actually got told I wasn't getting a new contract,” McCoist said on TalkSport. “It was 1998 and my last game was the cup final against the Hearts.
“Dick Advocaat was coming in and Walter was leaving. It was taken for granted that a few of the boys would be leaving, and rightly so because it was the end of that particular era and the start of a new one.
"However, I never received anything at all to say: ‘Thanks very much but we’re not renewing your services’ or anything like that. Now I’m sitting here thinking, maybe Dick was expecting me to turn up for pre-season training and I never turned up!”
McCoist went on to sign for Kilmarnock that summer. he retired three years later and moved into coaching with Rangers under Smith before eventually taking the top job at Ibrox.
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