ON THE SPOT: Michael Grant

A COUPLE of issues have been occupying Rangers fans since last weekend's Old Firm defeat. Is their squad good enough to recover against Celtic and win the SPL? And if they think not, can they trust Walter Smith's judgement to improve it sufficiently in the transfer window? It won't surprise the seasoned old Rangers boss - or bother him too much - that many fans have been answering both questions in the negative.

Measured analysis and even-tempered objectivity aren't exactly the qualities that abound among supporters nursing grievances in the aftermath of losing the Glasgow derby. It is a time for blood; for hanging and flogging. Smith was being led to the gallows after Celtic's 1-0 win at Ibrox increased their lead at the top of the SPL to seven points. That was enough for many to brand Smith a dud, a has-been, a yesterday's man, incapable of meeting the challenges he faced. On and on it went.

Hearteningly for Smith, there is a body of the Rangers support who regard him as untouchable for his mighty contributions to the nine-in-a-row years, and others who regard him as immune from serious criticism for a while yet after the dour heroics his limited squad achieved last season, when they were runners-up in the Uefa Cup, sustained their league title challenge to the final day of the season and harvested both the Scottish and CIS Insurance Cups. Besides, it is too early to throw in the towel. Rangers themselves were six points ahead with two games in hand on April 5 last year and tossed the league title away. They - of all clubs - should know not to get too panicky about slipping seven behind in December.

Still, there are problems, worries and mysteries surrounding Rangers.

Take their defence. How Madjid Bougherra can have doubled his estimated transfer value to £5 million after five solid but unremarkable months in Scottish football is incomprehensible. But he has been Rangers' most consistent defender and in his absence the team is even more susceptible to conceding goals through the middle (three against Dundee United and Celtic). Rangers had better hope he doesn't want to do a Jean-Alain Boumsong, or a Carlos Cuellar, and take the English Premier League shilling if Newcastle's reported interest is genuine. He is under contract, of course, but after losing Alan Hutton for £9m and Cuellar for £7.8m Rangers have been brutally acquainted with the fact they cannot keep a hold of anyone if he wants to go and/or the price is right.

Smith has signed seven centre-halves since returning to Ibrox 24 months ago (Weir, Cuellar, Bougherra, Kirk Broadfoot, Christian Dailly, Ugo Ehiogu and Andy Webster). Yet today only Bougherra is still there as someone to build around and the defence - with Allan McGregor looking as though he pines for the days of Weir-Cuellar in front of him - does not convince. Against their strongest opponents in the SPL this season - Celtic, Dundee United and Hearts - Rangers have already conceded 10 goals.

When Smith arrived he cleared out a slew of poor Paul le Guen signings, was left with a shallow squad and brought in so many players that he ended up with more than he required. He has signed 26 players in two years but there has been a higher level of wastage than Rangers can cope with. Talk of 10 bodies being cleared out during this month, or of half-a-dozen departures being necessary to pay for one or two signings coming in, makes it all the more galling for supporters - and doubtless for Smith himself - that the success rate of signings has not been higher. Weir, Cuellar, Bougherra, Pedro Mendes, Steven Davis, Kevin Thomson and Kenny Miller were signed and became established, senior regulars. Too many did not.

Kyle Lafferty, Maurice Edu and Andrius Velicka have started 11 games between them this season. All of that for around £7m. Lafferty is regularly involved without being established, Velicka is on his way out after two starts and Edu is the biggest enigma of all. A 6ft tall, 22-year-old full USA international who Rangers went to the bother of getting a work permit for, and he has started just twice and not played a league game in nearly four months.

The young American may prove himself a fine footballer in time but for now he symbolises a lack of precision in Rangers' signing policy. They didn't need a central midfielder when they bought him, and because they went ahead and got him anyway they don't have enough cash for the transfer window.

So the British charge d'affaires in Buenos Aires at the time of the 1978 World Cup described Scotland's contribution as complacent and lacking professionalism. And the old blighter thought our plucky lads were "provincials out of their depth in international waters".

Diplomat Hugh Carless took a retrospective kicking over this assessment when it was revealed in the release of Foreign Office papers last week. Even after 30 years it seems we don't take kindly to the idea of the Major out of Fawlty Towers sticking his snout into Scottish football.

But hold on: was Carless's verdict really anything to write home about?

What did we expect him to say? By the time he filed his report, Peru, Iran, Willie Johnston and the rest of the chaos already had been smeared across the Scottish and British media as nothing short of a national embarrassment.

There were battalions of journalists in Cordoba and Mendoza who would have been given their P45s if their coverage was as tame as old Hugh's.