I THINK Ally McCoist leaving Rangers is definitely for the best.

The Ibrox board obviously have a plan for the future and, having handed in his notice, Ally is not part of it.

He put the ball in the directors' court by resigning - and now they have made a decision by putting him on gardening leave.

Rangers have to think about letting players go and brining in new ones during the January transfer window.

They have been linked with some of the kids at Newcastle United and I am sure one or two of them will arrive at Glasgow.

If Ally wasn't going to stay there was no point in him making decisions on the make-up of the squad.

Because his replacement - whether it is Kenny McDowalll or somebody else - may have different thoughts on which way to go.

I think Ally will be happy that he is away as well. It is a clean break for him.

It is the best for both parties.

Having said all that, I thought he deserved a little bit more praise from the club after all he has done for them.

The guy has been at Rangers for three decades as a player, a coach and then latterly as a manager.

When he goes there is a two-line statement put out.

Bang! That is the end of it. I appreciate a fair few Rangers supporters weren't happy with Ally as a manager, towards the end of his time especially.

But the guy held the club together after we went into administration two years ago.

He was the only Rangers man in there. He was the man the supporters put their faith in and he didn't let anybody down.

I think he deserves more than: "Cheerio! Bye bye! Next please!"

But who knows? Maybe that is what Ally wanted. He popped into the training ground this week and bade a farewell to the players and the coaching staff.

Kenny McDowall has been appointed caretaker manager with Gordon Durie stepping up from the under-20 team to help him.

Rangers chief executive Derek Llambias said that Kenny may be in charge beyond the end of the 2014/15 campaign at the AGM this week.

But I would imagine he will only be in charge until somebody else can be brought in.

I know that Kenny has been told that the job will be his if he does well and the team is successful.

Maybe he can convince those in charge at Rangers that he deserves to be given a crack at it between now and the summer.

But I am sure the directors will be looking around at who else is available and trying to ascertain if they can afford to bring someone else in. Ian Durrant has been "demoted" from the first team to the under-20 team in a move that is being seen by many as a slight to him.

But I'm not so sure it is. Ian's greatest strength is coaching kids and bringing through young talent.

It was the role he performed with such success at Kilmarnock before he was brought back at Rangers and I think he will relish the change.

Ian is more at home working on the training good with promising players than he is in the dugout on match days.

I think he'll be happy with the new position he has and will very do well at it.

I noticed at the Rangers AGM that chairman David Somers said he wanted to bridge the "chasm" that he feels exists between the youth set-up and the first team.

That suggested to me that the club will look to fast track the kids into the Rangers side in the future.

But there are dangers in taking that approach. Rangers need to be up there at the top of whatever division they are in challenging for the title every season. Are they going to be able to that with kids? Are the youngsters going to be good enough?

I don't think you can just throw a bunch of teenagers into the side and expect them to bring you success.

The only club where that has happened in the last 30 years in Manchester United.

Smaller clubs can afford to do it.

But not Rangers. The expectations are so high. I think the club could lose fans by going down that route.

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