Rangers boss Ally McCoist insists his side's supporters are right to expect better displays from the Ibrox side this season.

The fallen Glasgow giants romped to the Third Division title last term, but their fans had to endure a number of painful defeats and sloppy displays as they struggled to find their feet following their re-birth from liquidation.

However, eight new players have been signed this summer and McCoist accepts expectation levels have soared.

Speaking ahead of tomorrow's Ramsdens Cup opener against Albion Rovers at Livingston, he said: "Our fans will quite rightly be expecting an improvement in the level of performance once we start the season.

"We have brought in seven players and lost six, so the changeover isn't as great as a lot of people would think.

"Obviously Dorin Goian and Carlos Bocanegra have left the club, Kevin Kyle, Fran Sandaza, Francesco Stella and Neil Alexander are away too.

"We have brought eight in but I would still like to get another couple more in.

"But quite rightly the fans expectation levels will be up because we have got what we believe is a stronger squad."

Former Dundee United skipper Jon Daly, Motherwell midfielder Nicky Law, striker Nicky Clark from Queen of the South and Kilmarnock goalkeeper Cammy Bell have all been signed on pre-contracts that kick in after the expiration of Rangers' transfer ban on September 1.

But they will only be allowed to play a limited number of matches as trialists, with two of the four to feature against their Coatbridge opponents tomorrow.

Fellow new arrivals Ricky Foster, Stevie Smith, Arnold Peralta and Bilel Mohsni - who have all been brought to Ibrox from clubs outside of Scotland - have been told Scottish Professional Football League rules mean they will have to wait until September to play.

In spite of the selection headaches those restrictions pose, McCoist expects to land further silverware in the coming 12 months.

"We want to win the league again - that goes without saying," he said. "We want to hopefully continue our progression up through the leagues.

" I think we will again be faced with the same problems as last year. I'm just very, very hopeful that our lads will adapt to it a bit quicker than we did last year. I'm sure we will.

"And I think we are like most of the other teams in the country, out with Celtic, in that we would look forward to - hopefully - a cup run."

Rangers took 5,000 fans to Yorkshire on Wednesday night for a friendly encounter with Sheffield Wednesday and McCoist insisted their loyal backing will be another source of inspiration this season.

He said: "All we can ask the fans is that they give us the same support they showed last year. I can't tell you what a boost that would be to everybody here.

"The support down at Sheffield was absolutely remarkable. Everyone down there at Wednesday was talking about it. Their support and even their managerial staff. They couldn't believe the support we took down, how well behaved they were and the non-stop singing.

"We will be very, very hopeful they will show that again as they are invaluable to us."