THE full scale of the crisis was laid out in chilling brevity.
''And Kane Hemmings is injured,'' said Ally McCoist, pondering his striking options on Monday hours after Kyle Lafferty joined Nikica Jelavic and Steven Naismith on the injured list.
The 20-year-old Hemmings is, no doubt, an estimable young man with some potential but to invoke his name as a saviour, albeit a wounded one, was the clearest signal yet of the depths of the problem confronting McCoist and Craig Whyte, the club owner.
Hemmings, an alumni of Tamworth of the Bluesquare Premier League, will not be able to provide an immediate solution to McCoist who seeks to send out a team with more than one fit striker in the shape of David Healy, the 32-year-old Northern Ireland internationalist.
McCoist, the manager, faces the hardly unusual problem of a depleted squad but it is exacerbated by growing fears that cavalry may not be coming.
The problem for Whyte, though, extends beyond a meditation on niggles or groin strains. In the wonderfully emotive language of the game, it is time for Mr Whyte to put up or face the consequences.
The press conference by McCoist on Monday after the defeat of Motherwell was a blunt SOS to the owner. Managers routinely demand increased budgets and bigger playing squads but the ''Kane Hemmings'' moment was a cry for help. Its validity can not be questioned. In terms of a playing squad, Rangers are in a place named stook.
So how will the manager's appeal for recruits be answered?
McCoist and Whyte met after the match to discuss playing matters. Understandably, neither the manager nor the owner would comment yesterday but there was no flurry of transfer movement at Murray Park and agents, who are normally keen to talk up their clients' chances of moving to Rangers, reported no significant inquiries.
McCoist and Whyte will meet again this week and immediate progress must be made on the two pressing matters on the agenda: the disposal of the asset that is Nikica Jelavic and the acquisition of new talent.
Whyte, routinely described as ''not a football man'', is about to be introduced to the most frantic month in the sport. He will be confronted with the brutal reality that any inaction cannot be disguised by the making of further promises.
First, he must accept that Jelavic, whose personal ambitions include forcing his way into Croatia's Euro 2012 squad and whose belief is that a lucrative position in an English side is the best way of achieving that, should be sold.
Increasingly, he has become disaffected and his worth for Rangers lies in a transfer fee. There have been reports that Rangers are holding out for £10m for the 26-year-old. They surely will have to settle for lower. The groin injury to Jelavic is genuine but Rangers may have to contend with a striker with a debilitating case of petted lip if they do not move him on.
If the Croat seems to be moving inexorably into the category of former Ranger, the more vexed questions are who will replace him at the club and who will occupy other areas of the side that need attention.
The recruitment policy, or lack of it, will be placed under a demanding scrutiny. There is no hiding place from the cold reality of January. Rangers will either buy players during the transfer window or they will not. Whyte will, therefore, be defined by his approach in the next four weeks.
There is no doubt where McCoist stands on the question of recruitment. He has publicly stated: ''We need bodies in.'' He has identified targets in a range of prices. The manager at one time was interested in bringing such as Nicky Maynard, the Bristol City forward, and Lewis McGugan, the Nottingham Forest midfielder, to Ibrox. It can be said with some certainty that these players are now outside his price range.
It is more difficult to divine precisely who falls into the category of affordable player who can step immediately into the first team.
Understandably, McCoist and Whyte will not give details of their meeting but the fact that another discussion is scheduled strongly suggests that no definitive plan has been reached. This hesitation occurs as the transfer clock ticks down and doubts increase over the capacity of Rangers to attract players of substance. As proven performers in the English Championship glide out of the club's reach, McCoist has to set his sights lower. But how much lower?
There were suggestions last night that any move for Nacho Novo, a player once considered surplus to requirements at the club, would founder on financial grounds. The Sporting Gijon player may, too, be an unattainable target.
McCoist will, therefore, be linked incessantly with players in a bracket that carries considerable risks. The club that could attract Ronald de Boer, Paul Gascoigne and Brian Laudrup now must shop in more humble stores.
There is no disgrace in that reality as financial imperatives have to be met but there are fears among the Rangers support that McCoist may even be denied the chance to employ such as Francesco Sandaza of St Johnstone.
The Spanish forward, for example, has to be paid and St Johnstone will demand a transfer fee that reflects the belief that Sandaza guarantees the club points and that tally is proportionately rewarded with a cash payout in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.
Bluntly, the further up the league they finish, the more St Johnstone will be paid out. There is unlimited capacity for talking about transfer targets but the support demands new players and the manager certainly needs them.
This issue is now firmly in the court of the owner. Whyte can grasp the severity of the situation and commit funds to its solution. He may do neither, but this lack of action will be obvious to even the most casual observer and there will not be many of them in blue-and-white scarves this month.
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