CASH-STRAPPED Rangers were today warned crowds at Ibrox will continue to plummet if manager Ally McCoist is left in limbo.

 

Gers director Derek Llambias confirmed after a meeting on Wednesday that McCoist was set to remain in charge despite handing in his resignation.

He is expected to be in the dugout for the SPFL Championship match against Livingston tomorrow and attend the AGM on Monday morning.

And it is unclear if Rangers will pay off the club legend after that and bring in a replacement or force him to work out his 12 month notice period.

But Light Blues great Derek Johnstone reckons the troubled Glasgow giants risk attendances falling even further if the situation remains the same.

Crowds at Ibrox on match days have dropped dramatically this season due to unhappiness at how the club is being run and poor performances on the park.

Gers chairman David Somers admitted last week that fewer than 20,000 fans had been at the league game with Cowdenbeath on December 6.

The official attendance of 28,137 that had originally given by the club was the lowest turnout at a league match in nearly 30 years.

And Johnstone fears supporters will grow increasingly disillusioned and stay away from games if the club remains locked in a stand-off with their manager.

That is the last thing the Gers board, who have admitted an additional £8 million in funding needs to be raised next year to keep the club afloat, want just now.

The SportTimes columnist said: "I am sure many Rangers fans will be really brassed off with the way the club is at the moment.

"I never thought we would see the day when just 15,000 fans turned up for a Rangers game at Ibrox as happened in the last home game. "But there is now a danger that it might get less and less unless something happens with Ally. Fans will continue to drift away.

"Fewer and fewer fans are already turning up at games.

"Supporters are getting pretty disillusioned with the direction the club is heading in."

McCoist decided to quit after his side fell nine points behind Hearts in the second tier table and were knocked out of the Petrofac Training Cup to part-time Alloa.

Johnstone feels sorting out the manager's situation would help to lure stay-away supporters back to Ibrox in the remaining games of the 2014/15 campaign.

He said: "The situation with the manager won't help bring the crowds back.

"I think fans need to know what way the club is going to go in order to get behind them.

"And the team needs all of the fans firmly behind them if they are to challenge for promotion in the league this season and get back to the top flight of Scottish football.

"They also need to have the backing of the fans if they are going to progress in the League Cup and the Scottish Cup. The situation has to get sorted out one way or another."