A banner on the road up to Peterhead welcomed Rangers to the Irn-Bru Third Division.

The Ibrox club has come to terms with its circumstances, but part of that process has been to refuse to relinquish much of its past. In recruitment, and even attitude, the sense is still of a team that measures itself against top-flight rivals.

Almost 40,000 supporters attended Tuesday's Scottish Communities League Cup tie against East Fife at Ibrox, and that kind of turnout would never allow a decline in esteem. Ally McCoist, too, has sought to prepare for potential cup ties against Premier League sides – and to retain ambitions to be triumphant which were once considered inherent – as well as building a team to achieve promotion.

McCoist may yet sign players with lower-league experience, but the capture of Ian Black, Dean Shiels and Kevin Kyle, established SPL players, was a statement of defiance as much as intent. The wages should be met by the loyalty of fans, with around 25,000 having already renewed their season tickets, but the work of the summer is also to try to retain the club's sense of esteem. Rangers continue to judge themselves against old opponents.

"Every game is big because we are a huge scalp and teams will try a bit harder against us," said Kyle. "At the same time, we have a squad capable of winning a cup. I look round the dressing room and think: 'If we drew Celtic in a cup tomorrow would they be far superior?' I don't believe they would be. If we could win a cup while playing in the Third Division it would upset a few people. Would that make a mockery of Scottish football? Who knows?"

Black and Shiels were last season among the top flight's best players so should be comfortably superior this term. With a 12-month registration embargo starting on September 1, and the obligation to engineer a return to the SPL, signing the duo made sense, yet the club's wage bill has still been drastically reduced.

Rangers are adjusting but there is also a determination – part-pride, part-resolve – to not be defined by the environment in which they find themselves. Away games, in particular, will occasionally be fraught, as opponents raise their games but also seek to limit the advantages of the Ibrox side. The means, and intent, will often be hostile.

"I'm hoping our better players will see us through," said McCoist. "The players we have signed can pass the ball, and when you look at our surface it would be absolutely criminal not to try to play the ball on the deck. It's a target to play attractive football that the fans can come and enjoy. Maybe there used to be a philosophy in the lower leagues that it was about kick and rush, but the level of coaching in this country has improved."

Up front Kyle will provide toil, determination and physical might, and McCoist has been keen to sign players of a certain mentality as well as ability. Black is a spiky character, too; the intention being that Rangers will not be fragile or cowed. Kyle will also carry a sense of grievance.

He lost 19 months to a hip injury, although much of that was down to the condition not being properly diagnosed. A tension remains, since Kyle lost faith in the Hearts physiotherapy staff, before working with Alex McQueen, the Kilmarnock physio, on a private basis. He also found a surgeon, Dr Damien Griffin, who identified the principle cause of his problems, and it has taken four months to return Kyle to fitness, although he will continue to build his sharpness with substitute appearances.

"I work every day as if it was my last – I train my nuts off," Kyle said. "I'm not for giving up or sulking. I'm a wee bit overweight but I want to get over this myth of being injured all the time."

Rangers, too, have something to prove; it is that they can retain their standards and their aspirations.

A refusal to relinquish certain constants lies at the heart of the Ibrox side's plans to move on up, writes Richard Wilson