Rangers boss Walter Smith has indicated a first-team squad of as little as 18 experienced players could be a manageable size, signalling a likely cull of his 28-man pool. "I kept reading that everybody said we have a squad of 28 players and that's too big, so it would be natural to assume that we will possibly lose a few players," he said.

"Again, how do we know whether we are going to lose any players or not in the transfer window? Will somebody come in for them? Nobody knows.

"What I said was 'Having 28 players, we would naturally have to lose a few before we bring some in'. That would be obvious.

"The reason we have 28 players is fairly natural," Smith said. "When you come in and you make changes, you build up a squad. Contractually, you have to keep them.

"So we reach a stage where we know we have to adjust that if we can.

"Even if we don't lose a player and there is maybe a certain player comes available for a specific position we are looking for then we would try and add to that if we could.

"If we were running with a group of around 18-20 with a few younger players who are just about ready to come up to our squad, I think you would be looking at a decent number to operate on."