THE Rangers ­players and management team have been here several times in the last few years.

There is uncertainty over the Ibrox club's finances. There is growing unrest in the stands. There are fears about players being sold before the transfer window closes.

But to many of the current Gers stars, Lee McCulloch and Lee Wallace especially, it is all old hat.

The latest crisis to befall the Glasgow giants is, like those which have come before, deeply concerning for all with their best interests at heart.

The statement to the London Stock Exchange early yesterday morning confirmed that at least £3million needs to be raised from a new share offering.

Failure to do so would cast doubt on the club being able to continue as a going concern beyond the end of 2014.

The future off the park once again looks extremely bleak for a club on the cusp of returning to the top flight of Scottish football.

Yet Ally McCoist, who has been through all of this before, and much, much more, is confident this unwelcome turn of events will not impact upon his players.

He is confident they will remain focused on their SPFL Championship meeting with Queen of the South at Ibrox this afternoon no matter what is going on around them.

And he has predicted they will continue to be completely professional in training and in matches no matter what the upheaval that arises.

McCoist, whose side put a shaky start to the 2014/15 campaign firmly behind them in their last four competitive outings, is also confident the fans will continue to back his team.

"Our supporters have been fantastic in handling everything that has been thrown at them," he said.

"We've sold 23,000 season tickets and, they can say what they like, 23,000 season tickets is fantastic support for us. I don't see their support in any way wavering from the team.

"As long as the team continue to give them everything they can in terms of their effort and attempt to play in the right manner and win games, then the fans will stick by the team 100 per cent, I don't have any doubt about that."

McCoist has been pleased with the positive manner in which his players responded to their poor displays against Hibs, Hearts and Falkirk in recent weeks.

They have recorded wins against Clyde, Dumbarton and Queen's Park and go into their league meeting with Queen of the South with their confidence high.

One of the players who has impressed the manager the most during the winning streak has been striker Nicky Clark.

Many Light Blues fans felt the forward would struggle to get a start when Kris Boyd and Kenny Miller joined on free transfers in the close season.

But the former Aberdeen and Queen of the South players has been given a chance in the first team due to an injury to Miller, and has grasped it firmly with both hands.

McCoist said: "I spoke to Nicky on Tuesday night and told him to make it impossible for us to leave him out of the team. He's certainly doing his best to do that.

"I thought that once again against Queen's Park he worked really hard in difficult circumstances. He linked up really well with Kris Boyd and looked lively throughout.

"That's exactly what we were looking at.

"I wanted Kris and Kenny to come into the team and score goals and look the part and they have been doing well.

"But I also knew they would be two good players for our younger players to learn from as well. I think Nicky's doing that and I think he is enjoying the challenge of having to prove himself and work extra hard to get into the team.

"He knows, as the rest of the boys do, with the competition for places, that their playing determines their places in the team. Nicky is handling the competition really well."

A few notable exceptions aside, Clark failed to convince many Rangers followers he was good enough to be a player at the Ibrox club last season.

But he is now proving the doubters wrong and McCoist, who himself took time to settle at his boyhood heroes, is delighted to see that.

He said: "I can understand as well anybody how hard it can be at Rangers. I didn't exactly start by setting the heather on fire myself. Neither did big Mark Hateley.

"With strikers in particular, it can take a bit of time to settle in. It's a big club, you don't understand the pressure, the expectation levels, and I would always cut people some slack and give them more time.

"Nicky has to keep working as hard as he is working. I think to be fair the supporters and ourselves can see that he is certainly playing with confidence and has a sharpness."

McCoist added: "We've had some good results and had a good reaction. I've watched the game the other night and we created some good chances.

"We've certainly got goals in the team and certainly after the Clyde game, it looks as though we have grown in confidence from that."