Ally McCoist still focused on new faces despite Kyle Bartley return

RANGERS manager Ally McCoist has refused to dwell on the transfer targets he has missed out on so far as he steps up his attempts to bolster his squad.

David Goodwillie became the latest player to opt for a move elsewhere when he signed for Blackburn after the Scottish champions had failed with a number of bids for the Dundee United striker.

McCoist admits he ideally needed to boost his resources ahead of their Champions League qualifier against Malmo, with Rangers crashing out to the Swedish champions and now forced to settle for a Europa League play-off against Slovenian side Maribor.

But the Rangers manager is keen to focus on those who could yet make the switch to Ibrox, with fresh offers submitted for Anderlecht defender Roland Juhasz and ADO Den Haag's Wesley Verhoek.

McCoist said: "There is no use looking back. In an ideal world you would have a bigger squad and if you have a squad that you're happy with right from your first game, that's perfect. But it's not always the case - in fact, it's very seldom the case. We just had to go with what we had and, unfortunately, it wasn't enough in terms of getting the result against Malmo. But we press on, we are getting a few bodies in now and we just have to keep going, which we will do. Everybody was aware of the importance of having players for the qualifying game and the importance of the qualifying game.

"You would have to say that we have gone for a number of players that we haven't been able to get for one reason or another.

"There has been activity from our point of view and movement and an attempt to get players in beforehand. It just so happened that we didn't get enough in before the game but we still tried. It's water under the bridge, there is nothing we can do about it now and we have to look forward."

On Rangers' protracted, and ultimately unsuccessful, attempts to sign Goodwillie, McCoist added: "We made Dundee United very, very good offers for David and Dundee United turned them down, which they are absolutely entitled to."

Rangers completed the signing of Kyle Bartley on a second loan spell from Arsenal on Thursday night, albeit Madjid Bougherra's departure appears imminent after a fee of 1.7 million was agreed with Qatar outfit Lekhwiya.

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McCoist said: "We need players in. I wouldn't specifically say in any position because we feel we need players in plural. We need to strengthen defensively and, in an ideal world, I would like to strengthen midfield and up front as well.

"We are delighted Kyle Bartley has come in and hopefully that won't be the end because we still need to bring two or three more in."

One player who will not be joining the Ibrox side is German winger David Odonkor, after Rangers dropped their interest following a trial.

McCoist said: "David is away back to Germany. He did well and he showed up fine but there just looked to be a bit of a problem with match fitness, as you would expect from someone who has been out longer term with an injury. We won't be pursuing that any further."Defenders Dorin Goian and David Weir both remain on the sidelines with hamstring injuries ahead of today's friendly with Chelsea at Ibrox, although Jamie Ness is added to the squad.

McCoist said: "We've got two or three of the boys carrying knocks and strains and I would rather have this game tomorrow than a league game. We are quite lucky in that respect because two or three of the boys might not have made it had it been a league game.

"It's a great game for us, they are great opposition and a fantastic team."

As Andre Villas-Boas brings Chelsea to Ibrox, left-back Ashley Cole has vowed not to follow the increasing number of footballers joining microblogging site Twitter.

The England full-back has been the subject of several controversial stories about his private life throughout his career and he is not prepared to create further headlines by airing his views via the website.

"Never. It's certain people's preferences but I prefer to keep myself to myself," Cole told Football Focus.

Villas-Boas has underlined his desire since taking over to succeed where his predecessors failed and bring the Champions League trophy to Stamford Bridge.

Cole is no different, admitting he is desperate to help bring the biggest prize in club football to Chelsea. "It's something that when a player hasn't won it, they want to win it," Cole said. "And a lot of the players in this Chelsea team have not won it so the hunger is still there."