Walter Smith intends ending his long and distinguished managerial career at Rangers and with his legacy at the club enhanced with a UEFA Cup to add to his domestic haul of trophies.

The Rangers manager revealed he has no plans to take up a new challenge elsewhere when his 312-year contract expires in 2010.

He is expected to be offered an ambassadorial role when he completes the rebuilding work undertaken at a phenomenal rate since his return in January 2007, with the hope that he will be succeeded by his current backroom team of Ally McCoist, Kenny McDowall and Ian Durrant.

Last week, Smith rejected any notion of moving upstairs' in the event of winning an unprecedented quadruple and yesterday yesterday, the 60-year-old gave the strongest indication yet that his current challenge will be his last in football. Any change to that plan will require the approval of his wife, Ethel.

"My plan is to finish here, wherever that takes us, but, then, you never know what can happen after that," said Smith. "I would need to sit down with a certain lady first and try to discuss that but my ambition is to finish here."

Smith and his squad will make history if they help Rangers win only the second European trophy since their inception. He has already won the CIS Insurance Cup and has four games remaining to overhaul a four-point gap conceded to Celtic in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League. Add to that a Scottish Cup final against Queen of the South and next week's showpiece against Zenit St Petersburg at the City of Manchester Stadium and Smith agrees this season will be an impossible act to follow.

The possible grand slam has vindicated his decision to return but Smith flatly rejected the suggestion he had any reservations about risking the legacy built-up during the 1990s by returning for a period of financial prudence.

"That would take a helluva ego," said Smith. "Why should you be afraid of the challenge and what might have happened before, whether good, bad or indifferent? I don't think anybody should be afraid of that challenge. I never came back to fail but I wasn't afraid of failing or afraid of the reflection on you of doing so. That aspect never really bothered me.

I never had that kind of ego."

Smith will attempt to add flair to a formidable side during the summer but having lost Alan Hutton to Tottenham Hotspur for £9m in January, he concedes the UEFA Cup run has increased the likelihood of tempting offers arriving for assets such as Allan McGregor and Carlos Cuellar in the summer. Keeping the core together is Smith's ambition but the financial realism prevalent at Ibrox these days means the manager is acutely aware of the need for even greater resourcefulness in transfer dealings.

"It is important for the progress of any team to manage to do that keep core together but if a team does well then it is natural that the stock of the players rises and other teams will come and have a look at them," said Smith. "We hope to fend of offers and, hopefully, we will have the wherewithal to make one or two changes in the summer.

"The club invested heavily a few years ago and when they found out it didn't work there was a lot of criticism for overspending. We are in a situation at Rangers where, possibly for the first time, there is a realism about the financial situation."