Evening Times columnists Derek Johnstone and Davie Hay join Thomas Jordan in our studio to look ahead to the new SPL season.

By Derek Johnstone

RANGERS have to start as title favourites for me. They have the confidence of being SPL champions and that is something you cannot underestimate.

Obviously Celtic have strengthened already and I expect them to push Rangers all the way. Predictions SPL Champions: Rangers Relegated: Falkirk Promoted: Dundee Scottish Cup: Celtic League Cup: Rangers

But I think that, even although Walter Smith has not signed any new players, Gers look very solid back and middle and they have enough depth up front - and certainly enough movement and mobility - to cause any team in Scotland problems.

For a start, Kevin Thomson is back and he will be like getting a new signing in. Barry Ferguson has gone but if you think about it, how much did he actually feature after the whole Boozegate' affair during the title run-in last season?

I think the main concern for Walter Smith is going to be which system to employ. At Ibrox I think the manager has got to go with a 4-4-2. We saw down at the Emirates the more defensive deployment that Rangers used in their Uefa Cup final run and I wonder if Walter will be going with that away at the likes of Celtic Park, Tynecastle and Tannadice.

As for Celtic, although they have strengthened with the likes of Marc-Antoine Fortune and Landry N'Guemo coming in I think that their problem will come defensively where, especially at full-back, they are weak on both wings.

I know that Fortune missed a couple of chances against Moscow but for me he is a stick-on to get 20-plus goals in the SPL. He is big and powerful and he will forge a good partnership with Scott McDonald and certainly I don't see the loss of Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink being an issue.

When you bring in the likes of Aiden McGeady and Shaun Maloney on the wings then Celtic also have quality there and look a handful going forward. What they must improve on is the standard of their delivery. McGeady can beat his man all right but too often the end product in terms of the ball in the box is not there.

The early signs regarding N'Guemo would certainly seem to point to him being a very good player but for me the issue here is whether he is just too similar to Scott Brown in style. They both like to win the ball and go box-to-box, but who is going to sit when the other goes forward and vice versa?

Though N'Guemo seems to have bundles of energy, you could clearly see that Celtic lacked match sharpness against Dinamo in the first leg and you couldn't really expect anything else, given the Russians had already played 15 games of their season.

I think that we have to seriously consider starting the season earlier to give our clubs a chance in Europe.

When you take into account that next season, even the SPL title holders are going to have to qualify for the Champions League, then we are giving ourselves a serious handicap by starting our domestic season after the beginning of the European competitions.

Meanwhile, looking at the rest of the SPL, I think you will find that Hearts and Dundee United will be the teams battling it out for third and fourth places. Both sides showed at times last season that they were capable of stringing together some decent results and could be very hard to beat, even for the Old Firm, at their own places.

Craig Levein has brought in Danny Cadamarteri up front, who is a striker with Premiership pedigree, and if he can get the best out of him I would say that may give United an edge over Hearts.

But both these teams look a bit ahead of the rest although I fully expect Hibernian, Aberdeen and Motherwell to be competing for the rest of the top-six places.

When it comes to relegation, then I have to say that St Mirren are going to find it tough again.

On their day they can play some nice stuff and they showed last season in the SPL against Rangers and the Scottish Cup against Celtic just what a tough proposition they can be. Their priority this season will be to beat the teams around about them.

I think that Falkirk are also going to find it hard while Kilmarnock may find themselves dragged into the relegation battle again. A lot will depend on whether Killie hold onto Kevin Kyle whose goals kept them up last season.

In terms of quality, I think it will be slightly diminished. It is an indictment of the state of our game that teenage talents like James McCarthy are now going to provincial Premiership clubs like Wigan rather than the Old Firm.

But even with that bleak outlook, the big two are streets ahead of the rest in Scotland and basically we are talking about a three-tier SPL again this season.