ALLY McCoist won't feel Rangers are truly back in business, and will have finally put to bed the nightmare of administration, until they are again gracing the Champions League.

The club remain associate members of the influential European Club Association, but they must file three years of audited accounts to Uefa before they can be considered to take part in European competitions.

The Rangers manager hopes he is still in post if they return to the top flight of continental play. Right now, it might seem like an implausibly lofty ambition, but McCoist sees it as the benchmark by which his team will ultimately be judged.

"The Champions League is the dream," said McCoist. "That's where we have to set our sights.Effectively, we'll be back when that happens.

"That's where we want to be, feel we should be and where we can be. That would be the ultimate."

Yesterday's 6-2 win over second-placed Elgin City extended their lead at the top of the Irn-Bru Third Division, the arena in which they now find themselves, and the signs are now self-evident that the title will be the first step on their journey back to the Scottish game's upper echelons.

In tandem with that, they are still playing in front of vast crowds at Ibrox and the club's new-found millions from last week's share issue are burning a hole in the club's pocket.

McCoist – who is banned from signing players for the next two transfer windows, although free agents can be registered from September 2013 – knows it could take a couple of seasons even after returning to the SPL before the squad is at its previous level of quality.

"You look at the team we had that was capable of winning the SPL and look at the team now, you don't have to be Fabio Capello to work out the difference," he said.

"It might take four transfer windows to get back to the standard we want to be at.

"And that's after getting back into the SPL. The dealings we have in the transfer market, starting from this summer from the players out of contract, will be as vital as any this club has been involved in."

McCoist paid tribute to the return of his managerial mentor Walter Smith to the Ibrox board, particularly as he can be relied upon to speak his mind on specifically football matters in the boardroom rather than just go along with everything chief executive Charles Green says.

The former Rangers boss, however, has been studious in not giving his opinion on team affairs unless expressly asked.

"He wants to help, but he will not intervene unless help is asked for or opinions, which I do, but I ask the postman what he thinks as well," said McCoist, who admitted he would hate to lose his friend to the Scotland job. "We talk, he comes to games and we sit down and have a cup of tea – exactly what you would expect us to do. I am very privileged to call him a friend more than anything now."

After 42,000 for the visit of Annan in midweek before Christmas, another bumper crowd is expected for Clyde on Boxing Day, which will be followed by the cross-city trip to face Queen's Park – the first league meeting since 1957 between the clubs at the National Stadium Hampden.

McCoist is honest enough to admit he feared the supporters' initial burst of enthusiasm for life in the lower divisions might have worn off by now.

"There was a part of me thinking that they might switch off for a game or two," he said. "But they've been incredible. If it was just going to be an initial burst they would have gone by now.

"There might have been a concern they'd come for four or five weeks. But the bond with the fans is probably as strong as it's ever been – I have unbelievable respect for our fans and the loyalty they've shown.

"But a boy behind the dug-out on Tuesday night fell out with me. That's the way it will always be in football."