Alistair Murdoch McCoist OBE (/məˈkɔɪst/; born 24 September 1962) is a Scottish former footballer who has since worked as a manager and TV pundit.

A prolific striker, he is the fifth-highest all-time goalscorer in the top tier of the Scottish football league system, having scored 260 times for Rangers and Kilmarnock between 1983 and 2001.

Born at Bellshill Maternity Hospital[3] and raised in East Kilbride,[4] McCoist attended Maxwellton Primary and Hunter High School.

His high-school team coach and chemistry teacher was former Clyde and Scotland forward Archie Robertson, who was acknowledged by McCoist for his guidance and influence,[5] but who died in 1978 just as his protégé's career was taking off.

[9][10] Due to his form with both St Johnstone and the Scotland under-18 side, McCoist gained the attention of several English clubs, including Sunderland, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Middlesbrough and Tottenham Hotspur.

[13] In early 1983, Alan Durban invited McCoist into his office and informed him that Rangers' John Greig had called him with an interest in signing the player.

[13][14][15] On his dream move, McCoist recalled: "I met John Greig and Tommy McLean at the Crest Hotel, at the roundabout in Carlisle.

McCoist made his competitive debut for the Ibrox side against St Mirren on the opening day of the 1983–84 season, and scored twenty goals that year.

During the 1990–91 season, Mo Johnston and new signing Mark Hateley were the preferred front pairing, and when McCoist attended the Cheltenham Festival when the players were given free time prior to back-to-back games against Celtic, he was dropped from the match squad by Souness and forced to apologise, for breaching team discipline, in a press conference.

[4] When Walter Smith took over from Souness in April 1991, McCoist returned to the fore and came back from a hernia on the final day of the season as the club won the title.

During this 1991–92 campaign, he scored 34 times in the league,[18] forming an effective partnership with Hateley (Johnston had since left the club) as Rangers completed a domestic double.

"[7] He repeated that scoring feat a year later, in 1992–93, with the same goal tally in the Premier Division, despite missing the last seven matches of the season after breaking his leg playing for Scotland against Portugal in April.

[18] After a six-month absence, he returned from the injury by coming off the bench to score an overhead kick to win the 1993 Scottish League Cup final against Hibernian.

It was a great partnership"[30] His appearances were limited over the next two seasons as a result of other niggling injuries (37 games and 12 goals, less than his typical output for one campaign), and also had to compete with a string of new signings between 1993 and 1995, including Gordon Durie and Brian Laudrup, for the forward positions.

After recovering his fitness, he played more regularly in the 1995–96 season, scoring 16 league goals and in an Old Firm Scottish Cup semi-final victory (as he had done in 1992 and would again in 1998),[31] though he again missed the resulting final.

[34] He was denied a cameo appearance from the bench at Ibrox by his manager Bobby Williamson a few weeks later as Kilmarnock were already losing heavily – instead he received an ovation from supporters on the field after the final whistle.

[35] His final game at the age of 38 was at home to Celtic on the last day of the SPL campaign on 20 May 2001, a 1–0 win which enabled Kilmarnock to qualify for the following season's UEFA Cup.

[36] Coincidentally, McCoist was substituted off in that match while fellow striker Kris Boyd came off the bench to make his debut; he too went on to be become the club's joint-second league goalscorer of all time, level with Eddie Morrison on 121 goals.

In March 1993, he broke a leg against Portugal in a disastrous qualifying match for the next World Cup (Scotland lost 5–0 and failed to progress).

"[39] He made his last two appearances for Scotland after moving from Rangers to Kilmarnock in summer 1998, with his final outing a 3–2 victory over Estonia in October of that year.

[45] After the game McCoist complained to BBC Scotland about a report that he argued misrepresented his view on violence after Old Firm derbies and the cost of policing the matches.

[47] McCoist took charge of his first European game on 26 July 2011 at home to Swedish side Malmö FF in the first leg of a UEFA Champions League third round qualifier, losing 1–0 to suffer his first defeat as Rangers manager.

[49] McCoist's first Champions League campaign ended at the first hurdle after drawing 1–1 away to Malmo in the Third qualifying round second leg, losing 2–1 on aggregate and having Madjid Bougherra and Steven Whittaker sent off.

[50] Despite dropping into the Europa League, McCoist's first European campaign as Rangers manager ended early after another defeat over two legs in the play-off round by NK Maribor.

Rangers reached the 2014 Scottish Challenge Cup final, but lost 1–0 after extra time to Raith Rovers at Easter Road.

[64] Having been passed over for Scotland's 1998 World Cup squad, McCoist was recruited to the BBC's punditry team for the tournament, where he proved a popular addition.

[66] In 2000, McCoist also starred in the film A Shot at Glory alongside Robert Duvall, playing Jackie McQuillan, a fictional legendary ex-Celtic player.

[67] McCoist worked for ITV during the 2018 World Cup, and his partnership with main commentator Jon Champion was praised by various media sources.

McCoist was inducted into the Scotland national football team roll of honour in March 1996, when he was awarded his 50th international cap.

[72] McCoist was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2024 Birthday Honours for services to association football and to broadcasting.