CELTIC WIN IS NATURAL
have ended up losing a number of games. Rangers can’t play down a level. You don’t win a league by 38 fantastic performances. You have to be able to drop a level and still win games and Rangers have not been able to do that.
“They can play for half a game, they can play for a full game, but if they drop down just one level they are liable to lose.
“The higher level of player you have you are able to drop down a level and still win.
“That said I don’t think the recent Old Firm game was one in which Celtic looked that far ahead as they have done in a couple of others in the last two seasons.
“If they have anything about them they will take it as a challenge for the Scottish Cup semi-final. They can use it as a motivating factor.
“They have to get back to winning games against Celtic on a more regular basis.”
In March 2007 Smith’s side knocked a staging post in the ground when they went to Parkhead and won 1-0 with a goal from Ugo Ehiogu, only their second victory at the stadium in seven years.
A similar victory in the Cup would perhaps signal better times ahead.
But the man who led his club to nine in a row also recognises the importance of acknowledging how far they have already come since 2012.
He said: “You are inclined to look at where Rangers are at this present From Back Page King’s three-year reign at the club.
Rangers will either appoint a manager who can build a foundation to challenge the dominance of the Hoops or the status quo will continue for seasons to come after the botched appointment of Pedro Caixinha.
Smith has declared his sympathy for Graeme Murty and called on the directors to tell him before the end of the season if he’s the man they want to take them forward.
Smith said: “The appointment of the next manager is probably one of the most important decisions the board will make.
“Whether it is Graeme or someone else there has to be a level of stability within the management before you can start to look at massive improvements on the pitch.
“I hate to use the two words but the ‘natural order’ has been that Celtic have been winning championships and to reverse that Rangers must find stability and a better level of player.
“They can close the gap, it can be done. However, this period between now and the end of the season is huge in terms of what Rangers must do as they head into the following season. This time Rangers have to get it right.
“If Graeme is the person they are going to give the job to you would hope they would tell him sooner rather than later so he could start planning ahead.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen – my forte was picking teams, not managers. But I can’t take away from the importance of Rangers making the right decision. They can’t make the same mistake they did at the start of this campaign.”
Smith has sympathised with King and his directors who have spent the last three years unravelling the financial mess left by the previous board, all the time trying to build a team to challenge in the Premiership.
Rangers have invested more than £10million in players over that time but with little return as they’ve struggled even to overtake Aberdeen in second spot.
Celtic are on the brink of seven in a row and an unprecedented treble for the second season in succession and Smith has acknowledged the challenge his former club face.
He said: “They need to make sure the next manager is going to bring a level of stability and a better and more consistent challenge to Celtic.
“But it also needs a continued level of investment.
“It is not rocket science and Rangers, as a board, must try to find that.
“It has been extremely awkward for them considering what they have taken over.
“They need to get a manager who is going to stay for a few years and try to build a really solid foundation where the club can get back to a winning formula again.
“Celtic have everything in their favour. They have stability at their club and a terrific manager.
“It’s a hard task for everyone at Rangers but one they’ve got to meet.
“If it can’t happen – and there are many reasons why it maybe can’t – then what’s happening at the present time will continue to happen.
“Celtic will continue to dominate and Rangers will be the team left to take up that challenge in the same way Celtic were when it was happening from a Rangers perspective.” moment and as much as anything else where they have come from. “I know it takes a level of time but that’s not something managers, directors or anyone involved with a club gets. “They have come through extraordinary circumstances over the last five years. You would have hoped they would have been ready to put in a better challenge to Celtic by now but it hasn’t happened. “However, they have had a lot to handle.”