After making his 'not walking away' statement Ally McCoist would be something of a hypocrite if he complained about facing the challenges set before Rangers as they started re-building from the ignominy of administration in February last year. Starting again in Division Three has not been the easiest job McCoist has taken on but, with the first stage of the recovery now complete, he insists he is as committed to the task as ever. He said: "In any job, particularly in any football coaching or managing job, there are times that are tougher than others and that has been the case this season. But I've never once thought 'What have I done here? What have I got myself in for?' The vast majority of people know just how important the club is to all of us. It was never going to be plain sailing all the time. There are going to be tough obstacles on the road and it's how we handle them. We will handle them fine. We all know where we want to be, where we want to get to. And we all know the amount of hard work it will take to get us there - but we are well up for it."Rangers fans are all for adding latest championship success to the club's world record 54 titles tally rather than regarding the Third Division championship as a stand alone honour as a result of its lower league status. McCoist's own view on the issue was clear when he said: "It's definitely title 55 - I don't think there is any doubt about that. In terms of major championships, it's not one of those. But you can only win what's in front of you and I hope it's title 56 next year."With part one of the job done in the Third Division, McCoist has promised a big improvement next season after admitting some results and performances were not up to standard in the lowest division. He said: "It's pretty much mission accomplished. I fully appreciate, towards the end of the campaign, that performances certainly dipped a little bit. There is no doubt about it. There were one or two reasons for that and the injuries and suspensions we had didn't help. When we set out at the start of the season, the main objective was to win the league and get out of the division and that has been accomplished. Can we do better? Yes. Will we do better? Yes." What we achieved this season is the first step in our long road to full recovery. You have to start somewhere and it has started, thankfully, but we've still got a long way to go. We know what's required. Having played here for 15 years, and been here for another six or seven on top of that, I know as well as anybody what's expected at this club in terms of standards, results, performances, achievements. I know what's required and I will continue to strive, along with the staff here, to get those levels of consistency and achievement back up. It won't be easy but it's a challenge we are really looking forward to."Rangers have had to operate under a transfer embargo which means they can't register free agents 1 September and are unable to buy new players until January 2014. That does not mean that McCoist and his staff have been waiting till September to identify targets. McCoist revealed further talks regarding reinforcements took place over the weekend with chief executive Charles Green. He said: "We've got an enormous list of players in all positions with a view to bringing to the club. We definitely need to freshen up the personnel. The boys this season have completed the job, and done it well, but we need to move on. There is a list of players and Charles is very aware of it. We have spoken on numerous occasions and we spoke over the weekend as well. It's just a matter of getting the right people in to help and to add to the squad that we've got here."
Source: ScottishFitba
Source: FOOTYMAD
