Ally McCoist was Celtic transfer target before dream Rangers move as John Greig reveals untold story

John Greig has revealed how he was told CELTIC were interested in signing Rangers strike legend Ally McCoist before he completed a move to take him to his boyhood heroes.

Greig was friends with then Sunderland boss Alan Durban who tipped him off that the Hoops, who went through a managerial change with David Hay succeeding Billy McNeill in the summer of 1983, wanted to land the striker. Greig had tried to sign McCoist before he went to the Black Cats from St Johnstone but missed out on his signature.

But he acted quickly on the advice of Roker Park boss Durban to ensure he didn’t miss out – especially to their fierce rivals. Greig told the story on the latest episode of BBC Scotland’s Icons of Football of how he landed the frontman, for just £185,000, who spent 15 years at Ibrox and became the club’s record goalscorer. Greig said: “I tried to sign him from St Johnstone but he said he wanted to play in Europe. I asked him where he was going to go and he said Sunderland. I said ‘the last time they were in Europe they had sails on boats’.

“A friend of mine was manager of Sunderland at the time and he phoned me to say Ally McCoist was unhappy and he was going to let him go. He told me he thought Celtic were interested in him and that if I wanted him I’d have to act quick.

“So Tommy McClean who was my assistant in those days, we drove down and met him at Carlisle. He agreed to come and the terms were all okay and everything, no problem. And he was flashing his lights at me on the motorway, on the M74. And we pulled in and said, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ He said, ‘I’m needing petrol’, so I told him to pull into the next stop and get it but he said he had no money. So we had to pull into a petrol station and I had to