• Running down of assets at Ibrox 'a possibility', says McCoist • Rangers have debts of £31m and a buyer is yet to be found

Ally McCoist, Rangers' assistant ­manager, fears the ­current financial problems at Ibrox could hinder the club for years to come and says he would find it difficult to accept an offer to take over as manager if it remained in its present state.

No buyer has been forthcoming for David Murray's majority shareholding at Rangers who, with debts last reported at £31m, are firmly in the grasp of the Lloyds Banking Group. The situation, by his own admission, partly "mystifies" McCoist.

He is part of a management team who are now working without contracts. Like the manager, Walter Smith, McCoist has grown frustrated at Rangers' ­inability both to sign players – only one loanee has arrived since August 2008 – and to extend the deals of those already at the club.

When asked directly if long-term ­damage could be done to Rangers by the running down of assets, McCoist said: "That is a possibility, of course it is a possibility. It is not one that we would wish for, but it is a distinct possibility.

"It is only a worry for me because it is my football club. It has been my football club since I was a wee boy, the same as for thousands and thousands of people. It is the same concern to them as it is a concern for me. I will survive; whatever I'll do, I'll do, but the most important thing is the club and hopefully we can get things sorted out in the near rather than distant future."

McCoist's fears are noteworthy because it has been widely assumed that he will step up to the main job when Smith retires, possibly as early as this summer. It could be the case, if the current ownership impasse continues, that McCoist regards the post as too troublesome to accept.

"I would hope not," the assistant said of that scenario. "We will talk about that if and when it would happen but you would have to say that the stripping of the club's assets is something no supporter would want to see happen. We have to get the future sorted out."

McCoist, in his playing days a record goalscorer at Ibrox, paid tribute to the work of Smith and the current squad, who remain on course for a domestic treble.

"In this unfortunate circumstance if you would want to work under anybody, you would certainly pick Walter," he said.

"The players have been out of this world. Some of them are running out of contract but they haven't said a word. They have got to be concerned about it as well, of course they have, that is a natural thing but they are appreciative that the club is the most important thing."

McCoist regards it as unlikely, though, that Rangers could return to the immediate pre-Murray era of the 1980s, when not even domestic success could be relied upon. "I couldn't see it going back to that now but, being brutally honest, that's maybe because I don't want to look at that big picture."