Once again, Ally McCoist is left to face questions about Rangers' affairs despite not knowing answers

They contained little novelty, no firsts. Craig Whyte and Charles Green were again at the centre of inquiries. One may insist they are a double act. The other protests they are not.

The circus is back in town. It will be up to Rangers supporters to decide just who the clowns are and how the show goes on. "It takes a lot to depress me but I ain't dancing about on my unicycle wearing a big red nose," said the manager, showing a characteristic ebullience in the face of yet another twist in an increasingly bewildering story.

The latest instalment in The Greatest Show in Govan has a blistering storyline. Whyte, who bought the club from Sir David Murray for a £1 and left it in administration, has now claimed that Green was his "front man" in a subsequent takeover of the club. Both sides agree that Whyte has taped evidence of conversations. Green has told the Sun newspaper that "he would have told Whyte anything to get the keys to Ibrox". Whyte has told his QC to sue.

Even in the extraordinary world of Ibrox, this rates as a significant sign of further turbulence at a club that has endured a torrid 18 months. It was left to McCoist to address matters and there are signs that there are concerns within Ibrox over precisely where the club is going.

The predicted reaction to the Whyte v Green main event would be that Rangers brushed it off almost haughtily, saying Whyte was a discredited figure, there was nothing to see here and to move on quickly to discussions of matters of the future even, heaven forfend, a trip to play Queen's Park.

Instead, the message was that McCoist will seek to have talks with the chief executive in an attempt to "seek clarity" on the matter. He stated: "It looks like there are questions being put forward that need to be answered."

These inquiries were being carried out in the full media spotlight as McCoist gave interviews to the broadcast press and both the daily and Sunday papers. The Rangers manager was exclusively questioned on the Whyte claims at the daily written press conference and his answers suggested that McCoist and Green have an array of matters to address. And quickly.

In the storm over the Whyte claims, other matters may seem just nasty squalls but they have the capacity to shake Rangers. The departure of Neil Murray, for example, remains largely unexplained. "There is no scandal here" is the line and McCoist was eager to praise his former chief scout. "He's left the club, but he's still in a form of consultancy with the club. And I, for one, have got absolutely no problem phoning Neil Murray up. Neil worked totally unselfishly for the club and myself and I've got a list of players up in my office that's enough to fill about six teams. So I will certainly not be scared of picking up the phone to Neil and asking him his advice on a player."

Yet McCoist was keen to emphasise the scouting system needed a radical overhaul. "The whole network needs totally revamped in terms of scouts going to games, watching opposition, watching young players, watching foreign players," said McCoist.

This revamp has started with the departure of a valued chief scout. Mmmm.

The Rangers manager also addressed how the club might go forward. "I'll need to sit down with Charles because we haven't discussed budgets for scouting, budgets for youth development, transfer budgets, all that kind of stuff. I've got a plan in process for other sides of the footballing aspects of the club as well, so we need to sit down and have a serious conversation about what our plans will be for the future both long term and short term," said McCoist.

This, too, seems to constitute matters that should be settled quickly, even decided before now. Rangers, after all, are in the first year of a three-year plan and the initial objective of winning the Irn-Bru Third Division title has been attained. It would surely be reasonable to suppose plans should now be implemented rather than discussed.

Then there is Francisco Sandaza, clown or victim. Or both. McCoist hardly seemed to be the leading light in sacking the Spanish striker, who was fooled by a hoax call. "It was a club decision to terminate the contract. That's all I can say on the matter," said the Rangers manager. "I will be phoning Fran and speaking to him. Obviously it goes without saying I am extremely disappointed it has come to this, but it's a club decision and I will stick by the club decision."

On Neil Alexander, too, there may be a divergence of opinion. McCoist wants to keep the experienced goalkeeper. One suspects that Green would cope with the grief caused by Alexander's departure.

The most pressing matter, however, is how the supporters will view the latest instalment of Whyte: Sometimes They Come Back. Rangers will insist that Whyte has threatened to sue varies bodies before and not done so. They can also paint him as a figure of ridicule. But he has a serious capacity to wound and that is why McCoist will seek immediate talks with Green on the chief executive's return from Europe. The fans are central to this concern.

"In our desperate hour of need, 36,000 season tickets were bought and that kept the club going," said McCoist. "I just feel for them again that it looks like there are questions being put forward that need to be answered."

He was pressed on whether he would advise Rangers fans to buy season tickets. "I'm not going to ask them to wait, I'm not going to ask them to buy season tickets, I think it's still early in that process," he said.

McCoist, who accepted he may not be the fans' "favourite football manager", also knows he is widely respected by them and his integrity is unquestioned by the faithful. His answers yesterday did not bring the words "endorsement" and "ringing" to mind. The Rangers manager still seeks clarity, the fans may wait before committing to a new season ticket. The Whyte claims may never be tested in court but the jury is still out on Green.