ALLY McCOIST dominates the airwaves as he did the 1990s goalscoring charts.
Whether it’s the TV, online streaming or radio – he’s never far away from an opinion, quip or stat.
Ally McCoist has built up a huge media portfolio across radio and TV since leaving Rangers[/caption]
He’s a talkSPORT regular and broadcast live from Cheltenham this week[/caption]
Des Lynam was host on Match of the Day and various other iconic BBC Sport shows[/caption]
These days his media portfolio is huge.
He co-hosts talkSPORT breakfast with Jeff Stelling and Alan Brazil; he’s a regular co-commentator on TNT Sports or Amazon Prime covering Premier League, Champions League or his beloved Rangers in the Europa League.
He was one of the best in the business when it came to the penalty box and he’s one of the best on the box says BBC Sport icon Des Lynam.
But it wasn’t always this way for the man of many jobs.
After dipping his toe into TV work towards the end of his playing career McCoist withdrew from the studio and returned to the training ground with Scotland and Rangers.
But rather than return to the light entertainment side of the media he started with on A Question of Sport and McCoist and Macaulay – he’s very much football orientated these days.
And coverage is all the better for it, says old pal Lynam who co-hosted The Premiership on ITV with the Ibrox legend.
He’s even teaching English viewers Scottish football phrases while he’s at it.
Writing in his column for the Telegraph, Lynam extolled the 62-year-old’s broadcasting career, and hailed him ‘the best for my money‘.
The veteran moustachioed host of Grandstand said: “The art of co-commentary is becoming more and more prevalent.
“The current batch of sidekicks features lots of talents, the best of whom for my money is Ally McCoist. And boy are the TV companies keeping him busy.
“McCoist has the perfect knack of being informative and amusing without trying to dominate his colleague.
“Although he has an obvious Scots accent, he is easily understood, unlike some of football’s giants from north of the border.
“Mind you, he will sometimes produce a phrase that we Sassenachs don’t often hear, such as to “header it” or “go back the way”.
McCoist regularly tells viewers how excited he is to be present at these various games he’s covering – and he’ll be live on TNT on Thursday night when his old side host Fenerbahce with a spot in the Europa League quarter finals at stake.
And Lynam added: “There is no doubt he is enjoying himself, despite all the travelling.
“Take McCoist’s recent schedule for proof of that. On a Tuesday last month it was a late night at Exeter for the FA Cup match with Nottingham Forest, which went to extra time and penalties. The following day it was a dash up to Liverpool for the Merseyside derby. Then on Sunday it was to Newcastle, who took on Brighton in the Cup.
“More recently from Newcastle to Europe, starting with Aston Villa’s match in Brugge, then on to Paris St-Germain against Liverpool before heading east to Istanbul for Fenerbahce against Rangers.
“Ally [was] at it again this week, too. Leverkusen on Tuesday for their defeat by Bayern Munich, and back to Villa on Wednesday night for the return leg.”
That schedule is a frustration of his radio pal Brazil too.
We told how the talkSPORT host wished they could do MORE together beyond their two days a week on the morning airwaves.
Brazil said: “Ally’s great – but he’s careful now… because he has about 11 jobs!
“But how can I say this, I’d like to do MORE with Ally, but he’s so busy.
“They want me doing three days and Ally doing two. They don’t want us to keep together if you know what I mean – because who’s going to do the other days?”
Brazil admitted he was keen to kick off McCoist’s radio career, telling Open Goal: “I think Ally had come on a couple of times. I said, you’ve got to get him involved. He’d come on just as a punter.
“We had a chat and he said, ‘I’d love it, I’d love it, I’d love it’.
Ally McCoist and Alan Brazil have a lot of fun on talkSPORT breakfast[/caption]
Des Lynam praised Ally McCoist as a co-commentator[/caption]
“And since Ally’s come on, he’s suddenly, you know, people realise how good he is and how bubbly he is.
“He’s landed all these different jobs now.”
“He’s just a great guy to listen to.”
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