Rangers reaction: Steven Smith "as it stands" claim as interim manager enters unknown after draw with Dundee United

All was going well for the Under-19s coach at half time, when Rangers ought to have been more than just one goal ahead. However, the visitors hit their troubled hosts with two quick second-half goals from substitute Kristijan Trapanovski and Craig Sibbald. Ibrox skipper James Tavernier secured a point for Rangers with three minutes of normal time left.

The Ibrox side now head to Norway for a Europa League clash against Brann with no certainty over who will be in the dugout. Smith stressed he had been focusing only on Dundee United although he imagined, unless told otherwise, that he would be in charge of training the next day. The players have been told to report in on Sunday.

It has been reported that Neil McCann, who was part of interim manager Barry Ferguson’s staff last season, would step in ahead of Kevin Muscat’s arrival, although both this and Muscat’s appointment has still to be confirmed by the club.

The fans remain deeply unhappy. One banner was unfurled at half time along the top tier of the Sandy Jardine Stand with the message: “Stewart, Thelwell pack your bags & go before we pack them for you”. Rangers were leading 1-0 at the time.

Patrick Stewart and Kevin Thelwell, chief executive and sporting director respectively, remain under pressure to get the right man in.

“As it stands now, I plan to take training tomorrow, yeah,” said Smith, when asked what happens now in the absence of any indication from the club. “Honestly, I've gone day by day. I have not thought any further ahead than Dundee United because that would have been disrespectful. I knew they were a good team, so I knew we had to prepare properly. So if my focus was on other things, whether that was manager noise or thinking about a potential game on Thursday night, that would have been disrespectful to Dundee United.”

Asked whether he reckoned the players needed some certainty about who might be in the dugout for their next games, with Kilmarnock due at Ibrox following the trip to Bergen, Smith replied: “Honestly, that's not where my attention is going right now. My attention was always to have a full focus on Dundee United and that should be their intention as well. It shouldn't matter, and I understand the question, it shouldn't matter who the manager is. And that might sound like an easy thing to say, like the textbook answer. But as a group of players, we need to be leaders of men and we need to stick together and find a way to turn the results, no matter who's standing in the dugout.”

Smith stressed that he felt “comfortable” on the sidelines. “I feel like I'm ready to go and work at a first-team level, but I'm in no rush,” he said.

He was left dismayed by the abrupt shift in the game’s pattern after half time. “We played at a good level in the first half, good intensity," he said. "Probably a wee bit frustrated at half-time that we weren't more than one goal up. And then the game changed in the second half and we didn't change with it, so it’s disappointing in the end.

“I think to go from the level in the first half where you're thinking you should be two or three goals up to coming away at the end where you're probably lucky to get a point is quite frustrating.”