Rangers boss Ally McCoist insists he does not regret signing nine new players in the summer even though his first-team squad have now been asked to consider a 15% pay cut.
The proposal was knocked back by the players following a dressing room summit on Thursday.
Rangers say chief executive Graham Wallace is still examining other ways to cut costs at Ibrox but McCoist insists he is not to blame for the latest crisis to envelope the fallen Glasgow club.
He sanctioned deals for goalkeepers Cammy Bell and Steve Simonsen, defenders Steven Smith, Ricky Foster and Bilel Mohsni, midfield men Nicky Law and Arnold Peralta, as well as Jon Daly and Nicky Clark, but claims he has a smaller wage budget than last year.
He said: “I have no regrets. The fact of the matter is that I was given an option to bring players in to the club, which I was more than willing to do, at the same time as bringing the budget down again.
“So I have a disappointment and a regret if the club is now suffering from that. But effectively there is nothing that myself or the players can do about it. If we had known about it, it might not have happened.
“But the fact we didn’t have a clue about it means we can rest a bit easier about it. If I was told the club would suffer if I brought these players in, then I wouldn’t have brought them in.”
Asked if others should be held accountable, McCoist said: “Possibly, but not the players. I don’t know who is responsible but I do know who is not responsible, and that’s the players and supporters, who have given us two years of 36,000 season tickets.
“I have my own ideas about who is responsible, but I would rather keep them to myself.”
McCoist met skipper Lee McCulloch and Wallace to discuss the cost-cutting proposal this week but the Ibrox boss was not present as the players voted down the plan.
The result leaves the club which recorded a £14.4 million loss in the 13 months up to June still searching for a way out of their financial dilemma, but McCoist refused to criticise his troops.
“I can assure everyone that the players have my 100% backing,” he said at a press conference held to preview Monday night’s League One clash with Forfar.
“I was absolutely consulted with the idea of that (wage cut) proposal. I didn’t say I supported it, I didn’t say I didn’t support it.
“Why not? Because I don’t think that is my business to be honest with you.
“That is a cost-cutting exercise that is up for debate. But in my reading of the situation it is not me directly who makes the decisions, so I have to go by the people who make those decisions.”
McCoist has already accepted a 50% cut to his £825,000 salary and revealed he asked if the club’s directors would make a similar gesture.
He said: “I certainly asked him that question (about pay cuts) at the top level and was told that was something that was being looked at.”
But the Light Blues’ all-time record scorer denied that Wallace had told him players would now need to be sold to alleviate the haemorrhaging of funds, saying: “In an ideal world, this would not be happening and we would not be having this conversation.
“Graham has not indicated to me that players will need to be sold.
“He has gone on record and I know the severity of the situation. But there has absolutely been no specifics about how those cuts will be made.”