Walter Smith named Rangers chairman as club seeks stability after boardroom battles The official statement's claim that Smith was the most successful manager in oldco's history is, of course, nonsense. Bill Struth won twice as many championships (18) and Scottish Cups (10) as Smith, although the latter won six League Cups to Struth's two. It may be that Smith's appointment, which is likely to be a temporary role, has been made to give the impression of unity following a period of in-fighting in the boardroom at Ibrox. There had been two attempts to force Smith's predecessor to resign and a dirty tricks campaign against the London-based businessman reached a new low earlier this month when a videotape was leaked to the media which showed Murray, clearly the worse for wear, needing assistance to leave a private function. Rangers admitted that finance director Brian Stockbridge had made the recording and Murray, who had been waging a war with former chief executive Charles Green and former commercial director Imran Ahmad, will no doubt have experienced a sense of relief after stepping down. Curiously, the club's original statement failed to thank Murray for his efforts. Smith's unveiling, however, has been welcomed by supporters, who recognise him as a true Rangers man willing to stand up for the best interests of the club. His promotion will almost certainly help precipitate the sale of season tickets which, in turn, will - for the time being - ease the club's cash-flow problems. Apart from his status as an Ibrox icon, however, it remains to be seen whether Smith has the credentials to carry out the duties of a chairman in the long term. "It is a great honour to be asked to take up this position and it goes without saying that I feel proud as well as humble," he said. However, no one should believe that I see my role as a passive one. That hasn't been my way in the past and it won't be my way in the future. Cammy Bell, meanwhile, claims that Smith's presence at the club was the reason he felt comfortable signing a four-year pre-contract arrangement last week. The Kilmarnock and Scotland goalkeeper confirmed last week that he would be joining the Third Division champions and insisted that Smith's involvement was enough to offset the boardroom battles and the uncertainty over the club's future sparked by legal claims made by discredited former owner Craig Whyte. "I'm fine with that," said the 26-year-old. At the end of the day it's not a problem for me. I'm here to play football and there are people upstairs who are a bit smarter than me. I didn't ask the manager for assurances because I didn't have to. The right people are at this club and they will continue to be there, great people like Walter Smith - if he's at Ibrox then there's no danger that I could turn round and say that I shouldn't be. It's great to be involved with Rangers Football Club. It also emerged on Thursday that the merger between the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League will go ahead in time for next season on terms dictated by the former body. Eight days ago SFL clubs failed to gain the required 22-7 majority to support the union (Rangers, as a new club, are associate members and not permitted to vote). However, with the 10 First Division clubs threatening to break away and form SPL2, it became apparent at a meeting of the Second and Third Division clubs on Tuesday, that resistance to the proposals was evaporating and that a 75 per cent majority will be achieved at the voting meeting on June 12. Perhaps surprisingly, clubs have altered their stance in spite of SPL chief executive Neil Doncaster refusing to allow their lawyers and accountants to study the fine detail of the merger. In a letter to all 30 clubs, he wrote: "The letter from [SFL auditors] Wylie and Bisset seeks an amount of information totally disproportionate to the scale and nature of the transaction envisaged. This is NOT a transaction where one party is paying a purchase price for the acquisition of the business of another. The SPL is entirely happy to rely on the work being carried out by the Scottish FA in this area and can see no justification for the inordinate amount of time and cost inherent in the due diligence process imposed by the SFL.