Rangers: McCoist awaits news on player budget

Rangers manager Ally McCoist chats with his assistant Kenny McDowall. Picture: SNS

Amid an ongoing civil war between a section of the Rangers support and the Ibrox board, which includes a threat by fans to withhold season-ticket money, Wallace has promised to publish an update of his 120-day review on 25 April.

The Scottish League 1 champions reported losses of £3.5million in the six months to the end of last December and there are concerns as to their ability to continue as a going concern next season.

With one eye on strengthening his squad, and deciding what to do with the players who are out of contract in the summer, including Emilson Cribari, Kyle Hutton, Andy Little, Steve Simonsen and Chris Hegarty, the Rangers manager expects the review to give him an indication of what kind of budget he will have to work within next season.

Ahead of the trip to Stenhousemuir today, McCoist said: “I haven’t been told what the budget is. At this point, we don’t know if we can get players in, or if we can buy players next season.

“It is not an ideal situation for anybody, because you would like to let players know as quickly as possible what the plans are for next season. It is common knowledge that Graham and the board are doing a review, so we will wait to see the outcome of that and I think it is safe to say we will be told then, which is absolutely fine.

“I don’t know what the review will say but, from my point of view, it is important as we will have an indication of what we can do in terms of my plans for next season.”

There seems no end to the off-field tension at the club. The Union of Fans, a coalition of supporters’ groups who back former director Dave King’s proposals for a new share issue, called on Thursday night for Wallace to reveal if he has the opportunity to earn an annual 100 per cent bonus on his salary, which it has been said is in excess of £300,000 a year.