NICKY Law pulled out of Station Park, put on his car radio and may have briefly wondered what he had let himself in for.
The former Motherwell midfielder had been restricted to a watching brief during his new club's League Cup defeat by Forfar Athletic in early August, but news and reaction to Rangers' latest humiliation in the cup competitions was carried over the airwaves as if some kind of footballing apocalypse had visited the Angus town that day. Along with all the Ibrox club's summer signings, Law is available for this lunchtime's return visit to the scene of the crime, and is determined not to provide the club's critics with any further ammunition.
"It was a real eye opener for me," said Law. "Travelling back, the top breaking news was Rangers going out of the League Cup. We had been doing okay, winning games in pre-season then in that one game you go out. It feels like the world has ended when Rangers lose a game."
Fast forward six or so weeks, and you have to remind yourself what that fuss was all about. And for the record - despite alluring offers from elsewhere - the Englishman feels comfortable. After two games since the lifting of the transfer embargo, Law believes Rangers have the second-best squad, behind Celtic, in Scotland. They certainly have the second-best-paid squad in the country.
Law also feels the best may not be seen from all the club's new players for a month, which is bad news for the rest of the division. Because, while everyone at Rangers is correctly making respectful noises about every opponent in turn, in football terms Rangers are so mismatched with most of those they will encounter in this league that it is hardly surprising if thoughts are turning to hypothetical fixtures and scenarios ahead.
Already, despite being a division higher in the Scottish system, they are averaging almost twice as many goals a game (4.6) than during the last campaign (2.4), a record that should they sustain it means they would break the 160-goal mark. Every team can be excused an off day, but it is within the bounds of possibility that they will win every league game. That already seems a legitimate subject of enquiry, as does the issue of how the squad Ally McCoist has assembled would fare in the event that it was fast forwarded into the top flight, or catapulted into an Old Firm match in the Scottish Cup this season.
"We certainly don't think we're better than Celtic at the minute," said Law. "They are very strong and you could see that with their performance against AC Milan. But we feel if there is to be a one-off against them we could certainly give them a good game. Last season at Motherwell, I played them twice at the end of the season - and beat them twice. We weren't better than Celtic. But we just played to the best of our abilities on those days, worked hard and gave everything we had, and we got our reward each time."
While some players seem reluctant to place undue pressure on themselves, Law's approach rather refreshingly appears to be that it is a fact of life in Glasgow, so one might as well embrace it. "We'd like to think so [that we're the best squad apart from Celtic]," said Law. "We've got international players - four, five or six of them. While we're probably not at our sharpest at moment it's been a really good start, we've scored lots of goals and not conceded many. Maybe last year they could use excuses and things like that. But there's certainly none this season with the quality of player we've got."
"I don't think we would have any problem doing well in the top flight," added the 25-year-old. "It's 11 very similar sides and you can't predict who's going to win a game in the SPL, it's that close. We feel we could compete against any of them in a one-off occasion, whether it's a cup or not. And there's no doubt in that first season we'll have to be challenging Celtic. That's just a fact. That's the way it is."
If McCoist is more circumspect, perhaps it is because he is still chastened by last season, when even time-served top-flight players such as David Templeton and Ian Black suddenly appeared rusty against the likes of Dundee United and Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
"I think we'd handle the Premier League okay," McCoist said. "But if and when we get back there we will be expected to go in and compete. I wouldn't say we'd finish top six, I just think we'd be comfortable."
For this season, McCoist does not think Rangers will win every league game. But he knows even that might not keep everyone happy - particularly those who feel the club should overhaul their squad structure and develop more young players.
"The bottom line is this - Rangers are expected to win every game in this division," he said. "I don't think we will, but we're expected to. And we're expected to do it with a certain degree of style. We have brought in free transfers. Wages are down again. We have miles to go and will have to buy players sooner rather than later. We won the league last year by 24 points and the criticism was plentiful. Will I be a better manager if I get the wages right down and win the league by a point?"
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