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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36025815 Former Rangers manager Walter Smith believes a sense of bitterness about the way the club was treated remains as they gear up for Premiership football. Smith maintains there was "no reason" for Rangers to have to re-enter the league in the lowest tier. "It'll be a motivation for Rangers. It would certainly be a motivation for me," said Smith. He also believes the Ibrox board "have to find a way" to back manager Mark Warburton to compete in the top flight. With the club mired in debt, Rangers entered administration and then liquidation in 2012 and had to re-enter the Scottish football pyramid in the fourth tier. Smith feels Sunday's Scottish Cup semi-final against Celtic will not be an accurate gauge of how Rangers will fare next season and accepts Celtic are "the favoured team". However, the former Rangers boss believes Warburton's men go into the tie in a "far more optimistic frame of mind than last season". More to follow.

I wrote this yesterday morning but didn't have time to post/discuss it here until today. Have fun! http://www.gersnet.c...o-rangers-first It’s not been a good few days for Rangers fans. After a reasonable pre-season and a confident first win against Albion Rovers last weekend, the fragile state of the club was in evidence again as, on August 1st a requisition was submitted to try and force through further board changes then, the next day, Charles Green was announced as an external consultant; before on the pitch, the team was defeated away to Forfar Athletic in the League Cup First Round. Let’s deal with the actual football first. I’ve not seen the game but, from bears that were there, clearly they were disappointed with much of the performance and find it hard to excuse another defeat against supposed lower quality opposition. Yes, it was very windy and, yes, the manager was missing all his new signings but in a team that contained several internationalists, can we really excuse such a poor result? I’d strongly say no so for the manager to then go into quite an incredible rant against a club employee was as ugly as his team’s display. Were Charles Green’s (and Craig Mather’s for that matter) pre-match words helpful? Of course not but let’s not pretend the players or manager were all that worried about them. And if they were, they should have stuffed them up Green’s jumper with another victory like we seen as Livingston last week. To suggest otherwise only shows a well-paid manager and team struggling with the pressure of working for Rangers. Hiding from the weaknesses of our manager/squad is not putting Rangers First. Of course, all the above is related to what’s happening off the park. The share price has been tumbling lower and lower so those who control the club – supposedly led by Imran Ahmad and Charles Green – are trying to protect their investment by re-appointing former CEO Green as an external consultant. Of course, if it is indeed the case these people control over 50% of the shares then they could give him a job anywhere they like. Indeed, it’s debatable that the Greenco influence has ever left the club in any case. After all Green retains the largest single shareholding while Ahmad also has a significant portion of stock. Add in the institutions they brought on board when they bought the club (and via the IPO) then it’s without doubt their leverage remains high when it comes to decision-making. As such, attempts by them to deflect blame elsewhere for club strategy are weak and disingenuous. Rangers First or self-interest? Moving onto Friday’s shock EGM requisition from a variety of concerned shareholders then we’re starting to reach the crux of the situation. It transpires another significant group of shareholders want to force changes: much in the same way Blue Pitch Holdings lobbied to remove key personnel such as former chair Malcolm Murray; it seems a group containing successful businessman Jim McColl want other directors removed whilst installing their own favoured people – including former director Paul Murray. As of Sunday morning, we’ve yet to hear from this group but the involvement of Murray has once again only served to divide fan opinion given his previous failed connections with Rangers. The extent of Murray’s part in the club’s key decisions of the MIH/LBG regime is difficult to quantify but when we juxtapose that with his failed attempt(s) to buy the club last year, for many he’s simply too toxic to be credible. As such, if McColl et al are looking to stage some sort of coup (hardly a new exclusive given we’ve discussed this months ago here) then suggesting Paul Murray as a replacement director perhaps wasn’t their best strategic decision. Once more, can these actions be described as selfish rather than putting Rangers First? Generally speaking much of the above can only be interpreted as unacceptable by fans. Going back a month or so, we were told stability was all everyone wanted yet it can’t be a coincidence just as the huge bulk of season ticket holders have renewed (almost 35,000 at last count) we have two distinct shareholding groups going to war. Now, as much as us online commentators like to think we’re representative of the majority support, in actual fact most bears won’t care much about the boardroom politics but are only interested in how the team perform. Thus, Saturday’s defeat means they’ll also be equally worried about the direction of the club. However, it’s increasingly challenging for fans to have their voice heard. After all, it’s been around six months since the last time the club even held an ‘open’ meeting with fan representatives? That is nothing short of disgraceful. Within this information vacuum, there are few people at Rangers right now who the fans can look to for guidance. Obviously one such person – perhaps now the only one – is our non-executive chairman Walter Smith. Although his role (to his own concession) is mainly a symbolic one, he may be in the unique position of knowing what is happening both in the boardroom and with regard to any de facto takeover attempts. In that respect, the fans will be eager to hear his thoughts to help make sense of recent political matters. However, as Smith says himself, is he the right person to judge the situation given he concedes his business knowledge isn’t that of others? In actual fact, that probably doesn’t matter now. Smith was brought on board to provide stability and recognised leadership for Rangers fans. It can be argued that stability has gone so Smith must be as frustrated as the rest of us with ongoing events. With that in mind, he can no longer be silent on the implosion that is directly affecting the club’s ability to compete on and off the park. In conclusion, Walter Smith is arguably the only credible person left to explain what exactly is happening in the battleground that is the Ibrox boardroom. Like others Smith may understandably be reluctant to put his own spin on the current situation but given he’s the one focal point the fans trust he must speak out. And when he does comment, it’s absolutely vital that, unlike others, he puts Rangers First.