Surprise Surprise

THE King is dying - long live the King, is probably the best response to confirmation that Ally McCoist will indeed succeed Walter (the man with no surname) at the end of the season.

And why not? Succession from within is, after all, a long-standing Rangers' tradition. William Wilton, the first Rangers' manager, died in post after a sailing accident, to be succeeded by trainer Bill Struth. Struth probably over-stayed his shelf-life and left no heir apparent, far less an heir presumptive; however, with George Young, the man who should have succeeded him deemed too-young, Scot Symon, probably the most-successful ex-Ranger then managing, was a safe and as it turned-out, good choice as successor.

Symon's number two, Davie White, like Struth before him plucked from Clyde, was appointed too-soon and in haste, as the board panicked in the face of Celtic's success under Jock Stein, so it's hardly surprising it quickly went pear-shaped and Willie Waddell had to come in and do a salvage job.

Waddell was succeeded by his number two, Jock Wallace - who in his turn didn't have a number two with the necessary charisma, so whereas Young missed his chance, John Greig was promoted too-soon from the dressing room, with Wallace having to come back to stabilise things.

Then came the Souness revolution - and when he committed professional suicide by returning to Liverpool, appointing trusted assistant Walter Smith was a no-brainer.

Not making nine-in-a-row into ten-in-a-row saw Smith leave, whereupon, mirroring the recruitment policy he employed when he ran MIM, Scotland's most-successful basketball team, Sir David Murray embarked on a policy of bringing-in outside coaches, with greater or lesser degrees of success, before the man by now known simply as "Walter", like Waddell and Wallace before him, was brought back to stabilise a listing if not sinking ship.

Now, as "Walter" prepares to ride off into the sunset, SuperAlly girds his loins to take up the big job. One cannot help thinking that, like past Ibrox Legends Young and Greig, his timing aint what it might have been.

But, in his defence, he is taking over a national institution and running institutions is maybe best left to someone who knows intimately how that institution works.

This therefore is the fifth time in a 91 years that the heir presumptive has ascended the throne and in the previous four occasions, only White taking over from Symon might be deemed a flop. Unfortunately for White, he was asked, with relatively little experience, to go head-to-head with one of the five greatest managers in Scottish football history (arguably THE greatest), with an ageing side.

McCoist too will have some big decisions to make as regards his squad when he takes over, but, fortunately for him, right now Neil Lennon is no Jock Stein; while, unlike White, McCoist has very-able lieutenants in the shape of the somewhat under-rated "Koj", Kenny McDowall and Ian Durrant. He also has some highly-promising young players emerging from Murray Park. BUT, the gap between being a promising boy and an established Rangers man is wide and there is that subtle difference of expectation: Celtic's players are "the Bhoys", Rangers' players are expected to be Rangers' men.

Modern football being money-obsessed, much will be made of Rangers' current poverty. Let's be clear on this: Rangers are NOT a poor club; even under the restraints of Scotland's limited appeal to the TV money men, the fact we are small beer in European terms, Rangers are a big club.

This big club, however, has been woefully mis-managed of late. The recruitment policy appears flawed, relatively poor players have been over-paid and over-rated, Smith's apparent mis-trust of young players has seen the likes of Charlie Adam and Chris Burke and to a lesser extent, Ross McCormack, depart.

A compliant media, sometimes referred to as 'the Lap Top Loyal' has been loathe to criticise "Walter", while the alleged interference of the club's bankers has been a handly tool with which to divert attention from what some of us see as internal failings.

Ally faces a huge task in getting Rangers back to where the majority of the club's fans want their institution to be. "We are the people" is more than a slogan to many of the season ticket holders. They believe they have an almost divine right to rule Scottish football.

Should "Walter" sign off with at least one trophy, it may buy Ally time to stamp his own authority on the club. One trophy this season will certainly guarantee him time - he would probably be allowed a barren season in 2011-2012. However, should be fail to land silverware then, he will be under extreme pressure to deliver in 2012-2013.

However, McCoist has overcome difficulties before. In the early years of his playing career, after joining Rangers from Sunderland, he was dubbed "Alice" McCoist and suffered his share of abuse from the fans; he had spells out-of-favour under Souness, when he was dubbed "The Judge" because he spent so long on the bench; but, he persevered and ultimately became Rangers all-time top scorer and most-capped Scottish internationalist.

He is considered, by some people, to be "the Greatest Living Ranger" - if he can deliver the level of success the supporters demand - he will have earned that title.

One thing is certain - it's going to get very interesting down Edmiston Drive way come the end of the season.