SCOTLAND OR EUROPE

THE dilemma facing Rangers this season is one both they and Celtic have faced before. It is whether to concentrate resources on making an impression on Europe, or husband them for the home front.

This time last year what had turned into a disastrous Champions League campaign for the Scottish title holders, allowed them to push on when it came to retaining their crown, something which was of course helped by the way Tony Mowbray's reign imploded at Parkhead.

There is no doubt - nor has there ever been - in my mind, that a similar Celtic collapse this time out will not happen as there is a great deal more resolution and determination in the camp now.

Plus of course the fact that Celtic's failure to qualify for any sort of European football this term has left Neil Lennon with a single focus...the Scottish Premier League Championship.

Whatever he says about missing those Euro nights - and he will be missing them - in his first season as manager it is actually a bonus for him that he does not have to fight on two fronts.

Smith's great experience enables him to see the wider picture, but he must be aware of what happened just over two years ago when Rangers fell between the two stools of the UEFA Cup and the title.

It was something which happened to Celtic seven years ago, and they finished with nothing, as opposed to the two domestic cups which made 2008 more successful for Smith and Rangers than 2003 was for Martin O'Neill's side.

This season though the outcome of the title race may have even deeper and longer lasting consequences for the winner and loser.

For, with Smith confirming his retirement in May, and with Ally McCoist the favourite to succeed him, the balance of managerial experience will switch in the summer.

And if Lennon, in his first full season in charge, can take the title and stop the Ibrox bid for three-in-a-row, the extra confidence he will gain from that could be a vital factor in his contest with McCoist.

However, should Smith present Rangers and McCoist with the crown, then his legacy would be to hand McCoist a huge boost.

Of course all of this constitutes many an if, quite a few buts and a sprinkling of maybes.

This though, in my view, could prove to be a decisive season for what happens to both halves of the Old Firm in the immediate future.

For Celtic, it is a case of win the title and halt Rangers, at the same time giving Lennon the upper hand against an Ibrox manager who, for all the experience he has gained working with Smith, will be learning to be a boss for the first time.

Against that, should the crown stay at Ibrox, the seed of doubt about Lennon's ability to finally wrest the initiative from Rangers will be planted.

Which is why any dilemma those at Rangers may feel about progressing in Europe, against concentrating on domestic success, should surely be resolved, with the home front being given the same priority Celtic, through their different circumstances, are able to.

Which means Sunday's first Old Firm encounter of the season is even more fascinating than these initial matches usually are.

In recent years possibly only in 2000, O'Neill's first meeting with Rangers, and then 2006 when Paul Le Guen encountered Celtic for the first time, were as telling for the future.

Celtic won both. And everyone knows what O'Neill went on to achieve on the back of that. And also what happened to Le Guen.