Ally McCoist looking ahead at Rangers

Following the news that (hopefully this time) Rangers are on the path to recovery after Charles Green and his consortium announced they would be buying the debt stricken club, manager Ally McCoist has said he hopes he can now move forward with securing players for next term and planning his pre-season campaign.

The former Sheffield United chief executive was announced (Sunday) by Duff and Phelps as the man to complete a takeover with his consortium.

After Bill Miller was given the same status last week then withdrew, the hope this time is that a sale can be processed after an agreement was reached.

In turn, that will allow the club to move forward again and McCoist, who we understand is safe in his position as manager, can plan for the months ahead.

Speaking to rangers.co.uk, Ally said: “Effectively, the hard work starts again now. We obviously have to find out where we are in terms of players and if there are going to be any new players or funds available.

“We don’t know the answers to these questions and we obviously have to find out what is happening.

“Are the old players coming back and are players who are out of contract getting them renewed? Again, that’s what we need to know along with stuff for pre-season.

“Hopefully in the next three, four or five days, we can get answers to some of the queries we have.”

McCoist spoke to Green on Saturday night for two hours and the prospective new owner was at McDiarmid Park yesterday (Sunday) to see Rangers beat St Johnstone 4-0.

The manager enjoyed that result and hopes he can hang on to his key players now that the club appears to be moving in the right direction.

Carlos Bocanegra, Dorin Goian, Ross Perry, Steven Naismith, Alejandro Bedoya and Lee McCulloch are all amongst those who have publicly said they wish to stay at Ibrox.

McCoist added: “The fact the players are coming out and saying that is very encouraging. It’s marvellous.

“We don’t want them going anywhere and we want all of our top players to stay on at the club. That goes without saying and we want to build on what we’ve got.

“We want to give them support and bring in a bit of freshness if we can because that would give everybody a boost. That would be the ideal situation.

“These are very early days and I’m not going to go making predictions when I don’t totally know what is happening myself.

“But if we can keep most of our players together and add to them, I don’t think we’ll be too far away next season and that would be great given where we’ve been.”

Green was given a largely warm welcome by supporters who travelled to Perth but there has been scepticism from some in light of Miller’s recent withdrawal.

McCoist can understand why there might be concerns but has called on fans to give the Yorkshireman and his associates a chance.

He said: “I speak as one of the supporters and I can totally see why they would be a little bit wary.

“But I think we’ve got to keep believing and keep supporting what is happening. Fans maybe aren’t cautious about Charles Green as such but of the situation and I get that.

“Everyone should be given a chance and from the discussions I’ve had with him, he is clearly positive in terms of how he wants to take the club forward. That’s the most important thing.”