Cup still half full for weary 'Gers

Man management: Walter Smith parades the Scottish Cup in 1993 after Rangers' defeat of Aberdeen, and plans to parade it again soon.

WALTER SMITH is being surrounded by good vibes. He needs the positivity now more than ever. He's being asked about his first game as manager of Rangers in the post-Graeme Souness era and a visit to Love Street, the place where they must go tomorrow night for the penultimate game of their league season. Happy memories abound. Rangers won that day in 1991 and stormed on to win the championship.

"Aye," he says. "The run we had at the end of that year, injury and suspension were playing havoc with us at that time. We had to overcome a fair bit in the final weeks. I just hope that we finish this season in the manner in which I finished that first season."

More positive talk. He's asked about the day in 1987 when Rangers clinched the championship at Pittodrie, where they play their final game on Thursday evening. "It was just the overall excitement of the supporters considering they'd gone nine years without winning the championship before that," said Smith. "It was a bit like the UEFA Cup final experience. Obviously not the same numbers, but it was an opportunity to do something we hadn't done in a long time."

And onwards to Hampden, where the final chapter of this marathon year will end on Saturday, presuming his troops don't keel over from exhaustion in the meantime. No guarantee, that, after the dejection of Manchester and the despair of losing a point at Fir Park. Fondest thought from there?

"The upside was my first (full] year as manager when we managed to win it (in 1992]. We got through an Old Firm game in the semi-final when David Robertson got sent off in the first couple of minutes and we went on to win. It was the first time Rangers had won the cup in 11 years. The worst of it was the loss to Dundee United (in 1994]. We were going for a double-treble that season.Nobody has ever achieved two trebles back-to-back so that was a real disappointment."

It's not hard to see Rangers as the subject of some bizarre scientific experiment this week as they bounce around from Glasgow to Aberdeen and back to Glasgow again, as they push their bodies through three games in six days. Regardless of the football, the psychology alone will be fascinating.

If they win the championship – hopes, you have to say, are fading now – and take care of Queen of the South in the Scottish Cup final then history will remember this season as one of the finest in the recent history of the club. If they fold, then it will go down in the annals for another reason. Mention of the Quad will be used against them for the rest of their days. Long after the fixture horrors fade from the memory, this team will be recalled as the one that could have taken four trophies and ended up with half that number, at best.

"As soon as I walked into the dressing room (after the UEFA Cup final on Wednesday night] I said to the boys, we've got a league to win and a Scottish Cup to go for," said Barry Ferguson the other day. "The boys know. They know the script. The only time I've played this number of games in such a short space of time is in the pre-season and you're not going for trophies then. I have this ankle thing but it's not an issue. It's not. I'm not going to give up now."

You wouldn't expect Ferguson to give up, but equally you have to wonder how much more he has left to give. He is, without question, hampered by his troublesome ankle. He is getting by now on guts and memory. Smith can't afford to rest him but the manager must be worried about the declining impact of his captain.

Smith will utilise his squad as much as he can. Those left standing will get a run, regardless of a lack of match sharpness. Lee McCulloch and Charlie Adam didn't pull up any trees yesterday but then they were never going to. Whether they were ready to be pitched into the fray is neither here nor there. They were. Needs must. Ferguson is weakening, Kevin Thomson has lost some of his zest, Steven Davis's influence has faded. Maybe they'll be galvanised by the final push but in any event Smith sounded the cavalry charge on Friday.

"It'll not be the perfect circumstances to come into the team, what with not playing regularly, but they're going to have to do it," Smith said.

Ferguson doesn't tend to look too far down the road if he can help it. Love Street, Pittodrie, Hampden. That's what's on his horizon just now. But in the disappointment of Manchester he had a peek at what the future might hold.

"I'm sure the chairman will give the manager the funds to go and bring in some quality players," said the captain. "We've pulled in a bit of money with the transfer of Hutts (Alan Hutton] and the run in the UEFA Cup and the Champions League cash. We made £4m this year or something like that.

"I'm sure Carlos (Cuellar] will stay and Allan McGregor will stay and hopefully Davo (Davis] will sign on as well. Get those three players to stay and bring in some quality. The manager knows what to do and the positions he wants to strengthen."

Six days then that will last a lifetime, be it in victory or defeat. A league title up for grabs, a Scottish Cup, a season to savour or a season to look back on between the cracks in their fingers. Six days will tell us everything.