Rangers administration: If you want to kick us you’d better be quick, warns defiant McCoist

DEFIANT Rangers manager Ally McCoist has hit out at those he says are revelling in the club’s current plight.

“I think at this moment in time we are wounded and there are probably some people out there enjoying that fact. One or two have been having a wee fly kick and I would suggest they have a good hard kick now because we will not be where we are for long.”

It seems McCoist has been irked by comments coming from the likes of rivals Celtic, whose fans have been singing party songs about ice cream and jelly while their board have claimed they do not need the Ibrox club. On top of that, Celtic manager Neil Lennon has accused Rangers of financial “doping” and suggested the Ibrox club’s plight is simply a case of chickens coming home to roost.

“We are where we are just now but looking up we are seeing what we are seeing,” said McCoist.

He said Rangers would continue to exist but added that he had received no clearer indications than anyone else about what form that would take.

Confirming that he had finally managed to speak to under-fire owner Craig Whyte in the hope that they could set up a meeting, McCoist was unsure if that get together would happen. “I have spoken to him, very briefly, just over a week ago but do you know something, whether Craig and I speak isn’t going to solve any issues, they will have to be solved by the administrators.”

But with the administrators confirming that they would not sanction wage deferrals the matter of redundancies is expected to be resolved within the next 24 hours.

McCoist says he has discussed the matter and would prefer to have no enforced departures but remains adamant that if there is to be redundancies then he will play no part in ear-marking the individuals who go. “That’s not my job. I won’t make anybody redundant but I will be waiting outside if and when it happens. My job is to be there and offer support. There’s certainly not an acceptance on my part [that players may have to go] and I have had meetings with the administrators and staff and the PFA [Scotland, the players’ union] for the majority of the week. There have been one or two options put forward and discussions are ongoing but what I would say is that they have all been very frank and honest and open and I would be surprised if early on in the week we don’t have a clearer idea of the direction we are heading.

“It has been really difficult for everybody but the one thing I would do is pay tribute to the entire staff, not just the players and coaching staff, but everybody here, the workforce at Ibrox and at Murray Park because, in what can only be described as extremely, extremely difficult circumstances, morale and the inner strength to keep going and be there for each other, for me, has been very evident and that will help us get through this.”

McCoist said he was stunned by the huge monthly losses reportedly still being made by the club. He said he had believed that the debt had been reduced by around £16-17million over the past few years. “It seems an awful lot of money to still be haemorrhaging each month.”

And he insisted that while job losses look inevitable, he hoped they could be kept to a minimum. “The idea scenario is no job losses at all.”