Smith and McCoist are celebrating their second title in a row

Rangers chairman Alastair Johnston is hoping to release the purse strings to allow summer signings and wants Walter Smith to remain as manager.

Smith's future is uncertain despite the Ibrox club's retention of the Scottish title amid a search for a new owner.

"I am very much on record saying that the absolute ideal outcome is that Walter stays with Rangers and stays in the position he is in," said Johnston.

"I feel confident that we'll have some money to spend."

US-based Johnston will fly to Scotland next week and hopes that Smith's future will become clearer once the chairman has held discussions with parties who have expressed an interest in taking over owner Sir David Murray's controlling interest.

"I have meetings with the bank, got meetings with the rest of the board and meetings with other interested parties and talking to Walter Smith and chief executive Martin Bain is high on my agenda with respect to how we deal with things," Johnston told BBC Scotland.

It was probably one of the greater achievements in the history of the club Ragners chairman Alastair Johnston

"So I would hope to have a clearer picture within the next two weeks as to what the circumstances will be and allow Walter to make that decision.

"There are a lot of moving pieces that have to be addressed and Walter needs to be satisfied that he is making the right decision whatever that is when he makes it."

English businessman Andrew Ellis has expressed an interest in a takeover of Rangers through his Guernsey-based vehicle company RFC Holdings.

Johnston pointed out that it will be the first chance he has had to meet the former Northampton Town chairman, who was also a Queens Park Rangers director.

"He will have to meet with the independent committee of the Rangers board with respect to us looking at the situation, discussing with him so that we can prepare opinions and recommendations as to whether or not we believe he's got the commitment that's in the best interests of Rangers Football Club," he said.

"We will be looking at it from the perspective entirely of the club, not from the perspective of Murray, the owners, or from the bank.

"We will be looking at it from the standpoint of the club and what he is prepared to do and what he's got the resources to do will be very much top of the agenda if and when we do meet with him."

Johnston is returning to Ibrox from the USA next week

A debt burden of £31m has meant that Smith, assistant Ally McCoist and coach Kenny McDowall have not had funds to strengthen their squad for nearly two seasons and Johnston says that winning back-to-back titles during that time was a special achievement.

"It was very satisfying given the circumstances," he said. "I think, if you reflect on it, from a big picture historical standpoint, it was probably one of the greater achievements in the history of the club to have had this success they did with the resources that they had and in the circumstances that prevailed.

"What Walter and Kenny and Ally and all the rest of the staff did was huge.

"It has been a tough time for the last couple of years in terms of cutbacks of costs and redundancies, etc., and I think that, from a morale standpoint, I hope and believe that everybody in the club should take a great deal of satisfaction no matter what role they played."

Johnston would be working hard to retain the services of Smith, who he thought had proven wrong those critics who suggested that his previous titles with Rangers were only the product of high spending.

"He is a very, very experienced manager and we were hugely fortunate to have him at that point in time and a lot of the qualities of a manager that Walter exudes had to come into play this year," he said.

"Getting results out of his meagre staff, inspiring them, motivating them, disciplining them, was all a function of Walter's experience in the business."

Johnston thought that the club, who have qualified for Champions League football next season, would have money for player signings during the summer.

"It is just a question of how much and where and when," he said.

"We have players out of contract and we've got a lot of current players we would like to look at retaining."

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