Smith shrugs off Gers criticism

Smith has challenged his players to show they can survive the fall-out from the disappointing events at Hampden last week as they now attempt to steer their campaign back on track.Hearts visit Ibrox in the Scottish Premier League on Saturday in a game Rangers cannot afford to lose as they attempt to bridge a three-point gap in the title race.Smith admits it has been a tough week for everyone at the club but says now is the time to ignore the inevitable criticism which has come their way and focus on the job at hand."As long as the criticism doesn't affect the team too greatly, that's okay," he said."Before last Sunday, we were in a position to win a treble if we performed well enough until the end of the season."Last season, we were in a position where we were leading the championship, in finals of cups and eventually got to the final of the UEFA Cup and people were complaining about how we were playing."Last season there was a possibility of it being one of the best seasons in Rangers' history but you were never going to satisfy everybody."That seems to be the modern way. I don't think you can allow it to affect you in any way."It's just part and parcel of life in Scotland. You have to handle it and take it on board and you have to be strong enough to handle it."I keep saying to the players that they have to have a strong mentality to play at Rangers and you have to have a strong mentality to manage at Rangers as well."I'm settled in my own mind that, regardless of what happens, we are never going to keep everybody happy."If you are in any job, you have to take a level of criticism. If you are a banker or a politician just now, you have to take criticism."Barry Ferguson, in particular, has been singled out for abuse but Smith has no concerns about his captain's ability to cope with the added pressure on his shoulders.He added: "We live in a country that has a tenth of the population of England and has more news print."They've got to write about something and sport is one of the biggest things they write about."When people come to play in Scotland, they are always surprised by the level of criticism they take. Those of us who have been here are not surprised."If people were criticising Rangers last season when they were winning, what chance do you have when you are losing?"Everybody comes under scrutiny. He is the captain of Rangers and he will come under that scrutiny. But he is an experienced player and he will handle it."Rangers know they can afford no further slip-ups in the title race, with Smith expecting the final Old Firm derby at Ibrox to be crucial in deciding the destination of the trophy."We know what we have to do," he said."We are trailing a bit behind Celtic at the moment but we have a home game to come against them. We'll have to try to catch up with them."It's a task for the team but we fell points behind in previous parts of the season and showed a determination to get back and we will have to do that now."The most important thing for us after the disappointment of the cup final is to make sure that we get back on track."Next up is a Hearts team sitting in third place in the SPL.And, as far as Smith is concerned, their 'best of the rest' status at the moment is down to manager Csaba Laszlo's relationship with majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov."They have been the steadiest team throughout the season," he said."That's credit to Csaba. He has come in and I think he has stood up to the owner a bit more than maybe a few of the others have done."He has not been afraid to voice his opinion to the owner about what is required."He has had a good look at his team, he has made a good assessment of what he had to do, and he has carried that out well throughout the season."

Source: Team_Talk