The Scottish internationalist, who is recovering from a cruciate ligament injury, insisted his much-touted departure from Ibrox was not inevitable as the club seeks a new owner. ''I would like to think I could play for Rangers again, have that feeling again. It is a good place,'' said Naismith, who was promoting the work of Dyslexia Scotland at an event in Glasgow.

He added: "I'm contracted to Rangers for the next three years and, if the circumstances don't change, then that's where I'll be. Definitely."

Naismith, who has not played since being injured in October, also believed that Rangers would survive the crisis that has sent the club into administration. ''There needs to be a Rangers somewhere: 50,000 fans turn up every two weeks, 100,000 go down to a UEFA Cup final. So there is a support there that needs to be supporting something so, no matter what, there will be a Rangers.''

However, he conceded: "It has definitely come to a critical point. There needs to a solution and pretty quickly.''

Naismith, who sacrificed 75% of his wage in March as administrators sought to cut costs, was the subject of a £2m bid from West Bromwich Albion last month.

He said: "There was a lot of speculation about it and the manager spoke to me and said there had been a bid made and it had been rejected. For me, there was nothing else to deal with, nothing else to do. The club had rejected an offer for me and that's fair enough.''

Naismith did not believe his wage cut had been for nothing despite Rangers still teetering on the brink of the abyss.

''It did give everybody that extra bit of time to look a bit deeper into all the aspects of the football club,'' he said of the cut.

Naismith believes the club can be saved and is braced for developments not only in the next few weeks, but over the close season.

''I am hopeful as a fan and as an employee,'' he said. "There are great people around the club, there are great people who support the club. Hopefully we can get back to the great days of Europa League finals and winning leagues and cups. That is what everybody has to be hoping for.''

Meanwhile, Sir Jackie Stewart, president of Dyslexia Scotland, who was speaking at the same event, said Rangers had paid the price of building up a debt that was ''irreparable''. ''As it was going from one ownership to the next ownership, it [the debt] was ignored,'' he said. "Scotland without Rangers would be a tragedy, a real tragedy.''

But he added: ''There will be a solution for Rangers. I sincerely hope and pray they can sort it out and it will do. But it's sad it was allowed to get to that level.''