Ally Mccoist has insisted Kyle Lafferty still has a future at Rangers, despite suspending him for a breach of discipline.
Rangers manager will not hold a grudge against Lafferty after no-show
Ally Mccoist has insisted Kyle Lafferty still has a future at Rangers, despite suspending him for a breach of discipline.
The forward was suspended for two weeks after failing to report for Saturday's trip to Hearts, but his manger says it may not be the end of his career in Glasgow.
McCoist told
Blues News: "I obviously have a problem with him at the moment but the one thing I will never do as a manager is hold grudges.
Mistakes
"I appreciate people do make mistakes and nobody made more of them than me as a player, but you have to learn from them, and I have told Kyle on numerous occasions that now is the time he has to start learning.
"We all think he is a smashing lad and we all know the talent he has got but we want to see it at this club."
It was an indiscretion McCoist could have done without, with the club in the midst of a financial crisis.
"As you can imagine, it's absolutely the last thing we needed," the Blues manager continued.
No-show
"He was in the squad to travel (to Edinburgh) and we were due to leave on Friday to go through to Tynecastle.
"But there was a failure to show for the travelling party. I phoned him and left a message because I couldn't get him and I asked him to get back to me.
"He didn't do that so I felt there was no other action to take. We have had to take the action of suspending him and he has obviously taken his medicine."
Lesson
The 24-year-old will miss the SPL games against Celtic, Dundee United and Motherwell, and McCoist is hoping the punishment will teach him a lesson.
"I also know his agent and his previous agent have been speaking to a Championship manager down south, which I'm not sure is allowed," he said
"I think he has been winding us up the wrong way, and the supporters and, certainly the players deserve a lot better from one of their own.
Disappointed
"I am really disappointed in Kyle's actions and it's unfortunately not the first time."
Lafferty joined Rangers for more than £5million in the summer of 2008. He has a year left on his contract, but it is believed he has a clause in his contract allowing him to leave for a specific fee this summer.
