ALLY McCOIST has admitted he is entirely in the dark about whether he will be asked to sell or release players next month.

The Rangers manager has also still to learn if he has any chance of signing anyone after new club chief executive Graham Wallace hinted at major Ibrox cost-cutting.

McCoist will meet Wallace early in the new year after the club's chief executive said the cost base was far too high at Rangers and had to be reduced. Wallace went as far as claiming the club was spending at a rate which would be unsustainable even if Rangers were in the SPFL Premiership, let alone League 1.

Wallace has made a positive early impression on McCoist, although a degree of tension between them will be inevitable if one wants to make cuts and the other intends to maintain, or even add, to his existing squad. Wallace has begun a 120-day review of how Rangers is run, but before and after last week's annual meeting he insisted that too much money was being spent and cuts were unavoidable.

"I had a couple of meetings with Graham before the agm and a couple since," said McCoist. "Being honest, in terms of the footballing side of the business we will definitely sit down in the new year to see what we think is best for moving the club forward.

"Graham's made a statement that he will reassess and evaluate the entire business. As yet, we haven't had any discussions about players in, players out, or movement in January. Those discussions will take place on his return. I have no idea if we will have to lose players. I haven't been told. Like most managers, I'm a little bit unsure about what is going to happen in January.

"I don't know if the prospect of new signings is on hold. That's not a cop-out, I just don't know. I'll be far better placed to comment once Graham has made a full assessment of the entire business. It's obvious that Graham and I can't sit down and make football decisions until he has a full overview of what is going on. I've said before that we could do with another player in the striking department, but I'm not sure if that will be the case or not."