Smith would like to see the Scottish season start earlier
Rangers manager Walter Smith believes a switch to summer football would help prevent further European embarrassment for Scottish clubs.
"We need to look at moving the season forward," said Smith, who also cooled talk of the Old Firm moving to England.
"This kind of thing has been mooted before and we keep talking about it but never seem to do anything about it.
"It is something that would help our clubs in terms of preparation for these early European games."
Celtic lost at home to Dinamo Moscow on Wednesday, while Aberdeen and Motherwell both suffered heavy Europa League defeats the following evening and Falkirk had already been eliminated by a team from Liechtenstein.
Scottish Football Association chief executive Gordon Smith has long been a supporter of summer football but Celtic manager Tony Mowbray is in favour of the status quo and thinks lack of financial clout is the chief stumbling block for Scottish teams.
"I feel a little bit sorry for the two clubs who were involved on Thursday as they both have new managers who are just in the door," added Smith.
Rangers and Celtic would not come down here (to England) to be middle-of-the-league clubs
Walter Smith
"Motherwell especially have lost an awful lot of players and at Aberdeen Mark McGhee is trying to put his own stamp on the team.
"But these teams are having to deal with that and play their first games of the season in Europe. We suffer because of that - especially when you're up against teams who have already played a good number of games.
"It would mean starting the season earlier and also having a winter break, which is another thing that has been talked about.
"If this is helpful to any of the clubs playing in Europe then it's something we should consider seriously.
"Over the next few years even the champions and the second placed teams will have to play earlier in the season and if this could help them - and help our coefficient - then it would be a good thing."
Rangers will go straight into the Champions League group phase, which begins in September, and are likely to be among the third-seeds for the four-team sections.
"The Champions League takes us out of an environment where Celtic and we are the biggest sides in the country," explained Smith. "We then enter an environment where we are the underdogs - and we have to accept that.
"There has been a rise in the standard of the Champions League in the last few seasons. The big clubs have the best teams and squads. It is going to be a very difficult challenge, and we will accept it.
"It is a big platform to play on and we showed we could acquit ourselves well the last time we were there. We hope we will do so again."
As Rangers prepare for this weekend's Emirates Cup, when they will meet Paris St Germain and hosts Arsenal, Smith was asked once again about the prospect of the Old Firm joining a British League in the future.
"I would love to see it happen, because it would be of enormous benefit to both clubs," said Smith.
"But I don't know whether English teams, in the end, would vote for that. I don't think they would.
"I remember being at Everton once where it was asked at a board meeting, and the directors said there would be no chance of it happening.
"That would be the case in most boardrooms, because Rangers and Celtic would not come down here to be middle-of-the-league clubs.
"After a bedding-in period they would be among the challengers. I think that would be apparent to most English clubs, and that is why I don't think we will get the opportunity."
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