ALLY McCOIST has enjoyed memorable moments at Ibrox having played in historic European encounters as well as titanic Old Firm showdowns throughout his glittering career.
He is, however, particularly excited as he prepares for the first home match of life in their current format of a club preparing to lock horns with East Fife in the early stages of the Scottish Communities League Cup.
It may seem like a lifetime away from the occasions when he was featured in the classic Battle of Britain clash with Leeds United in the European Cup and scoring goals for fun as Rangers won nine-in-a-row.
But if you'd been living on Mars and were unaware of the troubles that have beset the club in the last six months, you certainly wouldn't have guessed how far the Ibrox side have fallen going by McCoist's pre-match press conference.
He was at his enthusiastic best, talking up his determination to lead the Third Division team into the top flight. The smile was back and so to were his famous one-liners as he held court in Rangers' training centre.
Football matters at long last were the topic of conversation. The off-the-field crisis has finally taken a backseat and the Rangers manager can get back to what he does best – winning football matches.
There would have been times in the past when a home fixture against East Fife in the League Cup would have been nothing other than a glorified training session with most first-team players omitted from the squad. Not now though.
McCOIST admitted: "I'm really looking forward to it. We've sold 22,000 tickets and it's pay at the gate.
"I just hope it will be a fantastic atmosphere. I'm hoping more than anything that the mad squad down the left hand side of the Broomloan will be there. They kept the place absolutely buzzing and when I call them mad it's a term of endearment. They kept the players going last season.
"But we've got to get back playing football. We could've done with more games in the build-up to the season but we are where we are and its business as usual.
"We have tried to be as professional as we can be, we've had East Fife watched a couple of times. They're a good enough hard-working side who will pose us one or two problems."
As much as McCoist is currently trying to land as many experienced players as he possibly can, he is adamant the younger players at the club will have a part to play this term.
He said: "I'm really looking forward to getting one or two of the younger boys out on Ibrox for the first time.
"Boys like Lewis McLeod, Barrie McKay and Robbie Crawford have done fine and it will be nice to give them a wee run tomorrow if an opportunity arises. We'll possibly start with them. It's a bigger thing - a far bigger park for a start.
"We've deliberately had one or two training sessions down there so the younger ones can get used to the size of the park.
"Getting back to playing is what we want to be doing and what we are doing. This is slightly different in that it's a cup tie and a cup that's been reasonably good to us over the years."