Murray revealed Rangers could not afford 22-year-old Brown's wages, reported to be £25,000 per week, because it might have threatened team harmony.

But he remains hopeful of seeing striker Naismith join from Kilmarnock, even though Rangers manager Walter Smith has withdrawn the club's latest bid.

Kilmarnock chairman Michael Johnston has reported plenty of interest from teams other than Rangers in the 20-year-old Scotland international.

Murray said: "We've the greatest respect for Kilmarnock but if they have other clubs who want to buy the player, why don't they accept one of those bids they've received?

"Walter has already spoken about the offer we made. He's a good young player and we'd like to have him here but he's 20 years old and at that age you're buying potential."

Midfielder Brown cost Celtic £4.4million when he joined in May, despite having at one stage been expected to follow former Hibernian team-mate Kevin Thomson to Rangers.

Murray is determined to keep a wage structure in place at Rangers, and believes Brown could not have been accommodated in a system which rewards key players with a maximum wage of £16,000 including bonuses.

Murray added: "If he's on the wages that have been reported - and I stress that last part - then you have appearance payments and a massive signing-on fee, how would that leave us with other players?

"Would the young Scottish players we have be happy to sign new contracts when they were getting less than half what another young Scottish player was being paid?"

Rangers will be seeking to block Celtic winning a hat-trick of league titles.

Smith's side travel to Inverness next Saturday for their opening match in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League, and Murray is adamant his club must be more competitive than last season.

Celtic cantered to the title, winning the league by 12 points, and Murray said: "What we can't have is the gap there was last season.

"Obviously we'd prefer to win it, but I think every Rangers supporter wants to see us compete."