IT is easy to love the end-of-season play-offs.

Even when they won't stop breaking your heart.

There's the drama, the packed houses, the often mind-boggling financial implications, the tension, the tears and the torment.

Stuart McCall was there in the thick of it all when they were only just becoming part of the rich landscape of British football and is now just a matter of weeks away from finding himself at the heart of the maelstrom again.

The play-offs were only in their second year in England when McCall and his Bradford City team-mates lost to Middlesbrough at the semi-final stage and saw their hopes of promotion to the top division dashed by a side they had already beaten twice in the regular season.

They were an established fixture in the calendar when, aged 39, he came on at half-time in front of almost 70,000 people at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff with Sheffield United already 3-0 down to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the final and damage limitation more of an issue than anything else.

Kenny Miller, of all people, got on the scoresheet for Wolves that day. Twelve years on, both men will hold Rangers' fate within their hands in a series of matches that, while not having quite the same levels of revenue riding on them, will attract just as much attention on these shores and beyond.

Make no mistake, it will be a disaster for Rangers should they fail to win promotion. For McCall, it would deliver a crushing blow to his hopes of landing the manager's job at Ibrox on a permanent basis.

The pressure is on and the past contains some ominous portents, but McCall adores the energy and excitement these winner-takes-all occasions have brought to the game and desires the sweet taste of victory they bring.

"I think they are great things," said McCall. "Maybe not so much for a manager, but they are for a player.

"I was involved in 1987-88, of course. It was bittersweet as we had beaten Middlesbrough home and away during the league campaign. They had Tony Mowbray, Gary Pallister and Bernie Slaven and were a good team.

"I scored in the first leg play-off when we beat them 2-1 at home, but they beat us 2-0 in the return to go through to play Chelsea.

"At Sheffield United, we also got to the play-off final and lost 3-0 to Wolves. Michael Brown missed a penalty at the start of the second half that could have made it 3-1, but it wasn't to be.

"These matches are good for the game and they are good for the crowds. It creates excitement and they are good, financially, for clubs as well.

"It creates a bit of excitement and everyone is involved. There were probably only three clubs in the Championship that didn't have much to play for on Saturday in Dumbarton, Raith and Hearts.

"In the Premiership, there are still maybe four teams that could end up in 11th spot.

"Looking again at England, you can finish fourth in the league and the team that finishes seventh goes up. Bradford did that in League Two two years ago and came with momentum, which is what everyone talks about."

It is not something, to be perfectly frank, that has been talked much about at Ibrox of late. Rangers' season has involved everything but momentum.

Following a couple of disappointing draws at the start of McCall's tenure, victories over Hibernian, Cowdenbeath and Hearts had suggested the engine on the great, blue juggernaut might be spluttering into life, but it struck a brick wall at Palmerston with Queen of the South taking great pleasure in dishing out a three-goal thrashing.

No-one is foolish enough to believe any kind of corner was turned in the weekend's 4-0 home win over Raith. McCall chose to focus on the slackness evident in the performance rather than the flattering scoreline and Livingston, although bottom of the league, have shown enough in winning their last three matches to suggest they are capable of making a game of it when Rangers come calling tonight.

Darren McGregor is clear in his reading of the situation. Rangers must make sure of second place in the table by winning their remaining four fixtures. They must build up a head of steam.

Anything less would place them at a disadvantage entering those deliciously dog-eat-dog knock-out matches that will conclude the campaign and determine whether 'the journey' back to the top flight is to be catastrophically derailed.

"I think that we would want to finish second because it is one less game and it's one more week's preparation for the team that isn't playing," said the Rangers defender.

"The ball is in our court and we want to go out and win every game between now and the end of the season."

McCall clearly wants second place as well, but he would not be overly troubled should he face the prospect of three two-legged ties to make it to the Premiership.

"Whether you have to play four games or six games, I don't think it has an effect," he remarked. "I think the biggest thing is probably suspensions kicking in, which is a shame.

"In my day down in England, your booking stopped around early March. Six bookings, for example, isn't a great deal over 36 games and then six play-off games.

"That's something which could be looked at. There should be a cut-off point at some stage of the season."

What a tortuous journey it has been for Rangers to even get to this stage, mind you. McGregor admits this campaign of off-field chaos, boardroom coups, three managers and some truly appalling results has not been good enough, but that it may yet, in spite of everything, be termed a success.

"I think a lot of fans would accept that it has been a bad year and all the boys will hold their hands up and say it has not been good enough, but it would still be seen as a successful season if we got promoted," he stated.

"I know that is quite hard to comprehend."