I KNOW many people will be sceptical about the recent appointment of Walter Smith as a non-executive director at Rangers

Some will think that he has simply been brought in to help sell shares in club.

And there is no doubt that, with Walter on board, many fans will support the floatation who may not have done so previously. But I think you have to look at the bigger picture here.

His achievements in both his spells as Rangers manager are nothing short of remarkable. How he managed to take the club so far in Europe with the money he had available to him during his second stint in charge I will never know.

There is also no way he would have agreed to return, no way he would have allowed himself to be associated with the club again, if anything untoward was going on.

Persuading a man of his reputation and stature to join the board says to me that Charles Green is getting it right at Rangers.

To be fair to Green, he has always said that he and his associates know nothing about football.

Despite his background as a player in non-league football and his previous involvement with Sheffield United, he and his consortium members are ultimately businessmen.

They need somebody there who knows about the game at the highest level and to my mind there can be nobody better to fulfil that role than Walter.

Ally McCoist can not keep being asked to attend board meetings to give his views on football matters. He has a big enough job on his hands to put a winning team on the park every weekend.

The club needed somebody with a Rangers background and football experience to sit on the board as they strive to get the club to the top of the Scottish game.

Walter's experience of management, his extensive contacts in the game and his knowledge of modern football make him the ideal candidate. I am sure he will act as a kind of sounding board for his fellow directors.

When Rangers are able to buy players again, when their transfer ban has expired, Ally will put forward the names of individuals he would like the club to get on board.

No disrespect to Charles Green and his fellow board members, but they would not know a player if he jumped up and bit them. But Walter does.

This is the right way forward for the club. As, for that matter, is introducing a wage cap.

Green's revelation this week that a limit will be put on what will be paid to players – with the total amount expended on the squad not exceeding 30% of the club's total income – has raised some eyebrows.

But given what Rangers have been through in the last two or three years it makes perfect sense.

Handing out lavish three and four-year deals to big name players who will not feature regularly in the first team is not the way to go. They have to find bargains.

They are out there. Look at the success Celtic have had with players like Ki-Sung Yeung and Victor Wanyama.

Neither man cost a huge amount or commanded exorbitant wages. But they have both excelled at Parkhead in recent seasons. That is the way to go for Rangers.