Rangers: Frustration of fans understood but manager stresses the need to 'box clever' in market

With four and a half weeks of the transfer window remaining, McCoist is still on the trail of a clutch of players including Anderlecht defender Roland Juhasz, Dutch winger Wesley Verhoek and Aston Villa's former Rangers defender Carlos Cuellar.

Bids for Juhasa and Verhoek have both been rejected by their clubs, while Cuellar is still considering a return to Ibrox after Villa accepted an offer of 2 million from the Scottish champions.

McCoist's budget could be increased if Rangers were to sell Madjid Bougherra to Qatari club Lekhwiya. They have already turned down a bid of around 2m for the Algerian defender who has a year left on his contract. While McCoist would prefer Bougherra to sign a new deal at Ibrox, he concedes he could be allowed to leave if both the timing and the finance of the deal suit Rangers.

"The time scale of these things is always very complex and we'll have to box clever," said McCoist. "I've always said I'd like Madjid to stay at the club but market forces could come into play. We wouldn't want anyone going before we got someone else in. We are not in a strong enough position to allow key players to leave the club at the moment.

"I can understand the impatience of supporters. I am a Rangers fan myself and I can understand why fans want to see new players come in. But you have to sit back and look at the whole picture.

"Getting players in is of massive importance, of course it is. But getting the right people at the right cost is equally as important to the club, and I'm sure the vast majority of fans would appreciate that."

Dorin Goian, the Romanian international defender signed earlier this week from Palermo, will make his Rangers debut in today's SPL match against St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park after his work permit application was approved.

Despite an initial indication to the contrary from Uefa, McCoist also retains hope that Goian will also be eligible for the second leg of the Champions League third qualifying round tie against Malmo in Sweden next Wednesday, when Rangers will attempt to overturn a 1-0 deficit.

"Uefa have batted it back to the SFA and we are hopeful it will go in our favour," said McCoist."We have had a lot of help from Iain Blair at the SPL and although there is still a little bit of dubiety, we are encouraged and are now waiting for the final decision."

With captain David Weir sidelined by the hamstring injury which saw him limp out of Tuesday's first leg against Malmo, the availability of Goian is of extra significance for McCoist.

"Hopefully he will bring a bit of stability to the heart of our defence," added McCoist. "It is safe to say that we haven't defended as well as we would have hoped in the last two games.

"We are hoping he will steady the ship. He has a good pedigree and hopefully he will come in and do well. We saw him a good few times last season and he is a big, strong centre back who knows his job. Looking at the way he plays you would hope he would be suited to the Scottish game."

Juhasz, the Hungarian international, remains high on McCoist's wish list as a potential central defensive partner for Goian, despite Anderlecht rejecting an offer in the region of 2.5m for the player.

"It's not over," said McCoist. "We had a secondary bid knocked back by Anderlecht and it's something we'll have to discuss to see whether we go back in or not. We put a bid in about 48 hours ago which was knocked back but we will be having discussions to see what we do there.

"I wouldn't really like to discuss the complete financial terms but I don't think we are a million miles away."

McCoist is in no rush, however, to make a decision on whether to sign German international winger David Odonkor. The 27-year-old, who has been plagued by injuries in recent years, is currently training at Murray Park following his release by Spanish club Real Betis.

"David is here for a week or so," said McCoist. "He hasn't had many games in recent years as he's had some bad injuries. But he looks fine in training and we have a couple of bounce games coming up where we can cast our eye over him. There is no pressure there."

Rangers' stand-in captain Steven Davis, meanwhile, has urged the club to ensure the current transfer activity is successful if they wish to avoid a slipping of standards on the pitch.

"I think it has got down to the stage where we are at the bare minimum in terms of our squad," claimed Davis. "It's not just squad we have been losing over the past couple of seasons, but important ones to the team. There is only so long that can go on before it is detrimental to the success of the club.

"The manager is working hard to get fresh faces in and, hopefully, he can do that before the end of the window."