As Scotland awaited the outcome of a calamitous election, Walter Smith cast his vote, endorsing Gordon Strachan's credentials as manager of the year despite running his Old Firm counterpart close in the end-of-season awards.

Smith's reawakening of the Scotland national team and subsequent repair job at Rangers split the vote at the press polls. As he prepared his side for the final derby of a long and arduous campaign, he paid tribute to Strachan's achievements in defending the Bank of Scotland Premierleague by a landslide and exploring new territory in Europe.

Rangers will attempt to take some of the gloss from Celtic's endeavours by securing a second successive Old Firm victory, at Ibrox today, yet he cast aside the historic rivalry to praise Strachan for the progress that effected Smith's return to Rangers after the abortion of the Paul Le Guen era.

"It was a deserved award," said Smith. "Not only have they had a really good league performance - recent results have been down to a motivational issue, which is never acceptable but is a factor - they won the championship easily, and their Champions League performances were great.

"Gordon thoroughly deserves that award. They had a really good Champions League, that goes without saying and not just in the Milan game; they gave a terrific home performance against Benfica and managed to get to the last 16."

Central to Celtic's success has been Shunsuke Nakamura. Like Kris Boyd, the Japanese playmaker has yet to strike in the frenzied environment of an Old Firm encounter but his performances throughout the season were rewarded with personal accolades from the Scottish Professional Footballers' Association and, most recently, the SFWA.

His dead-ball mastery clinched the championship against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park and while Smith has cautioned his defenders to be vigilant around the perimeter of the penalty area, Rangers have their own set-piece expert in Charlie Adam.

The midfielder has enjoyed only a fraction of the praise afforded to Nakamura, despite the majority of his 13 goals coming from free-kicks. In both cases, Smith is happy to afford praise to the players' professional expertise and dedication than debate the invariably futile methods of prevention.

"Everybody has a theory about stopping anyone's free-kicks," he said. "If there was one specific theory about stopping a free-kick, everyone would have it. Sometimes the people who take these free-kicks have to be given a great deal of credit for the work they do in the background to enable them to have that skill.

"Nakamura has that skill, Charlie Adam is a young player who is developing it and has a bit to go, but has scored a number of those free-kicks. You have to give credit to the players at times. Nakamura's assists and delivery into the box are excellent as well.

"The best way to prevent it is not to give away stupid free-kicks in the first place but sometimes in the heat of a game that's not so easy. If you can discipline yourself to be that good, you can prevent things from happening; that's the easiest way to do it but probably the most difficult to enact."

Adam expressed mild disappointment that his most recent strikes have been attributed to goalkeeping errors and while he revealed the additional work required to hone his technique on the training ground, he is not so consumed by the pursuit of perfection as Nakamura, who admitted he is prone to daydreaming about his art. "Naka is a special player. I read his comments in the paper - he must have an interesting life," Adam joked. "I stay back a few times a week to practice but sometimes I do feel that every time I score with one, the goalie is always said to have made a mistake. It doesn't happen when David Beckham scores a free-kick.

"It's been an unbelievable season for me personally. I have scored 13 goals in something like 40 appearances and it has been a while since a midfield player scored over 10 goals."

Adam's elegant left foot is an asset Smith will be keen to utilise at Ibrox. The manager, who has spent the past week clocking up air miles on various scouting missions, dismissed the cliched notion victory would amount to a psychological boon for next season. None the less, with second place to secure, continuing the recovery has more immediate benefits.

"I think the circumstances which surround Rangers' season mean it's not difficult to motivate players," he said. "They haven't had a run of consistent results at any time, so that in itself should be a motivation, to show that we can achieve that.

"From a players' point of view, never mind the financial aspects for the club, the Champions League is where a player should want to play. They have to help the club get there. I don't think it throwing down a marker matters that much.

"Celtic have been so far ahead of the league, which is a difficult motivation in itself, it is to their credit that they got so many points in front.

At the time of the season when they had to do it, they proved they could do it. That's all a manager can ask for."

Dado Prso is unlikely to play a significant part in his final Old Firm experience. The Croat has been suffering from tonsillitis and a seat among the substitutes is a best-case scenario. Neil Lennon has no such worries on his farewell tour and Smith believes the Premierleague will be a poorer place without the departing warhorses.

"Scottish football needs as many good players as possible to play in the league and there isn't any doubt these players have lifted the standard," added the Rangers manager.

Smith also responded to UEFA's £8250 fine for Rangers' part in the flare-up between away fans and Spanish police during the second leg of their UEFA Cup tie against Osasuna in March. "I think it shows there were faults on both sides," he said.

"You don't get those kind of scenes at Ibrox, or British grounds. Manchester United suffered the same way in Italy against AS Roma, so I think UEFA are now putting some onus on the clubs to police their grounds properly."