The Rangers manager has been a tower of strength for the Ibrox club throughout their administration ordeal and has continually vowed to remain at the helm and lead the club back from what has often appeared to be an impossible position.

He is now facing up to the prospect of losing most of his leading stars as a result of clauses inserted into their contracts as incentives for accepting massive wage cuts. Coupled with an SFA transfer embargo in place, Gers could be forced to field a team of kids in the SPL next season.

That, according to his nine-in-a-row team-mate Hateley, could be the final straw for McCoist.

When asked if the manager's future could hinge on keeping the senior players, he said: "Yes, yes. This is the problem, you see. You have a club that's in crisis and a governing body trying to get it to get its house in order.

"To get your house in order, you have to get the wage bill down. To get the wage bill down, you have to sell your best players. If they go and you can't bring any other players in, the club is going to be finished, basically.

"The top players might leave and contracts could be ripped up should the club come back as a newco.

"You could end up with 20 players leaving the club and not being able to sign anyone. You become completely irrelevant in the game if that happens."

Hateley hopes to see McCoist still leading Rangers come the start of next season and has nothing but respect for his close pal for the way he has handled the situation at Ibrox.

"You have to look at Alistair in all of this," said Hateley. "The fans will be disappointed if the deal doesn't go through, but where will Alistair be if nothing positive comes out of this? Half the players might not be here next season so June 6 [when Duff and Phelps hope to get agreement for a CVA] is a key date.

"But it should have been two months earlier. We need a competitive Rangers, Scotland needs a competitive Rangers, but it's becoming increasingly harder to make that happen. Alistair is an intelligent man and he doesn't give up, that's why he had a successful playing career.

"In management he's evolving every day. Each day there's a new obstacle in his path for him to overcome. Alistair is still fully focused on trying to get this club on the front foot."