Smith expects Rangers to be given tough test by Well

RANGERS manager Walter Smith is fully expecting a warm welcome off the park at Motherwell tonight – and a stern test of their championship credentials on it.

Smith will come face to face with former assistant Archie Knox in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League clash but this time the men will be in opposing dugouts.

Knox was Smith's No.2 in his first spell at Rangers, as well as Everton, but is now aiding veteran boss Craig Brown's revolution at Motherwell.

Smith said: "They are both football people and, when they are not working, you always feel for them in that respect.

"It's great to see them back. You would look at a period of time when there would maybe be thoughts of people discarding them in many ways but both are back in football and Craig Brown is a remarkable 69.

"Coming back at this stage is great and it speaks volumes for him that he has done that. With Archie, he will have no better person to work beside him.

"They have come in and quickly changed the whole attitude of the place. I know we will get a warm welcome but an extremely tough match there."

Asked if he could still see himself in football management at Brown's age, 61-year-old Smith said: "In football there are many strange things. Craig was out of the game for a while and all of a sudden he comes back and they are going through a period of success."

Meanwhile, Brown has played down concerns about the Fir Park pitch ahead of Rangers' visit.

The playing surface at the Lanarkshire club has come in for almost constant criticism in recent years and the Well groundsman has had to put up with more jibes in recent weeks.

However, Brown believes perception is different to the reality.

"I don't have the same concern," he said.

"We have re-laid the goalmouths – we have the best goalmouths in Scotland. People have it in their mind that 'Motherwell is a bad pitch' but I don't hear the players complaining."