Walter Smith, the Rangers manager, fears that the Ibrox club may face the wrath of Uefa next week when football’s European governing body sits down to consider the latest crowd trouble to affect Rangers abroad.

Following the scenes in Bucharest in midweek, when Rangers fans were seen to throw seats and exchange punches in angry clashes with stewards, Uefa has opened an investigation against the club and charged them with improper conduct of their supporters — the third time in four years that Rangers have suffered such an embarrassment due to crowd trouble.

Rangers have effectively been on parole with Uefa following similar disturbances in Villarreal and Pamplona recently, and the club’s chief executive, Martin Bain, is bracing himself for punishment when the governing body’s control and disciplinary committee announces its decision on Thursday.

As Smith sensed yesterday, Rangers face the possibility of a Champions League points deduction, a closed-door fixture or possibly even a ban from European football, given the ugly scenes that were witnessed in Bucharest in the Unirea Urziceni tie.

Asked if he feared some kind of severe Uefa punishment, Smith said: “I don’t want to get drawn into it too much because Martin [Bain] has been dealing with that aspect. But, obviously, we have had previous occasions when an element in our support has been involved in some bother abroad, and so, yes, there is a concern among us about the possible consequences.

“I think everyone at Rangers is always wanting the best for our club, and looking out for our reputation, so we will just have to wait and see what next week brings.”

Uefa has already punished a club this season for disturbances similar to those witnessed at the Steaua Stadium on Wednesday night. Dynamo Zagreb have had three points deducted from their Europa League campaign and been ordered to play two games behind closed doors after fighting broke out in a recent game against FC Timisoara.

There is speculation that, regardless of what sanction Uefa decides upon, Rangers might adopt a policy of refusing to take tickets for away games in Europe as an attempted “cooling off” period for their fans. Uefa, however, might consider a Champions League points deduction, which, if implemented, would scupper any hopes Smith and his players had of finishing third in their group and so competing in the Europa League after Christmas.

Smith obviously would not like to see Rangers being punished in any way for small elements among their support, though he admitted yesterday that it was the trend or recurrence of these incidents that could prove most damaging for the club in the eyes of Uefa. “The club has made a submission to Uefa, which they will obviously look at,” the Rangers manager said. “As far as I’m concerned, I don’t know a great deal about the background to the whole thing yet.

“I don’t know whether there will be [any repercussions]. As I say, we’ve made a submission to Uefa and they obviously have their own ideas about what happened. We will have to wait until they have had their meeting next week before we can pre-empt any judgment. That’s where we sit at the moment.”

Steven Naismith, the Rangers striker, added his voice to the concerns that are currently being felt around the club. Images of Rangers supporters throwing seats and fighting with stewards have been shown repeatedly on television and on the internet, leaving Naismith to also consider the possibility of a Uefa punishment that goes beyond a mere fine.

“I’ve never played in a game in a big stadium behind closed doors in such a big competition, so I wouldn’t know what it would be like,” the striker said. “But it was disappointing to see what went on the other night and everybody at the club definitely does not condone it.

“It’s not nice to see and I think everybody associated with Rangers is disappointed with what went on. It maybe took a wee bit away from the performance of the team.”

Smith said he would start to focus again on Clydesdale Bank Premier League duty when St Mirren visit Ibrox this afternoon. “We played well on Wednesday and now we have to get back to finding our true form in our domestic matches,” he said.

Romanians face inquiry

Uefa has begun disciplinary proceedings against Unirea Urziceni over the Rangers crowd trouble, with the Romanian champions under investigation over a “lack of organisation” regarding the entry procedure for spectators.