When manager Walter Smith insisted the other day that Rangers would simply go on and on despite the fact he and others may leave the club, he might well have been informing his eventual successor that the ambitions within Ibrox and also held deep within the heart of chairman David Murray would be undiminished next season.

There is little doubt Murray will want a high-profile replacement for Smith, and to get a coach of that calibre and such international presence, he will have to pay top dollar for his services and have on hand a war chest to allow the new man to move heavily into the transfer market.

All the indications are Murray will follow the pattern which is becoming prevalent among many European clubs, where a coach is appointed for a three or four-year span and then is allowed to move on while a fresh face arrives.

That is the new way of the multi-national, multi-million pound business football has become, and Murray has recognised that and has recognised also that no new coach is willing to join a club without the knowledge there will be big-money backing for any transfer moves.

Rangers' ace in the hole, of course, is the #40m investment the club received from Joe Lewis and his ENIC company last season. In the accounts which were placed before the shareholders at the annual meeting earlier this week, the cash immediately available to the club stood at around #28m.

At a time when many of the major clubs in Europe, those Rangers wish to emulate, are finding ready funds limited, there would be few problems for Rangers to put together enough money to fund a raid on the market similar to that staged by Smith last summer. However, there is no truth in the rumour that Murray is ready to invest around #4m of that money to buy out the contract of Newcastle United manager Kenny Dalglish. This has been denied by both Dalglish and the Ibrox leader.

Given that Rangers draw in massive amounts from season ticket sales each pre-season which can be added to the money they already have in the bank, it would not be difficult for the new man to look at a probable #15m to spend on players he may want.

Before the end of the season Smith is likely to unload players to add to the available transfer fund. He has already been paid #800,000 for Erik Bo Andersen, who returned to Denmark.

Ian Ferguson is being tracked by Wolves, Coventry City and Manchester City and has been valued by the club at close to #1m, and there are other fringe members who could move on.

That would allow the new man some added millions for the changes he may wish to make. No matter who Murray finds to take the job, change is inevitable. Every manager or coach wants to place his own imprint on the team and most of them want to bring in players they know.

At Celtic this season their new coach, Wim Jansen, asked for Henrik Larsson, who had played for him at Feyenoord, and then Reggi Blinker, with whom he was also familiar.

The same will happen at Ibrox. The funds will be in place and the coach will have the oppor- tunity before the end of the seson to have real input as to the signings he believes should be made.

That is one of the reasons the Rangers chairman, very shrewdly, has made up his mind he would want his man working with the club before the season ends. It would let him familiarise himself with the squad prior to the handover of power and identify any areas he might wish to strengthen.

Smith may be leaving but, as he said, Rangers will go on and they will do so with all the financial clout which has allowed them to dominate Scottish football for so long.

The #15m available for new players and the fresh approach from the top could yet give them the success their fans look for in Europe.

Certainly, the cash will be available and other Scottish clubs can only look on in envy.

q RANGERS financial backer Joe Lewis has failed in an attempt to buy the Ibrox club's European conquerors.

Lewis attempted to purchase Sweden's richest club, IFK Gothenburg, but the team that beat Rangers in the preliminary round of the Champions' League rejected the multi-millionaire's advances.

Lewis failed last month in an attempt to buy Danish side FC Copenhagen. He also has stakes in FC Basle, AEK Athens, Sparta Prague, and Vicenza.