The following season, McLeish's initial period as manager proved difficult to sustain. The club's perilous financial position in the wake of the profligacy of the Advocaat era, meant a period of relative austerity. The wage bill had to be slashed as the club embarked on an extensive cost-cutting programme in an attempt to stabilise a mushrooming and unsustainable level of debt. Confronted with a squad of well-paid but ageing players assembled by Advocaat, McLeish was compelled to rebuild without the luxury of the generous transfer kitty enjoyed by some of his predecessors. McLeish was to lose, from his treble winning squad, the inspirational if mistake-prone defender Lorenzo Amoruso, Scottish international winger Neil McCann and, most damagingly of all, club captain Barry Ferguson. In their place McLeish was required to rebuild with only the use of Bosman free transfers and loan signings.