RANGERS chairman Dave King said yesterday that the club have agreed a pay-off deal with former boss Ally McCoist — nine months after he quit his post.

A 12-month notice period was triggered after McCoist, the Ibrox outfit’s all-time leading goalscorer, fell out with the previous administration running the club last season as his side’s promotion bid faltered.

He was then placed on gardening leave just hours before a stormy annual general meeting but has still been paid his £15,000-a-week salary since.

King, who took over in March, held talks with 52-year-old McCoist earlier this summer and has now been able to agree a deal to terminate his lucrative contract “on commercial terms which are favourable to the club.”

King said it had been “agreed with immediate effect.”

“It’s nice to have it behind us in the sense that there seemed to be an issue. I think I said repeatedly — there shouldn’t really be an issue. Our view has always been that Rangers Football Club has had a contract with Ally McCoist.

“Ally very generously previously worked for free during a difficult time for the club. He then worked for half-price during a difficult time for the club.

“He then moved on and had every right to enforce his contract.”

King met McCoist on Wednesday and agreed a deal in “four or five minutes” that he said was both “favourable to the club” and “recognises the service Ally has given over the years.”

McCoist called managing Rangers “the greatest honour” — a “dream job but in a nightmare scenario.”

He praised the “stable board” and that “the good work off the pitch is being equalled by the performances on it.”