The manager had just 42 days this summer in which to piece together a squad for the Third Division campaign before a year-long transfer registration embargo kicked in.
That left Gers having to go with the pool the currently have for this term, a combination of experienced SPL performers and emerging young talents.
After seeing big names such as Steven Davis, Steven Naismith, Allan McGregor and Sone Aluko leave Ibrox in the close season, the group clearly isn’t as strong as it used to be.
But in the long term McCoist has a vision that will see Gers become the powerful force in Scottish football again – and that requires significant funding over a considerable period.
The hope is that being listed on the London Stock Exchange once again will allow Rangers to generate up to £20million in additional finance for the club.
Some of that will be earmarked for player recruitment and McCoist said: “The money will help in the sense we can make improvements to the stadium and bring in new players.
“That’s a big thing because we don’t want to hang about. We want to get back to where we feel we belong.
“There has to be realism about where we are and what has happened to the club but we do have a squad which we feel can get us out of the division.
“We’re not the same team we were a year ago. We’ve lost 28 or 29 players and we’ve got a completely new staff.
“We’ve got some good SPL players in with some younger kids and in SFL3, the immediate target is to get promotion.
“We should hopefully do that – it will be hard work and we know that because we’ve never said for a minute it would be easy.
“We believe we can get out of the division but we’ll have to earn that right and once we do, we want to kick on.
“Our longer-term plan is to reinvest in the club in terms of personnel and new players so that we can return to top flight football in Scotland and European football.”
McCoist grew up supporting Rangers and has been with the club in many capacities, firstly as a player then a coach and currently as manager.
In his role as a shareholder in the club’s new company, he has a desire for the proposed floatation to work – and believes that will motivate potential investors too.
McCoist added: “I want this scheme to be successful. It has to be said that success on the park will result in success for the club’s investors.
“That is very important because we have to have success on both fronts. They feed off each other.
“I know the money that comes in will be reinvested in the club and fingers crossed the club can do well to make for good investment.”
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