Rangers managers has said his team will require massive investment to eventually challenge Celtic.
Ally McCoist has already managed to assemble a squad he feels would be good enough to cope with life in the top flight. But he believes serious money would have to be spent on quality signings to improve his team to the stage where they would be good enough to win the SPFL.
As the financial fall-out at the club continues to rumble on, the man with the job of ensuring things are right on the pitch made it clear he will need significant backing. Former CEO Charles Green once promised McCoist a £10m transfer kitty but the manager has made it clear what sort of pot of cash will be needed to win titles and compete in Europe.
He said: “I know Charles mentioned a figure of £10m I would get to spend at some point, but further down the line it has to be massive reinvestment in the playing side of it. You have to look at where we are at the moment. As I keep saying, we are only taking one rung at a time up the ladder. The big picture is we have lost £45-50 million worth of players.
McCoist went on to point out that players such as Nikica Jelavic, Steven Naismith, Steven Whittaker, Allan McGregor and Stephen Davis all left the club either for minimal transfer fees or for free by having their contracts terminated.
“In a normal market you can argue we’d get £35-40 million for them,” he claimed. “So we’ve had to start from scratch and are bringing in guys on free transfers from Kilmarnock, Dundee United and all these places.
“We love the fact they’re doing what they do, but I would think there will have to be reinvestment, at some point.”
As much as McCoist would be confident his current squad would be good enough to win League One and also the Championship, he is keen to add quality before their top-flight status is secured.
“That would give us a better chance to plan and prepare,” he explained. “When we are lucky enough to get back in to the top league, I think it would be extremely difficult to sign another eight players and hit the ground running.
“Any manager or coach would like to do it gradually and continue the build from within.”
But with Celtic making fortunes from the Champions League, the Ibrox boss knows more investment than ever is likely to be needed to bridge the gap between the two clubs.
McCoist said: “They’re doing it well. Qualification for the later stages of the Champions League is a target that, for many years, Scottish clubs couldn’t reach.
“Then all of a sudden big Alex (McLeish) got there and Gordon (Strachan), Neil (Lennon) and Walter (Smith) have done it. It’s not as uncommon as it once was.
“The finances over at Celtic with their successes in Europe will make it harder unless we get more to re-invest.”
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