WALTER SMITH chose to stay inside the
bowels of Ibrox as his players and coaching staff enjoyed a lap of honour after their last home game of the season.
Perhaps the Rangers boss was saving himself for what would be the biggest achievement of his highly-successful managerial career, if he can lead the Ibrox club to European glory on Wednesday night when they take on Zenit in the Uefa Cup Final.
But the second the full-time whistle blew on Saturday after their controversial 3-1 victory over Dundee United, Smith was turning his attention to the City of Manchester Stadium.
He said: "We haven't had as much time to prepare as we would have liked, as we had to give Dundee United our full attention last week.
"So once that was over, then you immediately turn your attention to Zenit.
"You can prepare for it in terms of getting scouting reports on them and having DVDs and information
prepared and ready to pass on to the players, but it's only after the United game that we could get going.
"I gave the players yesterday off as they haven't had a day off for quite some time. Then we were all in at Murray Park this morning for a light training session before flying down to Manchester at lunchtime.
"We'll have various team meetings to speak about the game and tomorrow we'll train at the City of Manchester Stadium. Before every European tie, you always have an opportunity to train at the stadium you'll be playing in so you can get a feel for the ground.
"So it's now just about
preparing for the game as best as we possibly can and then the match will take care of itself. But it is getting to the stage where we just want to get out there and get on with it."
The Rangers manager hasn't been slow in voicing his
concerns at the various organisations and individuals he believed were attempting to hamper his side's pursuit of securing a Quadruple this season.
For instance, he didn't even want to face Dundee United at the weekend. With the club's first European final since 1972 taking place this week, he would have preferred to have time to prepare his players for that showdown without further risk of injuries.
The SPL were the fall guys for that and Smith didn't miss them. But those verbal volleys from the Ibrox boss were
nothing compared to the one Craig Levein aimed at referee Mike McCurry for denying his side a stonewall penalty and chopping off a goal.
While his United counterpart can now expect a hefty fine and an invitation to explain his comments at Hampden Park, Smith was keen to point out that his own team haven't had it all their own way either
during the run-in.
"We had a couple of penalty claims against Motherwell last week and no-one asked me about them after the game," was Smith's reply to a question prompting his thoughts on the two highly controversial decisions.
The Rangers manager believes decisions haven't gone his side's way recently but he knows it was an important win for his team.
He said: "We've come out of our two home matches in the league in the space of four days with maximum points against two very good sides. So we've got to we pleased at winning the two games against Motherwell and Dundee United.
"I thought we made a really good start to the game and Nacho Novo took his two goals really well.
"I think United managed to come back into it a little bit and when they scored, it was important we were strong and didn't allow them to level the scoreline.
"So that's why we were so happy to see Jean-Claude Darcheville climb off the bench to score the third goal and secure the points. Every game now is a must-win and it has been for some time.
"As I said, we can now forget about the league for a few days and concentrate on the Uefa Cup Final and after that, it will be back to the league and then the Scottish Cup Final against Queen of the South.
"But we've had so many games within a short period of time, that you just need to get one out of the way and concentrate on the next one.
"So we've got the Uefa Cup now and we're looking forward to taking part in a major European Final, which is an excellent achievement."
