Walter Smith rejects claim that Rangers have got lucky

Irrespective of what the future holds for Smith, however, he is determined to close the book on the latest chapter of collisions between the great Glasgow rivals by underlining his team's superiority in the fixture this season.

Despite Rangers wrapping up a second successive SPL title with three games to spare and holding an 11-point lead over Celtic as they head to Parkhead this evening, Smith and his players have been stung by a widespread perception that they carried a disproportionate slice of good fortune in the three previous Old Firm matches.

While Smith accepts Rangers benefited from some decisions in beating Celtic twice at Ibrox and drawing on their previous trip across the city, he believes other controversial incidents have been significantly over- stated.

"I can understand Celtic having a grievance about one of the penalty claims when we beat them 2-1 in the first game at Ibrox back in October," said Smith. "I would have felt a wee bit aggrieved myself if I hadn't got one of those.

"But I can't understand the way everyone keeps talking about Marc-Antoine Fortune's 'goal' at Celtic Park in the New Year game. It wasn't a goal for a start, because it wasn't given. It wasn't given because it was a foul on Allan McGregor.

"At the time, during the game, I thought it was a soft award. But when you look at the replays, the referee's decision was perfectly correct. Fortune makes contact with our goalkeeper as he goes for the ball and does so prior to getting in the header.

"So there has been a lot made about that one, but if you take time to study the footage of the incident, it was a foul. So the ref was right. While they might have a wee bit of a grievance, Celtic missed five good opportunities to score that day. Also, they didn't put a man on the post at the corner from which Lee McCulloch scored to earn us the 1-1 draw. You can look at aspects of all the Old Firm games and say there are bits and pieces that go for you or against you. Overall, that happens. In the third game, it was even in the first half but we were by far the better team in the second half. It looked as though we were not going to get the win, then we scored in stoppage time. All of the scorelines have been tight and I see something similar on Tuesday night."

As he pursues his 27th Old Firm victory as Rangers manager, a tally which would take him ahead of Jock Stein and Scot Symon in the all-time list, Smith is confident there will be no lack of intensity from his players even though the championship race has been run.

"You want to do well in any Old Firm game," he added, "and I don't think this one is any different. There have been a few games in the past when the title has been won and the champions have dropped their level a little bit in the final Old Firm fixture.

"But our players showed they still have a good level of competitiveness against Dundee United at Tannadice on Saturday and hopefully that will continue at Celtic Park.

"When one team has won the championship, the other team always has the motivation to show what they can do. That is to be expected from Celtic, especially as they are at home. But I would expect my team to match them on that front."

Smith is dismissive of the verbal sparring which has preceded tonight's game with Rangers striker Nacho Novo and the Celtic pair of Diomansy Kamara and Andreas Hinkel exchanging barbed comments through the media. The 62-year-old has never subscribed to the notion of pinning offending articles on the dressing room wall.

"If adrenaline is high after matches, players sometimes say things they shouldn't and it gets widely reported," said Smith.

"That's an easy motivation for any team, but it's a poor motivation in my book. I always tell my players not to worry about what anyone else is saying. They have to find motivation to win a game from within themselves, not from what others say.

"However misguided players are in what they say sometimes, and that goes for players from both teams, it shouldn't be a motivating factor as far as I'm concerned."

Smith is aware of the potential significance tonight's match could have for Celtic's interim manager Neil Lennon. He empathises with the situation the Ulsterman finds himself in and believes he has already made a decent case to secure the job beyond the end of the season.

"Neil is obviously keen to get the job and it reminds me a wee bit of the situation I was placed in for a couple of weeks when Graeme Souness left Rangers in 1991 to take over at Liverpool," he said.

"Neil will want to show he is capable of running the club. In fact, I think he has gone some way towards doing that with their best run in the SPL for a while. I spoke to him at a dinner a few weeks ago and I could sense right away his desire to be a manager in his own right."

While Lennon wonders if his first Old Firm managerial assignment will also be his last, Smith remains non-committal on whether he will return for more next season.

"I wondered when you would ask me if it might be my last Old Firm game," he smiled. "It doesn't matter it if is or not. It is just like my first Old Firm game, you just want to win it. That's what we will try and do at Celtic Park."

ELLIS PLANS NEW DEAL FOR SMITH

ANDREW Ellis is "optimistic" his proposed takeover of Rangers will move closer to completion later this month.

Ellis claimed that if his reported takeover bid of 33million goes through, he will offer manager Walter Smith a new contract and also offer the role of life president to the club's owner Sir David Murray. "The bid includes all the club's debt and I'm optimistic there will be serious developments in the next three to four weeks," Ellis told Sky Sports News last night.