WALTER SMITH today admitted his massive relief at not having to take Rangers into the Champions League qualifiers this year.

WALTER SMITH today admitted his massive relief at not having to take Rangers into the Champions League qualifiers this year.

The Ibrox side have gained direct entry to the group stage for the first time as a reward for winning the SPL title.

A year ago, the Light Blues crashed out to Kaunas in the qualifying round, costing the club in excess of £10million.

But Smith has managed to avoid a similar scenario this term as he now looks ahead to the draw for the group stage of the competition next month.

The Rangers manager said: "One of the biggest factors in winning the league, of course, was that we aren't involved in the qualifying games at this stage.

"That is a benefit because they are not nice games to be a part of. We have avoided that and, in doing, so we can certainly feel a level of relief."

Smith admits he has already noticed the benefits of a proper summer break for his players in comparison to this time last season.

The Rangers manager flies out to Germany tomorrow with the rest of the Ibrox party to step up their pre-season preparations before returning to take part in the Emirates Tournament and matches against Manchester City and Portsmouth.

And he couldn't be happier with their work and planning so far.

"I think the lack of travelling can be an important factor" said Smith.

"These days there can be a financial call on teams to go long distances to play games.

"We haven't had that and I feel that we do have a good build-up with the fact we just travel a short distance to Germany and get a good standard of game there.

"I think the benefits are there to be seen in the way that we finished last season strongly.

"I don't think there is any doubt the longer break is a benefit, too. We had almost six weeks this summer and you can see the difference in the players returning this year. They are all looking forward to getting back to training and to playing games and you can see that aspect of things within everybody.

"There's no doubt that the psychological side of it comes in to it too. You can tell the players are refreshed mentally as well from their time away from training and games."

Speaking in the Rangers News, Smith added: "Last season we had to push and push to get people going and we knew when we started playing games that we weren't playing to the standard we had the previous season.

"But this season hopefully the extra break and winning the league means that the players will start in a buoyant mood."