RANGERS boss Walter Smith should grant Madjid Bougherra's request for an extra fortnight's holiday to ensure the defender is in tip-top shape for the start of the new season.

RANGERS boss Walter Smith should grant Madjid Bougherra's request for an extra fortnight's holiday to ensure the defender is in tip-top shape for the start of the new season.

The centre-half has been on international duty with Algeria this summer while all of his double-winning team-mates have been enjoying a well-earned break.

He has been playing virtually non-stop for two seasons now and needs more time off to recharge his batteries and make sure he is ready and relaxed for the challenges of the 2009/10 campaign.

What is more important than giving Magic an extended break, though, is ensuring he is still at the Ibrox club next season when they return to action in the Champions League group stages.

The last thing the manager needs now is a repeat of last season when Carlos Cuellar left for Aston Villa early on.

I am sure, too, that there will be plenty of big clubs interested in Bougherra. He was outstanding alongside David Weir in the middle of the rearguard as Rangers landed the SPL title and the Scottish Cup.

The player is happy living in Glasgow and is also enjoying playing regular first-team foot- ball. Like many of his team-mates, he is keen to play in Europe's premier club competition for the first time as well.

However, if a big club came in with an offer which Rangers could not turn down and offered Bougherra a significant pay rise - as happened when Villa targeted Cuellar last season - then anything could happen.

If not, then Madjid is just the sort of player the manager should be building his team around as he looks to retain the league and make an impression in the Champions League after a two-year absence.

Although there has been a distinct lack of transfer activity so far at Rangers this summer, I think several players will move on.

The likes of Charlie Adam, Alan Gow, Lee McCulloch and perhaps even Stevie Smith could be deemed surplus to requirements.

On top of that, Brahim Hemdani and Christian Dailly have already left the club - although, by all accounts, the Scottish utility man could return before the start of the season.

I do not think we will see a huge amount of new players arriving at Rangers either, which only makes it even more important that Bougherra stays. DaMarcus Beasley, meanwhile, is another player who has been linked with moves away from Scotland, with clubs in Germany and Holland interested.

But if the winger does stay, he will also be looking to take a holiday before joining up with his Rangers team-mates.

Beasley has been involved with the United States in the Confederations Cup in South Africa and they have reached the final, where they will meet Brazil on Sunday night.

I am in Florida just now and the whole country has gone crazy as a result of their success.

Soccer used to be the last item on the sports news if it was featured at all. Now it is the first. It has knocked the traditional favourites of baseball, American football, ice hockey and basketball off top spot, for the time being at least.

It all makes me wonder if the country is finally going to make the breakthrough in a sport they have been threatening to do very well in for a long time now. They certainly have everything in place that they need to succeed.

Sky bid looks a turn-on

ESPN and Sky are slugging it out for the right to screen top-flight Scottish football next season after the collapse of Setanta.

I am watching a great deal of ESPN in America just now and think they would be a good partner for the SPL.

They show most of the foreign football on television over here, including the European leagues, and do it very well.

They are clearly looking to break into the British market having snapped up the English games Setanta lost when they failed to pay up.

What is more, they are owned by Disney.

If the SPL did decide to go with them, there is no way, no chance whatsoever, of them running into financial difficulties in the same manner Setanta did.

However, I still think I would be tempted to go with Sky if I was the SPL.

If the two companies make similar-size bids, theirs would be the one I would favour.

There are several reasons for that.

First, they have had a relationship with Scottish football before. They covered our sport extensively and did it very well.

Furthermore, they are an established company and would give maximum exposure to our game.

A Fleeting interest ...

I AM staying over in America with Bobby Fleeting at the moment and he has been inundated with text messages from Scotland about him being involved in a supposed takeover of Kilmarnock.

Bobby and father-in-law Harry Chadwick both still love Killie and keep in touch with how the club is doing.

That much is obvious because, when you walk into their houses, they are full of pictures and strips.

But there is no truth in the speculation whatsoever.

Both Bobby and Harry have other business interests that keep them over here.