THERE are few men better placed to offer a broad view of the upcoming Ladbrokes Championship season than Ian Murray.

He spent the last three seasons managing in the division with Dumbarton. He has played for Rangers and Hibernian, the two sides widely expected to fight it out at the summit, and understands the very particular pressures they are under to return to the top flight at the second time of asking.

He is also facing some challenges of his own, endeavouring to keep his new club St Mirren in the shake-up for promotion while rebuilding the squad in the wake of the mass exodus that followed their ignominious plummet through the trapdoor into the second tier. The job of is bringing in players remains very much a work in progress. Murray remains four or five players short of the squad he wants.

As a result, he is leaving talk of lifting the title to those at Ibrox and Easter Road, but he has a clear, and somewhat contentious, view on which side should be regarded as pre-season favourites.

Rangers thumped Hibernian 6-2 on their own patch in the first round of the Petrofac Training Cup last weekend. The bookmakers, often the wisest judges of all, are now going as short as 2-5 on them finishing first in the league.

They are investing handsomely in a new squad. They are even attempting to sign Hibernian’s best player in Scott Allan.

Even so, Murray, with his first-hand knowledge of what it takes to succeed in the second tier, sees the advantage lying in Leith, with manager Alan Stubbs and many of his players having been over the course before.

The Championship is not for the faint-hearted. It can be a culture shock. Prior knowledge is important.

“The landscape has changed slightly because of the result last weekend, but I still think Hibs are favourites,” said Murray. “They have players injured at the moment who will come back. They are missing Danny Carmichael, James Keatings, Dominique Malonga and Jordon Forster, and Marvin Bartley wasn’t in the squad for the Rangers game.

“They have plenty of scope to improve and I still think they will bring in two or three players and maybe more.

“There is no question that the result in the Petrofac match gives Rangers a huge boost, but I feel Hibs have had a year of playing together and the manager knows the league better than the manager of Rangers.The players know the expectations and they know what it is like to go to Alloa, Dumbarton and Raith Rovers and try to grind out results. If you look at Hibs’ form from Christmas, it was very, very good. It was the best in the league.

“Their start to the season hampered them last term and I don’t expect that to be the case this time round.”

Rangers certainly need to do better than last season under their new manager, Mark Warburton. In finish- ing third, they won only nine of their 18 away matches in the regular season, with their home record not an awful lot better.

Warburton has already warned his players they will have to possess the attitude of a street fighter to escape from unwelcoming places such as Palmerston, Cappielow and Dumbarton unscathed, and Murray echoes that view. Reputations count for nothing in this most combative of environments.

“Games in the Championship can change in the blink of an eye, more so than many other leagues,” he said. “Teams are really battling. Last season for us at Dumbarton was all about surviving, which we managed to do. We had to do it in a way that got us points by hook or by crook.

“We took points off Hearts and Hibs, although we didn’t take any from Rangers. That is the Championship, though.

“Falkirk had a great record against Hibs. We had a great record against Falkirk and couldn’t beat Queen of the South. Cowdenbeath, who were relegated, beat Queen of the South twice.

“It is a good league. You simply can’t underestimate anyone because there are some really good players in all the sides involved and they train well and look after themselves. It is not like it used to be.

“Some of the grounds are very tight and the elements can change at them and affect the match. At Dumbarton, we had a nice grass pitch, but there was plenty of wind. At Alloa, it is an synthetic pitch and there is a big slope. These guys in these teams also have no fear whatsoever about going out there to play against Rangers and Hibs. It was the same with Hearts last season and it will be the same with us this season.

“These guys get the bit between their teeth and want to show how good they are. At Dumbarton last year, there was no point where we felt we could not go and get points against those teams, which, perhaps, they didn’t expect. You have to adapt to that.”

St Mirren kick off the season with a visit to Ibrox on Friday night. It is a baptism of fire for Murray as he tries to get a handle on his new job and fights to get new players through the door, but his opposite number, Warburton, has been building a new side almost from scratch.

“It is as tough a start as you could have got, but it is probably the same for Rangers,” said Murray. “I would say it is a better game for us than them, solely because of the level of expectation that will be on Rangers.

“We genuinely feel we have a chance. The ground will be full, the TV cameras will be there and it will be a fantastic occasion. It will feel like a Premiership fixture and a big one at that.

“Our guys have played at a higher level than this and we hope they will handle it no problem.

“We only have 14 or 15 players at the moment. We can bring in some of the youths to make up the squad for games, but we do have a really good nucleus of players who we feel are good at this level and we will have another four or five players in by the end of August.

“The biggest thing we need is enthusiasm and fight in the team. There were a lot of bad results at St Mirren last season. Our fans have to leave the stadium every week, believing that even if we lost, we put up a fight.”

Murray certainly has a number of mouthwatering fixtures to prepare for. In addition to trying to compete with Rangers and Hibs, he will have to run the gauntlet at Dumbarton and has the rather significant matter of the return of the Renfrew- shire derby with Morton to contend with.

“In my opinion, we have the hardest task of any club this season,” he said. “The matches with Hibs and Rangers will be big games. We also have the return of the derby and there will be an added edge to the Dumbarton games with me going back there.

“That’s 16 games that are going to be built up more than others.”