Ally McCoist is preparing for Rangers’ match against Livingston on Saturday after a meeting between the 52-year-old and the Ibrox club’s board failed to resolve a stand-off over his future.

McCoist has served a letter of resignation to Rangers, a move that triggered a 12-month notice period on a contract worth £750,000 per year. It is widely recognised that the club cannot afford to pay McCoist a lump sum to leave now and with the manager not wanting to make matters easy for a board in which he has completely lost faith, this will not be a simple issue to conclude.

McCoist met Rangers' directors, including the former Newcastle United chief executive Derek Llambias, at Ibrox on Wednesday afternoon. After little over an hour of talks, it was confirmed that McCoist remains in office, for the time being at least. Rangers will begin the weekend nine points adrift of Hearts in Scotland's second tier, with McCoist's team having played one game more.

Billy Davies is the clear favourite to succeed McCoist, most likely until the end of this season initially, if the latter's departure can be negotiated in the near future.

Rangers’ annual general meeting, during which irate minority shareholders are certain to round on the club’s directors, is scheduled for Monday. The club have admitted they need in the region of £8m to continue trading throughout 2015.