EVENTS can change so dramatically in such a short space of time at Rangers that even looking ahead to the home top-of-the-table Championship clash with Hearts on Friday seems like a futile exercise.

If some reports are to be believed, the Ibrox club may not have enough cash in the bank to see out the week, let alone the month, and all mechanisms to achieve short-term funding are fraught with difficulty.

Mike Ashley might well come up a further loan to meet the club's £8.3 million funding shortfall this season, but his influence is already in breach of SFA regulations. Meanwhile, while a rescue package from American financier Robert Sarver is unlikely to receive the assent of major shareholders such as Dave King and the Three Bears group of Douglas Park, George Letham and George Taylor.

Should they feel they had support adding up to 50.1% of the club's shares, one of those major shareholders could call an extraordinary general meeting in attempt to oust the current board, but such a process would take more than a month and could be too late to meet the club's short-term needs.

Alternatively, there were hints yesterday that some sort of 11th- hour agreement could be brokered between Ashley and the other bloc, something that would finally allow the club to move forward with some confidence.

A further announcement clarifying exactly how they will move forward is expected to be made to the stock exchange tomorrow morning. For now, all a beleaguered group of players can do is regather themselves for a match which could all but confirm Hearts' return to the SPFL Premiership outfit for the 2015-16 season.

While Rangers' record against the other top teams in the Championship is damning - they have lost all four league meetings with Hearts and Hibernian so far, scoring just two goals and conceding 11 - it is at least worth pointing out that they haven't been all bad in their meetings with the Gorgie side.

It took an injury-time goal from Osman Sow to beat them at Ibrox at the start of the season, while an admittedly agricultural game plan had given them ascendancy at Tynecastle prior to the Steven Smith sending off which turned the match on its head.

However, Rangers caretaker manager Kenny McDowall admitted: "I think it's must-win. The first time we played them we should've been out of sight at half-time; we should have been 2-0 up. It didn't work out that way and after we got back into it we lost a sloppy goal right on full-time to let them win it.

"At Tynecastle, we started really brightly. We were on the front foot and up till the sending-off we were looking like we were going to get the three points. But again circumstances dictated it didn't happen that way and it was another disappointing result. Everyone keeps telling us that Hearts are going to slip up eventually. Up until now it hasn't happened, but if nobody else is doing anything then it needs to come from us and then we would see how they handled that. You have to remember they also have another big derby to come and Hibs are playing extremely well. There's miles to go [in the title race] and anyone who thinks it's over is being foolish."

Unsurprisingly, given the financial uncertainty, McDowall has no idea whether further players will follow Lewis Macleod out of the door or, alternatively, if funds could be scraped together for a few arrivals. "In an ideal world if they said to me, 'we're going to give you a couple of players to add to the squad', any coach or manager would love that," McDowall said. "That's ideal, but I totally understand the situation the club are in at this moment in time."

One man who could be in demand this month yet who also sums up the perplexing malaise among the Ibrox playing staff in recent times, is surely Dean Shiels, who made shortlist for the PFA Scotland player of the year award just three seasons ago. The statistics of two and a half years at Rangers read 27 goals in 45 starts, but McDowall explained last night why the player has seldom managed to convince the coaching staff that he is worthy of a starting place.

"Dean Shiels is a very good footballer and his return of goals to appearances is probably as good as anybody's," McDowall said. "The problem we had - even in Ally McCoist's time - is that he's more comfortable playing off a striker in the hole. The majority of teams we play, with no disrespect to them, we feel we can beat. If you have two up top as opposed to one, you would hope you have a better chance of taking your chances.

"That's where he's toiled to get in. Shielsy's a reliable player when we need to play him. We've played him on the left at times, but if you're going to need a working midfielder, that's not his game."

For his part, the Northern Ireland international - who has 18 months left on his contract - hasn't given up hope of becoming a regular starter. "Obviously it's an open market at the minute and there's been talk of a lot of players leaving," the former Hibs man said. "No player is happy if they're not playing and that's something that will be looked at.

"At the minute, all I'm focusing on is getting this club into the top tier. That's what I aimed to do when I got here and that is what I still intend to do. If Hearts beat us it would be a very uphill task, but we believe we can win on Friday."