RANGERS striker Steven Naismith will be out of action for a year following a knee operation, while Ibrox winger Chris Burke could also be out for six months after his ankle surgery.
Both players were injured in the Scottish Cup semi-final against St Johnstone at Hampden Park on 20 April.
Burke, 24, was substituted seven minutes in after being caught by Kevin Rutkiewicz, while 22-year-old Naismith's season ended when he fell v
ictim to a Martin Hardie tackle which led to cruciate ligament damage in his left knee.
Burke and Naismith underwent successful surgeries on Monday, but the estimated length of their respective lay-offs will shock Ibrox manager Walter Smith, who is preparing his side for the decisive last league clash of the season against Aberdeen at Pittodrie tomorrow night.
At the end of April, Rangers announced that Burke was nearing full fitness and was close to a return to the first-team squad.
Goalkeeper Allan McGregor continues his recovery from an ankle problem sustained against Celtic last month.
Smith, meanwhile, insists his Rangers players have come a long way from being the "no-hopers" they were at this time last year when Celtic cruised to the title. Monday night's 3-0 win over St Mirren means the Old Firm rivals head into the final night of the season level on points at the summit, with defending champions Celtic four goals better off.
Both face daunting away games. Rangers travel to Aberdeen, while Dundee United are at home to Celtic at Tannadice, and Smith admits anything could happen on the night. But he insisted: "It's far better than last year. We were no-hopers at this stage of the season."
By the time Smith took charge at Ibrox in January 2007, Rangers were well out of title contention and could only play to salvage pride and make sure of second place, but this season has been a different story.
"Now we go into a game knowing that, if we win it, then the pressure is on Celtic to win their game," Smith said. "Equally, Gordon Strachan will be saying the same thing about us."
Kris Boyd's early opener and a double from Jean-Claude Darcheville against St Mirren dented, rather than decimated, Celtic's superior goal difference.
But Smith insists Aberdeen and United should both be given credit for potentially having the final say in the destination of the silverware rather than assuming the Old Firm will both claim the necessary points.
"It's disrespectful to the teams that we are going to play," he said. "Both Dundee United and Aberdeen are opponents that are very difficult to play against.
"We saw against Motherwell at the weekend that none of the teams are going to allow Rangers and Celtic to just turn up and win the games. We know that isn't going to be the case. We will have to see how the circumstances turn out on Thursday evening.
"We go into a situation where each of the teams has to win the games, but we don't know what the scores are going to be. It will be a test for everyone on Thursday night."
The trip to Pittodrie will be Rangers' 67th game of their season, which will come to an end when Smith's side face Queen of the South in the Scottish Cup final on Saturday.
Much has been made of the fixture schedule and the Scottish Premier League's refusal to extend the season further to ease the strain on the Ibrox club.
But Smith concedes that a European hangover, rather than the sheer number of games, has been Rangers' biggest problem recently. They dropped points to Celtic and Hibernian respectively after Uefa Cup semi-final games against Fiorentina, before drawing with Motherwell on Saturday in the wake of their defeat to Zenit St Petersburg in the final three days earlier.
Smith said: "All the talk was about the fixture pile-up. It wasn't because we didn't want to play the fixtures – it's just that we wanted them spaced as evenly as we thought would be a benefit to us and every club would be the same. That's all we tried to do.
"Once the decision was made about what we had to do, we have got on and we have played the games. The situation with the SPL thing hasn't been the major factor for us – it has been the fact that we have maybe struggled to handle the games after the bigger European games at the end of the season."
The full article contains 762 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
