Just champion

Finally, it’s my "well done" Rangers post.

At the start of the season I didn’t expect things to pan out this way. But they have and you can only admire (however ruefully) the stubbornness and resilience that Walter Smith has instilled in a team that looked like it might be on the verge of staleness.

Obviously they’ve not faced as keen a Celtic challenge as we’ve seen in the past. Even so there has been plenty to applaud about they way they have gone about their business. Most notably we can look back on December and a spurt of form that really ended the title race.

In one calendar month they won 3-1, 3-0, 3-0, 6-1, 4-1 and 7-1. That included big wins over Dundee United (twice), Motherwell and Hibs. If the rest of the top six were supposed to be clawing Rangers back somebody had forgotten to deliver the script to Ibrox.

Walter Smith, despite the frustration he’s clearly experiencing over Rangers’ finances, has proved himself again to be a redoubtable domestic manager.

How long he remains in charge, how long some of his players hang around, remains to be seen. But there can be no arguments that the right team won the title this season.

What the Celtic board would do to have a calm, reassuring figure like Smith waiting in the wings.

Walter At Ibrox: A Trophy Tale

• Scottish Premier League (9): 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 2008–09, 2009–10
• Scottish Cup (5): 1991–92, 1992–93, 1995–96, 2007–08, 2008–09
• Scottish League Cup (5): 1992–93, 1993–94, 1996–97, 2007–08, 2009–10

Right, that's quite enough of being nice to Rangers. We'll get back to questions of tax evasion and slagging off Kyle Lafferty as soon as possible.