Dick Advocaat never gives the impression that he would be first on his feet at a Friday night karaoke session but one could only assume yesterday that he was dressed up for a party. The Rangers manager has never been a dedicated follower of fashion. Business is done quickly and most times politely. What he does away from Ibrox has escaped the tabloids, apart from a fairly serious scrape in his car and a sighting at a Neil Sedaka concert.

But this afternoon or tomorrow night, when Rangers are at St Johnstone, he should claim his second Scottish championship. That is all that matters to the fans, who accord the Dutchman a kind of respect that they do not always show to their own.

"The expectations here are so high - from the club, the fans and the media," Advocaat said. "People expected us to be challenged harder by Celtic because they have a new manager and have spent over Stg£16 million on new players. "But we had three wins and a draw against them - I admit with bits of luck going our way - and we are 18 points ahead of them with six games left. The best I did with PSV Eindhoven was to win a Dutch league losing five games and so far this season Rangers have lost only one."

His record this season is all the more impressive for the difficulties he overcame without continual recourse to the chequebook.

He was forced to use 31 players in the league, including five goalkeepers. Of course most of the rest of the league are sparring partners but it is still a considerable feat of logistics to keep that number of men happy with their lot and ready to make a contribution when needed.

Eventually it will count for nothing because, although this will be Rangers' 49th championship and their 12th in the past 14 years, they will ultimately be judged on making advances in Europe.

Even before the title has been won, the agenda has moved on to next season's Champions League. Advocaat had been hoping to persuade Ruud van Nistelrooy, the PSV striker who agreed yesterday to join Manchester United, to come to Scotland.