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CASH-STRAPPED Rangers have knocked back a £900,000 windfall from Nottingham Forest for star man Lee Wallace.

Record Sport can reveal Ibrox chief executive Graham Wallace told the Championship side to come back with an improved fee of £1.4million if they wanted to secure the Scotland full-back.

But that hard-line stance backfired yesterday when Forest boss Billy Davies launched a move for another left-back.

Sources at the club expect that signing to be completed within the next 24 hours.

And they insist there is now no chance of Davies signing Wallace before Friday’s transfer deadline.

A Forest insider said: “Billy was keen on Wallace and the offer was close to £1m.

“When Rangers said they would only do business at £1.4m they effectively killed any deal stone dead. They may think they are playing hardball and Billy will be back but they are wrong.

“Forest won’t pay another penny for a player from Scottish football’s third tier.

“The manager has now moved for his second-choice target and that transfer is close to completion.”

Gers boss Ally McCoist will be delighted to hold on to his star man but many will question how the club can snub an offer for Wallace just days after asking the players to take a 15 per cent wage cut to help slash costs.

An Ibrox source said: “This is good news for Lee, who wants to stay, and for Ally who wants to keep hold of all the quality he can.

“It’s also a relief to know the club is not in such a bad way that it feels forced into accepting cut-price bids for its best players.

“But it begs the question, why was the idea of player wage cuts floated in the first place if the board can afford to turn down almost £1m?

“Is it any wonder if the players and manager are confused at what’s going on?”