They have slipped under the radar this summer among the chat of Mark Warburton’s Ibrox impact and the challenge that is expected to come for the League Championship from Easter Road, but Ian Murray, the St Mirren manager, nurses his own ambitions of leading the Paisley side on a genuine title run this term.

Last season it was Hearts who slipped out of the top flight to quickly emerge as front runners for the Championship and Murray has not dismissed St Mirren making a similar impact.

The first test of that confidence will come tomorrow night at Ibrox when the curtain comes up on the season and how St Mirren compete against Rangers may offer some insight into how they can expect to fare in this league over the campaign that lies ahead.

And while Murray has watched as Rangers have clocked up impressive early season results, when asked he if he felt that rangers had been ‘overhyped’, he replied: “A little bit but it’s not Rangers’ fault. They’ve just gone out and done their business and played well. Any team that goes to Easter Road and scores six are a good side.

“Again on Sunday they won 3-0, played extremely well and created a lot of chances. But they’re like us, they know this is where it all starts now. This is when all the talking stops and the friendly games mean absolutely zero. If Rangers don’t win on Friday who cares if they beat Peterhead 3-0 and Hibs 6-2. It’s all about the next game.”

Mindful of maintaining a challenge throughout the campaign, Murray will look to add another “three or four” players to his squad before the window closes at the end of this month. But for the moment his focus lies on the immediate task of leaving Ibrox tomorrow night with something to show from their endeavours.

Having been both a player in the colours of the Ibrox side as well as a visitor in the opposition dressing room, he is well qualified to instruct his players to head into the game with self-belief and a confidence that they are capable of holding their own.

“We certainly think we’re good enough to win the game, there’s no question about that,” said Murray. “For us to do that we’ll have to play at a high level. It’s not impossible for us to do that, far from it.I don’t think we’re being given much of a chance outwith our own club. But we genuinely feel, what we’ve seen of Rangers and what we’ve seen of ourselves, it’s slightly tipped in Rangers’ favour because they’re at home. In terms of the football we think it’s a very even game.”

“We need to make sure our guys go out onto the pitch believing they can actually win the game from the first minute. If you go to Ibrox thinking you can’t win nine times out of ten you’ve got no chance. It’s the same at Parkhead, Easter Road, Tynecastle. We do feel we can win it. It’s more people writing us off a little bit. That’s not to say we’re using the old tactic of writing us off at your peril. It’s just a genuine assessment of where we are. We realise we’re the third favourites for the league and probably rightly so.

“But that doesn’t mean to say we can’t win.”