Ally McCoist, the Rangers assistant manager, warned on Tuesday that all the uncertainty surrounding the Ibrox club must be sorted sooner rather than later if Rangers are to have a prosperous future.

McCoist, speaking on the eve of the Active Nation Scottish Cup fifth-round replay against St Mirren at Ibrox, feels as hamstrung as anyone right now, and, like Walter Smith, his manager, is working without a contract until Rangers find a new owner.

Smith is on record as stating that, ideally, McCoist would be his successor in the manager’s chair, with Smith likely to leave in the summer. McCoist, however, said that much clarity was needed before any of that could happen.

“We have to get our future sorted at Rangers,” he said. “This is stuff we could all do without. I’ve got ambitions to be a manager, of course I have. In an ideal situation all of this [the sale of Rangers] would have been sorted out sooner rather than later.

“As for me, I will survive — I’ll do what I do. But the most important thing is the club, and it would be good if that was sorted out in the near future rather than in the distant future. And the stripping of the club’s assets, as a supporter, is not something that any of us would want to see.”

McCoist said that the present turbulence around Rangers, with Sir David Murray still unable after three years to find a buyer for his 90 per cent shareholding, left a lot of people at the club concerned.

Asked if Rangers could be damaged in the medium term by the impasse over a new owner, McCoist said: “Yes, that is a distinct possibility.”

Smith, McCoist and Kenny McDowall, the first-team coach, are all working without contracts as the club’s future hangs in the balance.

“Having been here for 15 years as a player, I know that the most important thing is the club — and not what is going to happen to me, or Kenny or any of the players whose contracts are up,” McCoist said. “Yes, these are important, but not the most important thing.

“This is only a worry for me, because this is my football club. Rangers have been my club since I was a wee boy, just as it has been for thousands and thousands of other people, so it is the same concern for them.

“The most important thing is that, when it is sold, it is done properly, And that the club is left in a better state and is far, far healthier as a result.”

McCoist confessed to feeling a degree of mystification as to why no one had come forward to buy Rangers. The club, like Celtic, have such a vast following, yet no one has come forth with a credible offer in two years.

McCoist said that his own future at Rangers would remain unclear while the club’s future was unresolved.

“It mystifies you up to a point,” he said. “Obviously, there are probably legitimate economic reasons to consider. The current economic climate would certainly be a major factor for anyone in any decision to go and buy something as big as Rangers. I don’t think that should be viewed lightly.

“Also, in other circumstances, if everything in the Ibrox garden was rosy financially, I think there might have been four or five people queueing up to buy the club. But circumstances have obviously changed, which is one of the reasons why the club hasn’t been sold over the past 18 months.

“The welfare of the club is the most important thing. Any of the players or ourselves in the management would say the same. If [the sale] doesn’t happen tomorrow, and if it takes a little bit longer, then fine. As impatient as we all might be, we have to accept it, because it is so vital to so many people.”

All the while, of course, the so-called stricken club have romped to a ten-point lead in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League and remain on course — depending on tonight’s result at Ibrox — for a domestic treble. In the circumstances, McCoist said, it was all quite a credit to Smith and his players, though the political anxiety of Rangers never went away.

“This is probably the toughest time Walter has known in his managerial career,” he said. “Maybe he went through a similar thing at Everton — maybe not exactly the same — but there he had to get rid of one or two good players, when Everton’s finances weren’t in great shape.

“I feel our players have also handled the off-field activities fantastically well. There is a real strength and resilience about them, and we are very proud of that. Some of our players have got contracts up as well, but they never mention it, they just get their work done. But they will be concerned about it all — they’re only human.

“You can’t let it get to you. You have to just come in and do your work, and get the players prepared. That is the part of the job that you love. The other stuff is obviously part and parcel of it, but you have to stay focused and get your team ready for the next match.”