Walter Smith has challenged the rest of the clubs in the Clydesdale Bank Scottish Premier League to prove they are good enough to challenge the Old Firm and win the championship.

But the Rangers boss has warned that sustaining a title challenge for an entire season - and the pressure which comes with such lofty ambitions - may be harder than some people think.

Smith was responding to suggestions that the Glasgow giants are no longer the dominating force they once were and now is a good time for the rest of the clubs to challenge their stranglehold on the Scottish game.

Hibernian head into the weekend action two points behind Rangers and three adrift of leaders Celtic, with some of their players going public with their belief they can finish second this season.

Kilmarnock boss Jim Jefferies then went a step further by predicting a team outwith the Old Firm could win the title if a lack of finances for quality players continues to be an issue for Rangers and Celtic.

Smith said: "We have had too many draws this season and, if those had been wins, it would obviously be far easier for us.

"A lot of people will be looking on that as an indication that the Old Firm are beginning to struggle. If we (Rangers) are down a little bit, fair enough. But we have always shown a good reaction to that.

"If the clubs now think they can come and win a championship or split the Old Firm, that's good for Scottish football as long as the challenge is accepted in the proper manner by the rest of the teams.

"It's them who are saying it so a little bit of pressure is on them to show the consistency which is required to win a league championship. If they can do that, fine.

"Everybody is talking about it now and I'm saying to them they've got to show it now.

"If they feel Rangers and Celtic are in a position where they are vulnerable then they have to start to show the consistency levels the Old Firm have shown over the years because it is never easy.

"They have to handle the same pressure which is always on Rangers and Celtic and I look forward to seeing whether that can be the case. If it is the case, it's good for Scottish football."

He added: "What I'm saying is that you can't turn round and make quotes in newspapers about feeling as though you are going to do this and do that against the Old Firm and not accept a level of responsibility.

"If they're saying they can do that, fine. We will see whether that challenge can be met over the season. We don't know if that will happen.

"It's like asking if we are going to win the weekend's games. We don't know. We have to work hard to do it.

"It will be the same for the rest of the teams in Scotland. If they want to get between Rangers and Celtic - or if they want to win the championship - then they have to take the pressure that Rangers and Celtic handle every week.

"That's something they've got to show they can handle. If it does happen, it's great, it means the standard of Scottish football below Rangers and Celtic is rising - even though we may feel we have dropped down a little bit."

Smith is no stranger to title success, masterminding Rangers' 'nine in a row' campaign in the 1990s in his first spell at the Ibrox helm, before claiming the silverware again last term.

But he says such success does not come easily, insisting: "I always felt it was difficult. I don't adhere to this situation that you win a league championship and it's easy.

"When you are in that position, it's not an easy thing to do.

"If it was easy to win a championship then other teams in Scotland would have had a far better go at it than they have maybe had in the last 20 years or so. It's not easy."

Striker Kenny Miller insists there is no chance of the Old Firm being separated for the first time since Hearts claimed second spot back in 2006.

"I would say there is no doubt about that," he said when asked the likelihood of Rangers and Celtic finishing above the rest this season.

"There are always one or two teams who try to stay with us at the start but over the course of the season you will probably find Rangers and Celtic at the top.

"History says that will be the case. For the last 20 years or so we have only been split once or twice and I think that says that Rangers and Celtic will be at the top.

"We've got a lot better quality players which is why we are always winning the trophies."