Walter Smith believes Rangers need to make a decision on their managerial position soon to give the club the stability it needs for success.

Following a second caretaker spell after the sacking of Pedro Caixinha, the job was given to Graeme Murty until the end of the season.

Doubts have been expressed about Murty's chances of landing the job on a long-term basis and Smith, speaking at an event to promote this weekend's Rangers Legends match, believes it would be better if the club made the call sooner, rather than later.

"I think it is an important factor for everyone at the club, Graeme Murty included," Smith said. "The lad's been sitting in the job now for quite a while and you've got that in your mind that one week he can be the manager of Rangers and then everybody is saying he's not the man for the job.

"So it's not an easy circumstance for him either."

And if a change were to be made, Smith believes the long-term aspirations of the club must be paramount.

"I just think the sooner that aspect of it is settled then you can start again and this time maybe bring in a manager who will give the stability that's required and then build the platform for a level of success."

Smith, who won 21 trophies across his two spells as Rangers manager, said that sorting out the managerial situation would be a key step in realising the club's ambitions.

"[The club] has at some stage or another, got to find a level of investment that'll help," he said. "There's no doubt that one of the major things that'll help is obviously the managerial situation settling down.

"The next thing is a rise in the level of player that comes into the club, and I think that is required. I do think that change is needed within the team and I think if that can happen then they get back to a circumstance where first of all they challenge Celtic and then, hopefully, can go on from there and get back into a winning position on a more regular basis.

"Graeme's brought in a more British-based group and that'll give them a more solid foundation but I still don't have any doubt that a higher level is still required for the club to get back into that quite elusive winning position."

Assessing the team's recent form, Smith praised Murty's work but said that performances still lacked consistency and said that the side's home record was down to not getting the balance between attack and defence right.

"Graeme has come in and the team has settled down a little bit though they've still had inconsistencies, especially at home," he said.

"Overall, they're on course to finish second which, realistically at the start of the season you would have looked at them doing.

"Choice of management is down to directors. Football managers only have to go and win games.

"That's what Graeme is trying. He's had really good performances from the team but the problem has been a lack of consistency.

"For Graeme, all he can do is try his best and see what happens at the end of the year. He's never been promised the job. He's come in and he has settled the team down, to his credit, but like everything else it'll be determined at the end of the season by results."