STUART McCall will sit down with the Rangers hierarchy this week to thrash out how he and the club move forward - but it seems increasingly likely he will form part of Gordon Strachan's backroom team for next month's crucial Euro 2016 qualifier against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin.

 

The 50-year-old is primarily being summoned to give his recommendations on the Ibrox playing staff, 11 of whom are out of contract this summer, but the discussions are likely to range far wider than that.

"I've got another meeting this week," said McCall. "I am going to sit down and have a chat with a few people. What is on the agenda? How much they are going to pay me for my four-year deal! No, it's a whole range of things. The day keeps getting changed."

At the end of week which has seen MK Dons boss Karl Robinson claim to have been sounded out about his interest in the Ibrox job - Alex McLeish, Mark Warburton, Derek McInnes and Ian Cathro have also been linked with the post - McCall's future remains unclear and he is left in a situation where each match could be his last.

While the subject has yet to be broached with McCall's paymasters, Strachan will leave a space open for his No 3 until the end of the month and the mood music suggests he will be involved in the international showdown with Martin O'Neill's side on June 13.

"It's not for me to say," McCall said, "but I need to go to get my comps. I've got between three and 10 people going and I am not getting my tickets if I don't go. The focus is obviously here at the moment but there is a possibility that I will be in Dublin."

While making decisions on out-of-contract players is difficult if you are unsure which division you are going to be playing in next season, McCall said that uncertainty for players is just part of the modern game.

"It's one of the difficulties of my job at this moment in time, having such a big squad," said McCall. "At Motherwell, we only had 16 to pick from so you were never letting anyone down. So you've got that, and you have 11 players whose contracts are up, but I think it has changed from my day when you always used to know where you would be.

"Now if you look at clubs down in the Championship in England, people don't even know yet if they are getting contracts. And obviously, the lower down you go, the finances are a little bit more delicate."

Equally fragile is the 2-1 lead which the Ibrox side take into today's SPFL Premiership quarter-final, second-leg tie against Queen of the South. McCall might have experienced with Motherwell the unique dynamic of two-legged knock-out ties, but he has never been in the position of having a first-leg lead to protect.

"I have dealt with it the last couple of years in European football with Motherwell but we have never scored a goal to come into the second match with a lead," he said. "That is new to me. We got a corner once in Levante! No, we actually scored in Levante, although Higgy [Michael Higdon] was given off-side.

"We know what we have got to do. We know what they have got to do. Queen of the South will be thinking they have got a chance to make amends, I am sure they will be thinking that. But I believe the players here have got belief in each other now, which is a big thing, they have got confidence, their morale is at a good point, they have just got to go and do it."

Lee McCulloch is Rangers' only injury doubt for the match.