Rangers managerial great Walter Smith has paid tribute to Steven Gerrard for bringing the Scottish Premiership title back to Ibrox.

Smith has marvelled at how easy the Liverpool legend made it all look in the midst of a relentless march to the club's first league title in 10 years.

"The one thing you could say about Steven right from the start is that he is suited to a big club environment," Smith told the Daily Mail.

"I always loathe to use the word 'easy' in connection with managing Rangers. It's not. But he made it look at times as if he had been doing the job for a few years.

"Everybody talks about Scottish football and how it's not the level of England. And you would need to be mad to say that it is. But there is a proportional aspect to football. And running Rangers and Celtic is the same in Scotland as running Liverpool or Manchester United or Manchester City in England.

"It has the same focus and the same problems. The English clubs have significantly more finance and that helps, but Rangers is not only the perfect grounding for somebody to come in and learn.

"It's also a very difficult and challenging environment for someone to come in and learn as well."