DAVE KING insists Ally McCoist’s Ibrox legacy should remain intact after he agreed to cancel his contract with the club.

McCoist was placed on gardening leave in December by the old Rangers board and many fans were unhappy that he continued to collect his wages while Kenny McDowall, Stuart McCall and now Mark Warburton were in charge of football affairs.

But chairman King has no issue with the Gers’ record scorer after his time at Ibrox officially came to an end yesterday.

He said: “I think he was treated poorly. I think he was the manager of the club and was not given the backing of his board.

“He was imposed upon by the board to take a salary cut against his contractual terms and conditions, which was unfortunate. He did all of that.

“So I think Ally has been treated very poorly by the club, quite frankly.

“I am very grateful that because he is the Rangers man that he is that he has been gracious enough to accommodate us by coming to a formal compromise.

“So I certainly don’t look on Ally as having done anything even remotely untoward so far as the club is concerned.

“I think he held his end up professionally – he was vociferous in standing up for the club when there were suggestions of league titles being taken away.

“Ally remained a Rangers man right throughout this in the most difficult of circumstances.

“For him personally because of his relationship with the club.

“He wasn’t a manager who had come in from a distance. Ally was part of the fabric of the club.

“I have respect for the way Ally has dealt with what must have been a very difficult situation. Professionally and I think personally.”

The issue over McCoist’s continued employment by Rangers had been a thorny subject for many supporters following a wretched Championship run in the weeks before he handed in his notice nine months ago.

But King insists coming to an agreement with the 52-year-old was never at the top of his to-do list following regime change in March.

He said: “It could have been done a long time ago. But my priorities, frankly, were not with Ally McCoist. We had bigger cashflow and structural issues.

“There were a number of very, very complex issues occupying my mind before I engaged Ally.

“And I only formally engaged him in advance of the trip I made in July.

“When I got hold of him it was quite quick. I reached out to him and said I was coming to Scotland and I know you have said you would like to meet one to one, can we get together?

“He was straight up for that saying ‘any time’ and he has been fantastic.”