Walter Smith believes Rangers will have to rediscover their fear factor if they are to have any chance of wresting the Clydesdale Bank Premier League title from Celtic's clutches.
Smith admits teams no longer dread the prospect of a visit to Ibrox. In fact, most now seem to relish a duel with the fallen giants.
His point was illustrated by the statistic that more points were surrendered to clubs in the bottom half of the table than those battling for honours as Rangers stuttered to a second place finish last season.
"Whether that was an attitude problem or otherwise, I'm not quite sure," Smith said ahead of tomorrow's home game with St Mirren.
"And I don't just mean in Paul Le Guen's time, I mean in my own time as well.
"We were very fortunate to beat St Mirren 1-0 at Love Street last season, they pegged us back for most of the second half of that game.
"We have to show this season that, when we're playing against any of the teams, we can acquit ourselves well. That's what we have to look for tomorrow.
"We have to get to a situation where teams are taking notice of the fact that we are going to show an improvement in form to last season and we have to make sure they show some more trepidation when they come to Ibrox."
Rangers' 3-0 victory at Inverness in their SPL opener last Saturday was made all the sweeter 24 hours later by Celtic's goalless draw against Kilmarnock.
However, Smith has been in the game far too long to read too much into the Scottish champions' subdued start to the season, insisting he is more interested in ensuring his own house is in order.
He added: "You only look at your own performances at the start of every season and you always hope to get off to a good start.
"From a Rangers point of view, we only have to look at last season and say that if we don't achieve a more consistent level of playing then we will have the end result we had last season, where we will not mount a decent enough challenge.
"Consistency is the key for us. We got off to a good start last week but that consistency will have to be there throughout the season if we are to mount the challenge that we're hoping to do."
The Ibrox faithful will be treated to the sight of new signings Steven Whittaker and Daniel Cousin tomorrow.
Smith has accumulated 10 players at a cost of more than $20million this summer and is hopeful more transfer business will take place before the end of the month, with chairman Sir David Murray recently claiming spending could reach the $25million mark.
"You never know with the transfer window," said Smith. "It may be the case that we could have one or two who would leave and we might have to look at getting someone in before the end just to keep the numbers up.
"But we are happy with the squad that we have at the present moment and there is good competition for places that we didn't have last year.
"Hopefully that will be a benefit to us and motivation for everyone to keep playing."
His point was illustrated by the statistic that more points were surrendered to clubs in the bottom half of the table than those battling for honours as Rangers stuttered to a second place finish last season.
"Whether that was an attitude problem or otherwise, I'm not quite sure," Smith said ahead of tomorrow's home game with St Mirren.
"And I don't just mean in Paul Le Guen's time, I mean in my own time as well.
"We were very fortunate to beat St Mirren 1-0 at Love Street last season, they pegged us back for most of the second half of that game.
"We have to show this season that, when we're playing against any of the teams, we can acquit ourselves well. That's what we have to look for tomorrow.
"We have to get to a situation where teams are taking notice of the fact that we are going to show an improvement in form to last season and we have to make sure they show some more trepidation when they come to Ibrox."
Rangers' 3-0 victory at Inverness in their SPL opener last Saturday was made all the sweeter 24 hours later by Celtic's goalless draw against Kilmarnock.
However, Smith has been in the game far too long to read too much into the Scottish champions' subdued start to the season, insisting he is more interested in ensuring his own house is in order.
He added: "You only look at your own performances at the start of every season and you always hope to get off to a good start.
"From a Rangers point of view, we only have to look at last season and say that if we don't achieve a more consistent level of playing then we will have the end result we had last season, where we will not mount a decent enough challenge.
"Consistency is the key for us. We got off to a good start last week but that consistency will have to be there throughout the season if we are to mount the challenge that we're hoping to do."
The Ibrox faithful will be treated to the sight of new signings Steven Whittaker and Daniel Cousin tomorrow.
Smith has accumulated 10 players at a cost of more than $20million this summer and is hopeful more transfer business will take place before the end of the month, with chairman Sir David Murray recently claiming spending could reach the $25million mark.
"You never know with the transfer window," said Smith. "It may be the case that we could have one or two who would leave and we might have to look at getting someone in before the end just to keep the numbers up.
"But we are happy with the squad that we have at the present moment and there is good competition for places that we didn't have last year.
"Hopefully that will be a benefit to us and motivation for everyone to keep playing."
Copyright (c) Press Association
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