Ally McCoist ‘genuinely devastated’ at what’s going on at Rangers

Former Rangers manager Ally McCoist is “genuinely devastated” at the state of the club on and off the pitch and fears the league title already looks beyond Philippe Clement’s side.

The Light Blues suffered a Champions League qualifying defeat against Dynamo Kyiv last week which consigned them to the Europa League group stage and saw them fall further behind Celtic in the financial stakes.

They are already two points behind the champions in the William Hill Premiership and, although they reached the quarter-finals of the Premier Sports Cup on Saturday, seeing Rangers beat St Johnstone at a half-empty Hampden was further indication of the club’s problems.

Rangers are also likely to take on Dundee in the last eight at the national stadium next month amid ongoing delays with renovation work at Ibrox.

The Ibrox board are looking for a new chief executive to replace James Bisgrove but McCoist fears the problems run deeper and feels Clement has a difficult task in reshaping his squad.

McCoist admitted “there is no way that Rangers could handle the Champions League” and added on talkSPORT: “I’m genuinely devastated at what’s going on at my club.

“I’m looking at it and the recruitment, goalkeeper (Jack Butland) aside and (Dujon) Sterling aside, has been unbelievably poor. They have given money to people to spend who quite frankly haven’t spent it wisely at all.

“We’re not even playing our home games at Ibrox now. The fans, I’ve seen it in the last couple of games – there’s big gaps at Hampden. That’s not Rangers. That’s not where Rangers should be.

“On the pitch, miles off it and it breaks my heart to say it, but we’re miles off it.

“And off the pitch as well we’ve got an unbelievable amount of work to do. There doesn’t seem to be any leadership. The previous chief executive has gone to Saudi Arabia and I’m not sure about the job he did, by the way.

“There was a few quid spent on players – £3-4million here and there. Not for me or the Rangers supporters. We’ve got problems and they have to be addressed as soon as possible.

“I have genuine sympathy for the manager because at this moment in time it’s pretty clear he has to get a few out the door before he can get any in.

“The fact of the matter is the squad at this moment in time, I don’t think, sadly, is good enough to win the league.

“The best we can hope for is always to win it and I am the eternal optimist but if Rangers win the league it will be one of their greatest triumphs ever.”