RANGERS midfielder Ian Black today dismissed fears that the latest bout of off-field unrest at Ibrox has affected the players in the run-up to Saturday's showdown with Hearts.

Former director Dave King was in the news as he hit out at chairman David Somers over claims that his consortium failed to provide proof of funds during talks over a potential £16million bailout.

Four men appeared in court on Monday on fraud charges connected to the takeover of the Glasgow giants by former owner Craig Whyte in 2011.

And yesterday it emerged that the SPFL Championship club had made 10 non-playing staff redundant - with more expected to follow - as officials try to slash costs.

However, Light Blues battler Black went through a similar sort of upheaval - only far, far worse - during three turbulent seasons he spent on the books at the Jambos.

At one stage he went out to work as a painter and decorator so that he could support his family and pay household bills after not being paid his wages in over two months.

The 29-year-old ace reckons those difficult experiences have been invaluable for him as Rangers have lurched from one crisis to another since he joined them from the Edinburgh side over two years ago.

And he is confident that Ally McCoist's men can focus on their football this Saturday and deal their main second-tier title rivals their first league defeat of the season in their clash at Tynecastle.

When asked if the adverse headlines had taken a toll on squad morale, Black insisted: "They haven't. I have been through it all before at Hearts and the only time it affects you is when it gets to the stage where you aren't getting paid and you can't pay your bills.

"That's the only time I think it will affect the players.

"Until then we won't really pay attention to it.

"We will just concentrate on what we are getting paid for and on going out and winning games and doing well for the club and the fans.

"I don't think anything off the field will affect us until the point when it gets to a really bad stage, like Hearts were in when I was there before I moved to Rangers.

"We don't know what's going on behind the scenes. That's for the board. They deal with all that.

"The manager has got us and he works with us on the training field and that's what really matters for us."

BLACK will return to play his former club Hearts at Tynecastle for the first time since being released by them in 2012.

And he is looking forward to locking horns with his old side and boyhood heroes, for whom he played 87 appearances over three years.

However, he admitted he still feels a lingering resentment at the way he was treated by the club's former owner Vladimir Romanov and how the enigmatic Lithuanian banker ran the capital club.

He said: "Hearts is a massive club. The previous owner did his best to destroy it.

"But all credit to the Hearts fans. They have stood by the team and pulled them back up.

"Just like the Rangers fans have done here over the past three seasons.

"But what I had to endure was disappointing. I had to worked under pressure and have the stress of not knowing if I was going to be able to pay my bills at the end of the week.

"You learn a lot from stuff like that and I certainly grew up a lot.

"I wasn't paid for two and a half months and that's a long time for anybody.

"I have a family to support, so I had to go out and do what I needed to do in order to put food on the table and a roof over their heads.

"I got an offer to go and help one of my friends who has got his own business, so I went.

"There are definitely a lot of footballers out there who wouldn't want to be seen doing decorating work, there is too much self-pride there.

"But I am certainly not one to shy away from getting my hands dirty if I have to do it to provide for my family."

DESPITE standing by Hearts in their time of need, Black expects he may still get pelters from their supporters when he takes to the field in the televised top-of-the-table clash this weekend.

And he stressed his affection for the Jambos will not stop him trying his hardest to help the Gers win the game and move to within three points of the league leaders.

He said: "It will be my first time back at Tynecastle since leaving and I'm really looking forward to it.

"It will be really good to run back out on to that pitch and hopefully I can come away with a win for Rangers.

"I had really good moments there. My last game for them was unforgettable - the 5-1 win over Hibs in the 2012 Scottish Cup final at Hampden.

"There were also victories in derby games as well but now I want to go back and disappoint a few people.

"It will be my first time back on the pitch since the cup final victory celebrations.

"I will relish it and enjoy every moment but also work hard for Rangers.

"I wouldn't like to think that the Hearts fans would give me stick after all I did for the team in my time at Tynecastle.

"But if they choose to do that then I'll deal with it."

Hearts v Rangers is exclusively live on BT Sport 1 from 12.00pm on Saturday 22nd November. BT Sport will bring fans live action of five SPFL games before the end of December, including Queen of the South v Rangers (12th December) and Dundee United v Celtic (21st December). Visit BT Sport.com for more info.'