Smith can only work with what he has, and he does it well

Robert Dow presents an unscrupulous view to the consistency of the current SPL Champions and leaders (Letters to the Sports Editor, 8 March). Rangers reached the Uefa Cup final only two seasons ago with the same crop of players; they have so far only lost one game this season and sit 10 points in front of second placed Celtic and have double the goal difference.

Walter Smith has built a solid unit during his second time at the helm having spent a mere fraction of the funds available during his previous spell. Rangers have no superstars but they are a team who consistently get results, consistently do not concede goals and possess one of the league's most consistent scorer's in Kris Boyd who is one goal short of 100. Unfortunately the remainder of the teams have been consistently poor and thus find Rangers hard to beat.

We should not beat ourselves up about the state of our league. It wasn't that long ago that Gordon Strachan took Celtic to the last 16 in the Champions League and was then unbeaten at Parkhead in Europe. There is a perpetual two-horse race developing in England's top flight. Is that another farce?

MATT SMITH

Hillview Road

Ormiston

More to the manager's role than chewing gum

Was Keith McLaren (Letters to the Sports Editor, 8 March) just winding people up or is he just naive regarding the manager's role being overrated? His comparison to a conductor of an orchestra is ludicrous – a violinist in an orchestra doesn't have an opposition violinist trying to stop him playing!

Secondly, managers are there to coach and to organise, inspire, and motivate players before and during games, not just "to chew gum like a madman". If they don't do these things successfully they get the chop. The squad may know who is playing but would they know how they should be playing? A team's performance depends on the manager and Jim Jefferies' tenure at Hearts will stand or fall by those criteria. Maybe Jock Stein, below, was so successful because he didn't chew gum although he did on occasion look "incredibly anxious".

According to Mr McLaren, Celtic would have reached two European Cup finals without Jock Stein, (similarly without Alex Ferguson at Man United). Maybe without a conductor, Celtic would have reached three European finals never mind two, just by having a chat among themselves in the dressing room before matches.

JIM ADAMSON

Cupar