Smith: We will not ask for extension

Walter Smith insists Rangers will not ask the Scottish Premier League to extend the season even if they reach the UEFA Cup final.

Rangers have enjoyed a surprisingly fruitful run in the tournament since their exit from the Champions League and face Sporting Lisbon in the first leg of the quarter-finals at Ibrox tonight.

A domestic treble also remains up for grabs, with the CIS Insurance Cup already in the bag, but the price for going all the way in all four competitions would be playing a staggering 68 games this season.

Celtic have already voiced their opposition to a league extension but Smith says Rangers would be willing to leave such a decision entirely to SPL bosses.

“If, and it is a big if, we were to progress in all the tournaments then it becomes a situation where it’s practically impossible for us to play the games,” he said.

“But can I just clarify no-one from Rangers has ever asked the SPL to extend the season and we will not ask them to extend the season.

“If we do carry on being successful and we have the number of games then, from our point of view, you’d expect a wee bit of help because it might become impossible for them not to extend the season to let us fit in the games.

“But so far no-one from Rangers has asked the SPL or anybody else to extend the season.”

The logistics of cramming so many games into a single season may be causing a headache for football bosses but Smith has no fears about his players’ ability to cope with such a gruelling schedule.

He added: “We’ve had a number of players that have played a number of games but only four or five have played a significant number.

“The rest of the squad have not played so many that would affect them in that sense.

“What will affect them is from now on we have practically no breaks, we have to play three games a week at least until the end of the season, depending on how we go in the cup competitions we’re left in.

“I don’t think the majority of our squad have been overplayed and the ones who have played a number of games are the ones who can handle it.

“The squad is extremely fit, which is a credit to Adam Owen, our sports scientist, he makes sure their fitness levels are very good and their recovery has been excellent.

“I think we are only getting to the start of what could be a very exacting period as long as we’re successful. If we’re not, then we’ll not have these number of games.”

Rangers defied the odds to overcome Werder Bremen in the last round and Smith expects a different, but equally difficult, challenge from Sporting tonight.

He said: “Formation-wise Sporting are similar to Bremen but there is a difference to formation and tactics.

“They play the game in a different manner as you’d expect from a Portuguese team. They are more technically based although Bremen were more powerful.”