Walter Smith enjoyed a triumphant return to Rangers as his team recorded a superb five-goal victory over Dundee United in the first game of his second spell at Ibrox.

A Kris Boyd double and goals from Charlie Adam, Chris Burke and Barry Ferguson - who was restored to the captaincy - secured the crucial Bank of Scotland Premier League victory amid horrendous conditions in Govan.

The rout allowed Smith to better predecessor Paul Le Guen's best result - a 4-0 win over Falkirk.

United must have felt like gatecrashers at a private party as jubilant Rangers fans celebrated the return of manager Smith and his backroom staff of Ally McCoist and Kenny McDowall.

Chants of 'Walter Smith's blue and white army' and 'Super Ally' rang around the stadium for the first time in almost a decade, while fans held aloft a banner declaring 'Walter and Ally: They came when duty called'.

Ibrox passed an 8.30am pitch inspection despite a badly cut-up surface and the forecast of more heavy rainfall in the afternoon.

Clearly not even the weather was going to put a dampener on Smith's homecoming.

He made three changes to the side who crashed out of the Tennent's Scottish Cup at Dunfermline in Ian Durrant's one and only game in charge.

Dado Prso was back from suspension, Jeremy Clement was back from injury and Burke was also drafted back into the starting line-up.

They replaced Gavin Rae, Nacho Novo and Julien Rodriguez, who completed a move to Marseille in midweek.

However, the most notable decision made by Smith ahead of today's game was to reinstate Ferguson as captain, just 12 days after he was stripped of the armband by Le Guen.

Meanwhile, new recruits Jon Daly and Sean Dillon were both handed their Dundee United debuts.

Rangers had the first chance of the game when Adam tried his luck with a shot from 25 yards, but the effort came off team-mate Prso and went wide.

Boyd then had the ball in the back of the net but the offside flag was already raised before the shot had left his boot.

The Ibrox side were then forced into last-gasp defending at the other end when Karl Svensson scooped a Craig Conway drive off the line.

The breakthrough came after 23 minutes when Derek Stillie raced off his line to beat Boyd to an Ian Murray ball, but the ball broke to Adam who successfully lobbed the United goalkeeper from 40 yards.

Ferguson smashed a curling free-kick into the side-netting as the home side pushed forward in search of a second goal.

And Rangers did not have to wait too long as Burke had the net bulging again after 36 minutes.

An Adam cross found Boyd at the back post but he fluffed his over-head kick before Burke pounced to nod home from six yards.

Rangers made their first change five minutes before the break when Prso was replaced by Novo, after appearing to pull up with a hamstring strain.

There appeared to be some doubt over whether the game would continue when referee Craig Mackay inspected the pitch at half-time as conditions grew more severe.

However, the official gave the green light for the second half to go ahead and both teams emerged for the restart.

United made their first change shortly after the break, replacing Collin Samuel with Noel Hunt.

But Rangers added to their lead with 59 minutes gone when Novo squared into the path of Boyd and he stabbed home from six yards.

Rangers were celebrating once more after 68 minutes when Boyd had the ball in the back of the net again.

This time Murray was the provider and Stillie was left with no chance as Boyd bulleted home from close range, grabbing his 16th goal of the season.

Filip Sebo - who has endured a disappointing start to his Rangers career - was thrown into the action for the final 20 minutes, replacing Burke.

But the plaudits went to retruning skipper Ferguson, who slotted home goal number five with just three minutes to go.

The message was loud and clear - normal service has resumed at Ibrox.

Rangers McGregor, Hutton, Hemdani, Svensson, Murray,Burke (Sebo 74), Ferguson, Clement, Adam, Prso (Novo 41),Kris Boyd.

Subs Not Used: Klos, Papac, Rae, Lowing, Lennon.

Booked: Svensson.

Goals: Adam 23, Burke 36, Kris Boyd 59, 68, Ferguson 88.

Dundee Utd Stillie, Dillon, McCracken, Kenneth (Archibald 46),Duff, Samuel (Hunt 52), Kerr, Cameron (Gomis 81), Robertson,Conway, Daly.

Subs Not Used: McLean, Easton, Goodwillie, Watson.

Booked: Kerr.

Att: 50,276

Ref: C MacKay (Scotland).