Crunch time at Ibrox as future of Smith, players and club will be decided

IN THE next few days, to a very great extent the immediate future of Rangers FC will become clear. It may be stretching it somewhat to say this is the most crucial week in the club's long history, but after many months of sale-inspired agony compounded by banking strictures, the crunch is finally here.

The actual sale of the club appears to be still a long-term project, but the time for serious decisions such as the future of the manager and top players is now.

By the end of the week, the new contracts of Kris Boyd, below, Nacho Novo and Kirk Broadfoot must be signed or they will be leaving Rangers, and intertwined with their fates is that of manager Walter Smith. Though second guessing Smith is often a fruitless activity, he has indicated that if he is given the appropriate funds – not to mention his own contract – and is able to start the rebuilding process by keeping players such as Boyd and Broadfoot, then he will stay at Ibrox. If not, the pleasures of retirement may prove irresistible.

Smith will be told this week by chairman Alistair Johnston and the board exactly how much he has to spend – he already knows it will be a "limited" sum, as club owner Sir David Murray stated on Friday – and the man himself will then act accordingly. He will start signing those he wants to keep and let others go – that's if he chooses to stay himself.

Smith will begin the week basking in the glory of a second award as Manager of the Year, this time from the Scottish Football Writers' Association. He was runaway winner of the title, which is formally announced today.

Already the recipient of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League Manager of the Year trophy, he could make it a domestic treble of his own later tonight as he is one of the three nominees for the PFA Scotland manager's award which will be announced at the union's annual dinner in Glasgow. Smith could well be picking up his gongs and then exiting Ibrox, such is the precarious nature of things at Rangers.

As well as Boyd, Novo and Broadfoot, three other players are also out of contract, of whom Steven Smith has already made it clear he is leaving. In the case of captain and player of the year David Weir, it is a question surely of whether the man himself can stomach putting his body through another pre-season as he approaches 40, while DaMarcus Beasley may put things on hold until after the World Cup should he be selected, as expected, for the USA squad.

The sheer lack of numbers in his playing squad is what really concerns Smith, who knows that he must refresh the roster at Ibrox.

"The biggest problem at the present moment is knowing exactly where we are going to stand at this important period of the season," he said. "If you are going to have two seasons where you are not buying any players and your squad is dropping in size all the time, there comes a certain stage where you have to enhance it again and we have reached that stage.

"It needs to be addressed because we've got players out of contract and some others who will leave and we need to bring others in because we are at the lowest level ever in terms of numbers of players.

"We still have no real answers as to where exactly we are, but I would hope to have them as soon as possible so I can get back in touch with the players' agents by the end of the week."

Smith pointed out that the uncertainty over the sale of Rangers has a real impact on the club's plans: "There is no point in us setting out planning to bring in a specific level of player and then a fortnight later we get a buyer who wants to invest another level of money. That's what we have to try and avoid at the present moment, so it is essential that all the conjecture which surrounds the club comes to an end and we know where we stand, whether it's a buyer or whether it's the bank running the club, or whatever."

Facing the press at Murray Park, either he is an actor of Oscar-winning class or Smith genuinely remains undecided about his future.

"I have still to make up my mind," he said, emphasising that he is concentrating on keeping the club rolling along as they prepare to face Celtic on Tuesday night.

"You have to keep planning," said Smith. "Regardless of what the situation is, you have to keep doing that, such as organising the pre-season and all the others things that take place at this time of year – they are all going ahead as normal."

As for the proposed pre-season tour of the USA, Smith was adamant that the fans should not be applying for visa waivers just yet. "Nothing has been finalised," said Smith. "There is an element of doubt about the whole trip, and we'll just have to wait and see."

How very different it all is from the two final seasons of Smith's first tenure at Ibrox, when he spent in excess of 20 million on players such as Jorg Albertz and Lorenzo Amoruso. That money would just about buy Rangers now, but Smith does not get dewy-eyed in remembering those days.

"That was the way it was," he said. "Looking back at that period I don't think Rangers were out of the ordinary in terms of spending at that time when the English teams especially began to get into those kind of spending habits. In the eyes of everybody, we were having to try to keep up with them. The difference now is that everybody realises it is impossible for us to do that, so we don't do it."

On Tuesday night, Smith could conceivably be managing Rangers for the last time in an Old Firm derby, and even with the league flag heading to Ibrox, there will be no let up in the effort to get a result at Parkhead.

Smith said: "Whether it's your first Old Firm game or your last, you want to try and do well in it, and the main aspect for us will be getting the players to keep their competitive edge."