WALTER SMITH last night dismissed talk of "tainted titles" as Celtic close in on the championship.
The former Rangers manager said: "The team that wins the league deserves to win it."
Smith, who was speaking on the eve of the Rangers Legends v AC Milan Glorie match at Ibrox, was asked how administration had impacted on his former club's championship chances. He said: "It's affected it, but it's like everything else. When I first took over at Rangers in the early 90s, Celtic were in a poor position financially and organisationally. Rangers managed to win a couple of championships then. You count them."
He added: "When you win a league championship, it is not just a test of the team that goes on the field. It is a test of your whole club, the organisation and the way it is being run. Rangers haven't been good enough in that aspect."
Mark Hateley, the former Rangers player, and Craig Burley, a former Celtic midfielder, have both said any title victory for Celtic would be tainted, given the financial problems facing Rangers and the subsequent deduction of points under administration.
However, Smith said of Rangers: "There is no doubt circumstances have affected the team on the pitch, but you have to look at the club overall. The team that wins the league deserves to win it – as it is a test of your club not just 11 players on the pitch."
Smith also confirmed he supported Paul Murray's bid for the club. "On a personal basis, I would be pleased if he gets it," he said.
Asked if he would take a role at the club if Murray and The Blue Knights were successful, Smith added: "If there is anything I can do to help the club I will, but I'm not coming back. If I'd wanted to stay at Rangers in a working basis, I would have done so."
Smith will manage the Rangers Legends tonight in a match that will feature Brian Laudrup, Franco Baresi, Lorenzo Amoruso and others. Paul Gascoigne will miss the match because of illness in his family.
The SFA, meanwhile, have adjourned their hearing into Craig Whyte and Rangers after Whyte's lawyers asked for more time to prepare a case. The hearing, which was to take place in front of a three-man judiciary panel at Hampden yesterday, followed Lord Nimmo Smith's independent inquiry which ended with the SFA charging the Ibrox club and owner Whyte with seven breaches of its rules. An SFA statement read: "At today's judicial panel tribunal, representatives for Craig Whyte submitted a request by letter for further time to prepare their response to alleged breaches of the SFA disciplinary rules.
"The panel adjourned the hearing, with three days set aside for both Mr Whyte and Rangers FC to attend on April 17, 18 and 20."
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