The Rangers legend, who is now a popular pundit, has been described as a "magnet" by his colleague, Sam Matterface.

According to Matterface, McCoist's on-air enthusiasm for football mirrors his off-air persona. This includes sniffing out secret stadium entrances and making plans for post-match drinks.

It even extends to plotting crazy missions to catch live concerts. Matterface said: "Ally McCoist to be around is exactly what Ally McCoist sounds like you to be.

"Like to be around when you listen to him on the radio, or you work with him in a commentary booth, or you listen to him in a commentary booth, he is absolutely infectious."

Matterface recounted an instance when McCoist saved the broadcast team from a tedious security queue at a stadium in Dallas. He explained: "McCoist says, 'Trust me. I think I've got another way,' and we're like, 'How can you have another way?'

"He goes, 'Just trust me, just trust me.' So, we scurry around the whole thing; we go around. We're all like, 'Ally, if this doesn't work,' and we've got to go all the way back down, we've got to go to the back of the queue."

McCoist's gamble paid off as they found a nearly empty entrance for broadcasters. Matterface said: "I don't even know where it was and it was completely empty, and he just went, 'Here you go, lad stick with me!'

"And then we were just laughing off. It was an absolute lifesaver."

McCoist's adventures don't end at the stadium. Matterface continued: "The other great thing about him is he's always happy for a pint. He's always happy to organise a post-match debrief."

This enthusiasm for socialising led to a memorable World Cup finale for Matterface and fellow broadcasters Laura Woods and Lee Dixon.

After McCoist mentioned he had seen Bon Jovi live, the group began plotting a mad dash from the World Cup final to Madison Square Garden to catch the band.

Matterface said: "I went, 'Well, we can't do those, because Thursday night is our ITV wrap party, we've got to go to that, and then on Sunday night, we're at the World Cup final.'

"Anyway, between the three of us, we start plotting this hare-brained scheme to leave the World Cup final, get some sort of mode of transport as quickly as possible.

"Laura's pregnant, by the way, and we wanted to get to Madison Square Garden to see Bon Jovi."

Despite warnings that the plan might not be wise after a long tournament, they decided to go for it.

Matterface recalled how they bundled Woods into the car before racing across New York in the hope of catching part of the show. "We go driving through the streets of New York straight after the World Cup final.

"We sneak through the whole of the city, we get to Madison Square Garden and we jump out of the cab, we run up the stairs, and as we walk up the stairs, Bon Jovi was singing 'Bed of Roses', and we're like, 'This is fantastic.'

"We get an hour and 20 minutes of him. Straight into 'Livin' on a Prayer.' It was just superb. And then there's a video of Ally and Lee Dixon singing 'Livin' on a Prayer' in Madison Square Garden.

"That was our final act of the World Cup. It was absolutely terrific. But those two drove that on; it was brilliant."