ALLY McCoist’s phone was red hot. What, his English colleagues wanted to know, was Steven Gerrard walking into as Rangers manager? Surely, given this is his first managerial job, and the scale of the task to overhaul Celtic, he might get a bit of breathing space for his first season?

“When he got the job a few of the English lads phoned me and asked if he would get a free hit at it for a season,” recounts McCoist, speaking at a recent charity match at Airdrie’s Penny Cars stadium in aid of St Andrews Hospice. “I was like, ‘are you having a laugh?!’ No, he’s not going to get a lot of that! He will need to hit the ground running.”

When it comes to the experience of being Rangers manager in this unique era, only those who have experienced it first-hand can truly tell the tale. McCoist has come out the other side of his turbulent spell at the helm and now feels ready to return to the dug-out, even if St Mirren opted for Alan Stubbs this week to fill the vacancy left by Jack Ross’ move to Sunderland.

Older, wiser, the 55-year-old will make a good manager for somebody down the line but in the short term all anyone wants to talk about is how exactly Gerrard will fare as he serves his apprenticeship as a manager in the full glare of the media, going up against his old club boss, Brendan Rodgers.

As much as he welcomes the appointment, McCoist knows it represents a calculated risk. In fact, so untested is Gerrard that it makes his appointment in the summer of 2011, when he had served under Walter Smith for years, and worked as a coach in the Scotland set up – and knew the league like the back of his hand – appear one of the safer managerial selections going.

“We haven’t brushed shoulders an awful lot, but it’s interesting to me that you’ve got Lampard going into Derby from that generation too,” he added. “It wouldn’t surprise me if Rio Ferdinand looked at the two of them and was the next one.

“I’d be very surprised if he didn’t look for one or two assurances before he came,” said McCoist. “It’s his first job. It was my first job too but I would be keen to remind everyone I had a couple of years with Walter assisting the national team and then four and a half whatever it was, assisting at Rangers so I had a fair idea what I was getting into. I don’t think I would compare the two.”

According to McCoist, the first thing he will need to surround himself with is people he can trust – in both the club’s front office and the backroom team. His spell at the club co-inciding with the regimes of Craig Whyte and Charles Green, that wasn’t always the case for McCoist as he attempted to rebuild the club through the lower divisions. The appointment of Gary McAllister as his No 2, and another former colleague Michael Beale, as first team coach, seems a good start.

“It’s vitally important he gets people round about him,” the former Rangers manager said. “I know Gary Mac very well and he is a great lad. I speak to hGary regularly but lately I’ve been away so I’ve not had a chance to speak to him in depth but I will do that. The last time I spoke to him it was the Champions league Final and it was just a brief ‘how are you getting on?’.

We didn’t even discuss Scottish football but he has done the right thing with his staff because he will 100 per cent need people he can trust,” McCoist added. “I was very fortunate that I had that in my staff but he added bonus for Stevie will hopefully be that there are others around that he can trust too!’”

Then there is finding players you can trust – perhaps an even more difficult part of the equation. While the Ibrox side have been quick off the mark to sign up Allan McGregor, Scott Arfield, Jamie Murphy, bringing Liverpool youngster Ovie Ejaria in a loan from Liverpool and agreeing a fee for Brighton defender Conor Goldson, McCoist feels that is only the start as the Ibrox side attempt to overturn a giant chasm of seven-times Champions Celtic.

“It is a good appointment and an interesting appointment,” said McCoist. “It’s a gamble but I’ve said all along that more important than the appointment of the manager is how much support he is going to get. I wish Stevie Gerrard well but he will need the support to bring in a better quality of player if they wish to challenge Celtic as they clearly do.

“Rangers are where they are just now because that’s where the squad should be,” he added. “Look at that squad and you think second, third. I’m not surprised at that.

“I think people sometimes focus too much on wages and budgets and all that stuff. You just need to step back and take a look at the quality of player. That’s where rangers are just now.

“To eventually challenge Celtic at the top of the league and win cups they will need better. But don’t get me wrong, they have some good players. They don’t need 11 new players.

McGregor, 36, who returns to the club after a six-year absence is one new signing which McCoist knows well. McCoist feels he is precisely the kind of character who will embrace returning to the club in such circumstances.

“Goalkeepers are unique in the position they play where the can go on a lot longer,” said McCoist. “He will not come up here with the mindset that he will be sitting on the bench.

“He will want to play and he is a player who clearly knows what the club is all about,” he added. “He was at Ibrox during better times and I would imagine his ego will be such that he will want to get them back there and experience that again. That’s why I think he will be welcomed back by the vast majority of Rangers fans. I’m not saying I agree with this but I can understand them not being happy with one or two others potentially coming back.”