On face value, it would require a pneumatic drill to dig out any positive remnant of Paul Le Guen’s brief and troublesome spell as the Rangers manager.
The Frenchman’s successor, however, paid tribute yesterday to the form and influence of one of the players taken to Ibrox as part of an otherwise ill-fated triple transfer raid on Austria Vienna in the summer of 2006.
Sasa Papac, the quiet man of Walter Smith’s dressing room, has arguably been Rangers’ finest performer of this season. He is unlikely to feature among final lists for any Clydesdale Bank Premier League player of the year awards, solely on account of his unfashionable left-back position, but the Bosnian’s worth is not understated by his manager.
“Sasa has been terrific for us,” Smith said. “I came here and moved him from centre back to left back, I always knew he was a good football player but he has really taken to that position. This year, he went back in and played centre back against Dundee in the League Cup and I felt he was outstanding there as well.
“He goes about his game very quietly but he has been easily our most consistent player over the last couple of seasons. He is always the same, working with him on a day-to-day basis. He just comes in, does his training and goes home. He is a terrific lad as well as a terrific footballer.”
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Smith insisted Papac’s calm exterior should not be mistaken for a lazy or uncaring attitude regarding on-field performance. “He likes to win, he has a good determination,” the manager said. “Sasa has enjoyed his spell at Rangers. He has had a couple of opportunities to move away and turned them down.
“I didn’t want him to go, but I would always go to a player when another club comes in and ask if they are interested in leaving. He hasn’t been and I am delighted with that.”
Papac’s place is secure, then, when Hamilton Academical visit Ibrox tonight for the replay of the Active Nation Scottish Cup, fourth-round tie, which ended 3-3 at New Douglas Park ten days ago.
Smith admitted it is a fixture that he could readily do without amid a string of injury problems. Nonetheless, if subtly, Rangers’ thoughts have already turned towards a domestic treble, given that they are now the only team who can reasonably achieve such a feat this season. “When you start out in any season at Rangers there is a pressure on you to win all of the games you play,” Smith said. “So when you start the season, you have to be looking to win cups.
“Sometimes it might sound a bit arrogant to say you want to win a treble but at Rangers and Celtic, that’s the way it is. You have to try and win each of the matches you play. If you are not featuring in them, you have a problem.
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“I don’t think the cup game is one we are looking at now as being part of a treble. We are thinking it is a game we want to win so that we can have continued involvement in that tournament.”
Only once during Rangers’ record-equalling run to nine championships in a row, amid Smith’s previous spell as the manager, did they achieve a clean sweep of Premier League, League Cup and Scottish Cup in one season, that coming in the campaign of 1992-93.
“People think it [a treble] is an easy thing to achieve,” Smith cautioned. “You need to have your share of good fortune to do it. When we did win that, we lost in the cup final the following year, which stopped us becoming the first team in history to win back-to-back trebles.
“If you look at the teams, historically, who have dominated Scottish football, winning a treble is something that has still been extremely difficult to do.”
Kirk Broadfoot, Papac’s fellow full back, is mulling over Rangers’ offer of an extension to his present contract, which expires in the summer. The former St Mirren player is hopeful of remaining at Ibrox.
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“It would probably be better to have an early answer but I won’t rush into it,” Broadfoot said. “My first choice would be to stay here.”