ALLY MCCOIST has urged his Rangers players to put a turbulent week off the pitch behind them by winning the season’s first Old Firm game tomorrow.

Craig Whyte, the Rangers owner, has been forced to deny the club could tumble into insolvency ahead of a key tribunal with the taxman. Whyte would not rule out administration if Rangers lose the case.

Martin Bain, the former Rangers chief executive, has also frozen €549,553 of the club’s funds as he pursues a case for breach of contract.

“The recent press in terms of the club hasn’t been all positive but one thing we can do is put a smile back on the fans’ faces by getting three points,” McCoist said. “We all know this is why we are here.

“With the greatest respect there is nothing I can do about tax problems. But I can hopefully affect – and what we can all affect as coaches and managers – is performances on the park. That is where we are duty bound to work hard.”

The Rangers squad, the manager insisted, will not be distracted by off-field events. “They’re used to it. I don’t need to say anything to them.

“The pressure on our lads last year was remarkable and the way they came through it was even more remarkable. Players up for sale and all of that. They’ve handled it really, really well, as well as we could have hoped, in a really professional manner.

“I said at the start of the season what the club means and what it’s about. I said there will be things happening here you won’t get anywhere else – whether that’s good or not I’m not sure – but that’s the way it is. They are intelligent boys, they see what’s happening, they know the environment they’re in.”

McCoist’s first derby in charge will also be his first frontline managerial joust with Neil Lennon. In March, when McCoist was the assistant to Walter Smith, the pair clashed at the end of a bad-tempered Old Firm match at Celtic Park.

“It’s yesterday’s news, I said that at the time,” McCoist said of the spat. “We had words, big deal, and that was it. We’ve walked away from it and we had drinks after the game as we should and that’s the way it will always be.

“You look at some of the things that go on around the world. That’s not shirking the issue, we’re well aware of our responsibilities. We just want to talk about the football and that’s hopefully the way it will be this weekend. If I see him before the game we will shake hands and say hello. But I probably won’t see him. That’s not just Neil, you tend not to see the other manager before a game. But you shake hands before the game and I’ll see him afterwards obviously.”

McCoist readily accepts players at his club and Celtic will be under intense focus tomorrow. Such an issue is not something which overly concerns the former Rangers striker.

“That’s the way it is and that’s the way Rangers and Celtic players have to handle it,” McCoist said. “It’s the biggest game in the country so there’s more focus on it, that’s the only reason.”