Rangers still hope to sign Steven Davis from Fulham and hold on to Carlos Cuellar, their Spanish defender, despite the Ibrox future of both players being thrown into doubt following the disastrous Champions League exit at the hands of FBK Kaunas.

Walter Smith, the Rangers manager, the players and the club's directors were all licking their wounds yesterday following the humiliation in Lithuania, though both Smith and Christian Dailly have insisted that, even in a season now without European competition, winning the Clydesdale Bank Premier League was and remains the club's main objective.

“The SPL now becomes massive for us,” Dailly said. “We have to dust ourselves down because our domestic campaign starts at Falkirk on Saturday. But we've taken a big mental blow against Kaunas.”

It was being claimed yesterday that the effort to sign Davis might now be shelved, but Smith is still believed to be interested. Cuellar, meanwhile, should also remain at Ibrox.

Now there are TWO ways to feed your fantasy

We have built on last year's success of PlayTheGame by offering fantasy football managers double the fun this coming season

Multimedia

• Chelsea: On-the-job training

• Man United: You've been merked, Capello

• Reading: Is Lita's yesterday's man?

Related Links

• Defeat so costly for Smith and Rangers

• Reid keeps faith with the youngsters

• Csaba Laszlo offers hope to Hearts

Yet the blow in Kaunas on Tuesday night was profound for Rangers, a number of whose supporters inundated the usual hotlines and phone-ins yesterday with calls for Smith to be sacked. That won't happen, though the Ibrox manager, just three months after leading his team to the Uefa Cup final, was starting to feel the heat.

“We were extremely poor in Kaunas and it feels ridiculous to be knocked out of Europe like this,” Smith said. “But to me it was not unusual - I'd stated many times that we hadn't been playing at all well in pre-season. I never felt comfortable on the night in Kaunas and I don't think the team did, either.

“We weren't good enough but it is up to everyone to stick together and get that right as quickly as possible.”

Smith now has a dilemma on his hands, wondering how to trim his squad before the transfer window closes. It has been his expressed aim to offload at least two strikers from the seven that are currently vying for first-team places, though Smith may now re-think his strategy. One of those seven, Kris Boyd, would look a risky sale in the circumstances.

Various Rangers players came in for abuse yesterday from supporters, as they had done in the stadium in Kaunas after the final whistle. Dailly spoke openly last night about the nightmare the game had been for the club.

“It was as low as you can get,” Dailly said. “There isn't one word to describe how I am feeling. Everybody was desperate to play in the Champions League and to fall at the first hurdle is a real blow. The entire team is down. It wasn't down to a lack of work - we just haven't got going in pre-season and these games probably came too soon for us. But we have no excuses, we know that.

“There was no way we took Kaunas lightly. We have just been struggling in general, from the end of last season through to pre-season. We might have lost to Kaunas but there is no way we underestimated them. It is sickening.”

Dailly hinted that Rangers were sorely missing the injured Barry Ferguson, as well as Davis, and insisted that only a flying start in the new league campaign, just two days away, would lift the gloom around Ibrox.

“If you look at last year's team we were criticised for a lack of flair but from that side we don't have Ferguson, Cuellar or Davis,” he said. “They played in just about every game for us last year and we definitely missed their quality in these two [Kaunas] games.

“It is a blow we have to deal with and that starts this weekend against Falkirk. It is not a lack of desire with the type of players we have. We worked hard enough but we just didn't have enough.”

Classic Times Fantasy Football is back. Sign up for £3 a team or 3 for £6