Walter Smith, the former Ibrox manager, believes the top flight has "missed Rangers" but has warned that if and when the club are promoted to the SPFL they need to be able to compete with Celtic immediately.

Mark Warburton has impressed in the early weeks of his tenure at Ibrox but Smith has warned that simply progressing will not be sufficient - Rangers must be seen to be getting back to a level where they can challenge for top honours.

"If Rangers do go up, a top four finish will be the expectation in the Premiership," said Smith.

"The expectation is sometimes unrealistically high at Rangers but that’s the club and that’s what everyone from the board to the manager and the players has to handle.

"If Rangers can get back to the Premiership, like it or not there will be an expectation to finish as high as possible and I would say that would mean a top three or four finish.

"The Premiership has missed Rangers and when they come back the fans will be saying 'we’ve four games against Celtic now and we need to equip ourselves well.'

"Celtic are always the yardstick, that’s no disrespect to any of the other clubs, but Rangers will have to try to match that yardstick. A sensible person will say they’d need a year to bed in but I’m afraid it doesn’t always work like that."

And Smith has also rubbished Mark Hateley's assessment that last year's Ibrox squad was off the pace.

The former Rangers manager has maintained that the playing squad let the club down last year rather than the team being unprepared for the physical rigours of the season.

"I have to say I completely disagree with Mark Hateley’s assessment of that situation," said Smith. "I don’t think for one minute that there has been an issue with fitness at Ibrox. I worked for Rangers for years and we’d equalled the record number of matches played for one season and when I left there is no way that Ally McCoist and Kenny McDowall, in any shape or form, would have allowed the fitness to drop.

"The issue last season was not fitness, it was the squad not handling the pressure of playing for Rangers adequately. I think what’s happened now and what is noticeable is that everyone at the club has a far brighter view of the future as far as matters off the field go.

"Rangers now have a board that want to see the club go forward and for the right reasons. The manager has to take some of the credit for that brightness moving on to the pitch. I couldn’t say that fitness was the cause of Rangers' problems last year – that’s not a fair assessment.

"When results don’t go well there’s an awful lot of pressure and that’s what happened last season. Now, with a new manager and a new board in place a lot of that pressure has been lifted and this has transferred to the pitch and the board and the manager are to be credited."

Meanwhile, Smith would have loved to have seen Scott Allen at Ibrox this season but believes that Hibs will stand firm in their refusal to sell to Rangers.

It is believed that rangers are set to offer a fourth bid today for the midfielder while Rotherham United are also set to table another offer.

"Allan is just what Rangers need but I fear he’s out of reach," said Smith. "He showed last season at Hibs that he’s a very creative player and that’s something that Rangers have lacked over the last three seasons, someone who can carry the ball and create an opportunity for others.

"That’s obviously why Mark wants him but it looks as though Hibs, and from their perspective quite rightly so, are not willing to sell someone who could cause them problems. They’ll not want to sell to anyone never mind their closest rivals

"Scott would be a terrific acquisition but I fear Hibs won’t sell so I think Rangers will have to get on without him and I’m sure they will do."