Steven Smith says his aim as stand-in Rangers boss is simply to make the fans “happy” until a new coaching staff is appointed at Ibrox – and thinks Kevin Muscat is “probably” the right type of boss to take the side forward.
As the club closes in on a deal to appoint Shanghai Port manager Muscat as the permanent successor to Russell Martin, Smith has been asked to take charge of Saturday’s Premiership match against Dundee United.
The former Rangers full-back, who is currently the club’s Under-19 boss, is tasked with lifting the side after a disastrous start to the season that resulted in Martin being sacked after just one win from seven league games.
The poor run of form since the summer, which includes Champions League elimination and defeat in both Europa League matches, led to supporter protests and empty seats at Ibrox. Smith hopes that putting the team in the right frame of mind in his training sessions will lead to a performance that will please fans and send them home with a smile on their face.
“I think it’s understandable that the mood was probably low on the first day,” he said. “Loads of boys away in our national duty, but I’d like to think that the sessions that we’ve put on have lifted the mood.
“That’s not to say that we’ve just been doing sessions that the players enjoy. There’s been a bit of work put into them because it’s been a different group, different schedules.
“But the mood’s lifted and I think you could sense yesterday and today that there’s now the reality of a game, which is good.
“There’s been a period of pain, and the supporters had to suffer a lot. So if there’s ever a fan base that’s probably earned the right to vent their frustrations, it’s this one. And I understand it.
“I think there comes a point where they know when you need them, but there comes a point where the group of players and staff need to take that on board, and they need to give them something back.
“So we’ll be looking to give them a performance tomorrow that makes them happy.”
Smith was a youth player at Rangers when Muscat was there for a season and remembers him from his time at Ibrox. Asked if he thought the former Melbourne Victory and Yokohama F Marinos boss was the type of character who could deliver success, he was cautiously optimistic.
“Probably. It’s an interesting question,” he said.
“Obviously, in the past four or five years, we’ve had different types of managers; there is no guarantee of success anywhere, and it’s really difficult to guarantee success when you’re at a club where the expectation is to win all the time.
“That’s never going to happen. But we’ve experienced different managers, whether it be managers that have played here, or managers who have been deemed head coach types that are more tactical.
“So we’ve had every type of manager, but the priority is always to win.
“I was a young player (when Muscat was at Ibrox), so I only came across him a few times. When I was a young player, my job used to be to clean Alex McLeish and the coaching staff’s boots, so I used to pass him in the corridor and, again, as a person, he was really pleasant.
“I know there’s a reputation there as a player. But the communication I had with him, he was always very pleasant to the younger players.”
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