Smith backs Muscat as the kind of character Rangers need

Steven Smith says Kevin Muscat is “probably” the type of character Rangers need, as the club edge closer to appointing the Australian to replace the sacked Russell Martin.

Muscat, 52, who is currently in charge of Shanghai Port, is reported to be close to agreeing a deal. In the meantime the club’s under-19s coach, Smith, will oversee the first team.

Muscat was part of the Rangers squad that won the treble in the 2002-03 season under Alex McLeish. Smith, now 40, had just signed his first professional contract at that time.

“Probably. It’s an interesting question.

“Obviously in the past four or five years we’ve had different types of managers, there is no guarantee of success anywhere, and it’s really difficult to guarantee success when you’re at a club where the expectation is to win all the time.

“That’s never going to happen. But we’ve experienced different managers, whether it be managers that have played here, managers deemed head coach types that are more tactical.

“So we’ve had every type of manager, but the priority is always to win.”

“I was a young player during Muscat’s time at Ibrox, so I only came across him a few times. My job used to be to clean Alex McLeish and the coaching staff’s boots, so I used to pass him in the corridor and, as a person, he was really pleasant.”

Smith said he did not expect to be in the dugout for Saturday’s Premiership game with Dundee United when he was asked to take first-team training earlier last week.

“I’d like to think that the sessions that we’ve put on have lifted the mood,”

“We’ve just stripped it back and simplified it, reminded them that they are a good group.”

He accepts that the job brings wider ambitions. Smith made clear he wants to be involved with the first team in future but is taking the role day by day.

“I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to be involved in the first team at any moment,”

“I am in no rush. I love my job, but the club are aware that I’ve also got ambition, which I think you have to have to work here.”

Rangers have managed eight points from seven Premiership games so far. Smith said leading the team at Ibrox on Saturday will be a “proud” moment and believes fortunes can change fast.

“It doesn’t take much,” Smith said. “It might take one result, one good performance. It might even take one bad performance but you nick a win in the last minute. It might be that a new manager comes in and it changes on that front.”