Steven Smith: Kevin Muscat ‘probably’ the kind of person Rangers need in charge

Steven Smith addressed Kevin Muscat’s suitability to be Rangers boss as the Under-19s coach prepared to take interim charge for the visit of Dundee United on Saturday.

The Ibrox club have been searching for a new manager since Russell Martin’s departure earlier in October, with former Gers defender Muscat, currently boss of Chinese side Shanghai Port, the front-runner for the post.

Smith, who himself had two spells at Rangers as a player, has been overseeing first-team training along with B team coach Brian Gilmour, goalkeeping coach Sal Bibbo and head of performance Rhys Owen, and will be in the technical area for the return to domestic duty against United.

Asked at the pre-match media conference if Muscat was the type of character Rangers needed to go forward, Smith said: “Probably. It’s an interesting question.

“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, managers 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.”

Rangers are in eighth place in the William Hill Premiership, 11 points behind leaders Hearts and nine behind Celtic after seven fixtures.

Smith insists he has attempted to provide “clarity” for the players ahead of the return to domestic football.

He said: “A lot of the focus has been on the tactical stuff as of yesterday and today, because that’s the first two days we’ve had the group together.

“But even the tactical stuff, I don’t want to overload them with information.

“I’m going to simplify it and keep it as simple as I can, and then talking about the momentum and the change in results and all that stuff, that’ll come today and tomorrow.

“I would like to think there’ll be a change. One thing you don’t want to do in this position is overload them information and then it becomes really confusing.”