ALEX McLEISH could have a profitable future in the building trade. Last season, after all, he managed to construct a robust championship-winning team that was both ahead of schedule and under budget.

Little more than two months after faithfully rehearsing the cover story about his radically-overhauled squad still requiring time to mature, this close season instead finds the Rangers manager with only some minor acts of housekeeping to keep him occupied.

This tinkering with the fixtures and fittings has included both plugging of the gaps, such as the recruitment of Ian Murray from Hibs, and a fair amount of exotic window dressing, in the form of Jose-Karl Pierre-Fanfan, Brahim Hemdani and Federico Nieto.

Emboldened by last season's successes, the Rangers manager insisted with at least some justification last week that he had "deserved more respect" and reasserted the undeniable truth that over the last three or four years his has been "not that bad a contribution".

This coming season provides him with the chance to disprove one more nagging criticism. Cynics point to Motherwell circa 1995-96, or the 2001-02 era Hibs side to suggest that, in the lifetime of a team, McLeish is more effective in the first few months than when attempting to build on those successes.

Even were it not for the burden of taking on the Champions League as Scottish champions, complacency would be the last thing on his mind. "I still think we have a bit to go, " McLeish said. "We have still got momentum to gather with the players. I said last season, and I wasn't pre-empting not winning the league, that we were ahead of schedule.

"To win the league was fantastic for everybody. For the players it proved to them that this new group of players could win. So right away this psychological barrier has been brought down. If they didn't win it, I would have kept going down that road of saying that they are still maturing. They have matured early, but the secret at Rangers is that that is already in the past, and you have to start again."

The squad do still have their share of kitchen sink dramas. With the Sotirios Kyrgiakos saga (even Martin Bain admits it is the most complicated deal he has ever worked on) set to come to a head this weekend, McLeish still has a modest amount of cash available for a centrehalf, although he admits "there are not a lot of players out there with the same quality" as the Greek international.

Rangers may have enjoyed the most watertight defensive record in the SPL last term, a clear 10 goals better than Celtic, but they will hope to avoid shuffling between six centre-halves this time around. For the moment, Marvin Andrews may continue to defy medical science, but Hemdani and the club's talisman, Dado Prso, are enjoying less luck. It may only be pre-season, and the knocks are relatively minor, but the former's groin injury and the latter's swollen knee offer a sobering glimpse of the squad's continuing fallibility.

Then there is that problem left side.

With Gregory Vignal having found more riches on offer at Portsmouth, and the club unable to justify Michael Ball's salary any longer, an intriguing opportunity has presented itself for Peter Lovenkrands to rehabilitate himself on that flank.

Having started just 11 league games last season, the Dane can no longer be relied upon to capitalise on such openings, but even McLeish admitted last night that he had now inherited the first choice in that position from the departed Shota Arveladze. Two goals in pre-season have not exactly harmed his cause.

"Peter has gone into pole position, " McLeish said. "He doesn't have any rivals, so he has kind of inherited the position, and all I can say is that he has started pre-season much better. His running, his training, his application, has been better and in the games he has showed more signs of doing what he is capable of."

Someone who can always be sure to punch above his weight is Alex Rae.

Although the 35-year-old feels his 22 appearances last season were a disappointing return after years as a virtual everpresent at Wolves, few players emphasise the turnaround in the squad's fortunes as emphatically as Rae.

It was only slightly less than 12 months ago that he was swinging his right boot in the direction of the prone CSKA Moscow player Serghei Dadu, decamping to Nyon for a "hilarious" disciplinary meeting to hand him a five-game ban, then putting himself out of the domestic game for three months when overstraining in a tackle against Celtic.

Things did pick up, though. When it came to the crunch, Rae strongarmed the Rangers midfield through five of the last six games of the season, and despite his age, is hoping to make enough of an impact this term to win another contract.

"I want to get as many medals on board as possible, " Rae said. "So I am trying to set as many targets as I can. The good thing about football is that you can keep reassessing your annual goals. I want to try to win as much as possible here.

"As regards a new contract, you live in hope, don't you? If I play a big part, you never know, but I am just waiting to see how this one pans out. Hopefully I can play a few games. As long as my desire is there I will play, whether it is here or somewhere else. I just love football in general, I really do. I am still hungry, and I still put myself about, and as long as I have got that hunger, I will do.

"Dennis Irwin played until he was 39, so you are a long time retired. I don't want to play in the Masters just yet."

Along with the squad's two top-class 30-something former international goalkeepers, Rae is, however, the elder statesman at a club who possess a decent amount of players in the correct age bracket.

The side's two major midfield additions since the start of last season, Thomas Buffel and Barry Ferguson, are both in their mid-20s and have been at top speed during the club's pre-season fixtures. Last season's player of the year, Fernando Ricksen, has been shuffled to rightback, and although Bob Malcolm and Dragan Mladenovic can play there, Rae may yet be called upon to fill the holding midfield place which had been pencilled in for Hemdani.

"Celtic have seven or eight of the same guys there who have been there through thick and thin, but I think we have now got a nucleus as well who are all at the right age, so I think the long-term future for Rangers is pretty good, " Rae said.

While Rae plots his way off the Ibrox bench, McLeish plans to make Rangers the benchmark again.