Source: Team_Talk
Smith ready for tricky title defence
Smith saw his team endure just one defeat in the second half of their title-winning campaign and, even then, had to wait until the final day for Rangers to be confirmed as Scottish champions.
Major changes may have taken place across Glasgow over the summer but, as far as Smith is concerned, some things at Celtic remain the same as he braces himself for another fiercely-contested championship.
"Well, the challenge in trying to overcome the previous manager was hard enough," said Smith.
"Gordon Strachan did extremely well in his job at Celtic and it was very difficult of us.
"We went through the second half of the season only losing to Inverness at home and it took that level of form from us to win a championship.
"I don't think people should forget the job that he did at Celtic overall. It was always very difficult and I'm sure Tony Mowbray will make it exactly the same."
The big difference for Rangers this time around is heading into the new season as champions, as opposed to challengers.
"There is always a little bit of pressure on teams who are champions that isn't there when you are a challenger," said Smith.
"I don't know how much more difficult it's going to be because it was difficult enough to win it.
"So I can't imagine it will be any more difficult than it was last season, it was a difficult task for us to do that. It will be very difficult but we are ready for it."
Celtic are not the only SPL side with a new manager at the helm and Rangers head into their curtain-raiser at Ibrox on Saturday facing an unknown quantity in new Falkirk boss Eddie May.
Smith said: "There has been a lot of change in management in Scotland this year and that's one of the interesting aspects of the season, it's always interesting to see how their teams play.
"Eddie is young and inexperienced in managerial terms but he has someone older than me working beside him so Alex Smith will make sure everything is all right in the early stages until Eddie picks up everything there.
"He has had a terrific reputation with the youth team and I'm sure he will look forward to his first managerial challenge."
Rangers head into the match stretched to the limit, with Pedro Mendes and Nacho Novo injured and Sasa Papac and Kyle Lafferty both suspended.
Barry Ferguson, Christian Dailly, Brahim Hemdani, Charlie Adam, Graeme Smith and Alan Gow have all left Ibrox with no new signings to bolster the squad.
Smith said: "It's common knowledge that we've not been able to sign anyone but we have a decent group of players, we have the group of players we had last season more or less.
"We've lost one or two but a lot of the boys are still here and they will show a determination to do as well as we did last season."
