Walter Smith offered praise yesterday to those who he feels have worked without due recognition in the background of Rangers’ frantic pursuit of glory at home and abroad this season.

While Ally McCoist is arguably a better-known figure than Smith himself on account of the former Rangers and Scotland striker’s media work, it is not unfair to suggest that two former Celtic employees, Kenny McDowall and Adam Owen, are less likely to receive public acclaim if the Ibrox club complete a quadruple trophy haul.

McCoist, brought back to Ibrox as Smith’s assistant 16 months ago, has worked in tandem with McDowall, the first-team coach, on the training ground while Owen’s sports science methods have been an eye-opener for Smith himself. Gone is the drinking culture that provided a backdrop to the Rangers team of the 1990s, of which Smith was also in charge; now, it is said players are virtually force-fed pasta and energy drinks immediately after every game.

Smith, who was yesterday named the Scottish Football Writers’ Association manager of the year, said: “Not only have we had a lot of new players coming in during the last year, the entire backroom staff has changed as well. Ally and Kenny have worked extremely hard to create a good atmosphere on the training ground. I think that has helped us a great deal in a busy season, they have created an environment where people want to come in and work. That has been reflected in the way the players have handled things.

“McCoist, McDowall and Adam take the vast majority of training, which is a different situation to when I was the manager here before. I still deal with team shape, but they do the rest — and it obviously works.”

Owen’s appointment at Rangers’ Murray Park training complex, after a stint at Sheffield Wednesday, came after a staunch recommendation from McDowall, the pair having worked together at Celtic.

“I was always used to doing longer spells of running in pre-season training, now what we do is far shorter, for example,” Smith said. “The whole staff have had to work hard to keep everybody going this season. In the last few games we have been finishing very strongly and that is a testament to the work Adam Owen has put in.”

Steven Whittaker, the full-back, revealed that compression suits are the dress of choice for himself and his team-mates after matches. Ice baths, rather than hot ones, have become regular features. “There is always a pressure on us to be ready for the next game just now,” Whittaker said. “Adam Owen is a great lad, he does his job professionally and everything he does is for our benefit. The lads are all willing to take it in.”

Rangers’ powers of recovery will be tested in the next five days, with a potentially hazardous Clydesdale Bank Premier League match against Dundee United today before the Uefa Cup final against Zenit St Petersburg on Wednesday. Such is the hectic nature of their fixture run, Smith’s players have not studied the Russian side at all until now; the manager is adamant that focus should stretch no further than a single game at a time.

“We will intentionally leave things with regards the final until after the Dundee United match,” Smith said. “My job is all about compartmentalising at the moment. Our concentration has to be fully on Dundee United, a team who have played very well against us this season.

“The pressure is on us for all the games coming up, not just this one. Putting pressure on Celtic is not what matters, what matters to us is winning. The pressure is there and at this stage of the season you have to show you can handle it. Winning games is the only issue we have.”

Boosted by a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Motherwell on Wednesday, the bigger picture is that Rangers would move to within a point of their oldest rivals with victory today; Celtic host Hibernian tomorrow. Lee McCulloch, Charlie Adam and DaMarcus Beasley may be given a run-out against Craig Levein’s side after recovering from injuries; McCulloch, in particular, has a genuine chance of featuring from the outset against Zenit.Smith is almost certain to continue with a two-pronged attack, a tactic he will abandon in midweek as Rangers revert to the 4-1-4-1 formation that has served them so well in Europe.

“A lot of talk about how Rangers play over the season has been exaggerated,” Smith, still irked by theories that his team are overly negative, said. “In the majority of the SPL games this season, we have played with two or even three strikers. Only Celtic scoring four goals at Motherwell recently meant they had scored more than us; I’m not sure how we could have been the highest scorers in the league for so long without fielding any strikers.”