‘Everything you’d want from a man’
McCOIST LEADS TRIBUTES TO RANGERS ICON SMITH
IN A lengthy, relaxed chat in his office, just before he left Everton, I asked Walter Smith about the best piece of advice he’d received in football.
His brow furrowed then his face lit up with that warm smile that made him such engaging company. “I’m not sure you’re going to believe this,” he said.
“Alex always used to say, ‘Don’t go looking for trouble, because as a manager it comes and finds you often enough anyway’.”
He was talking about Sir Alex Ferguson, his long-time friend and twice boss.
It showed Walter’s mischievous sense of humour, even amid his impending dismissal from Goodison, which we both knew was coming.
He rarely gets credit for it, but Walter Smith wrote the modern template for managing the millionaires who these days make up a football team.
He did it deftly with Rangers, winning seven Scottish titles in a row, and probably would have won the Champions League too, had they not been thwarted by a Marseille side who were later found guilty of match-fixing that season. Smith was perhaps the only manager who could handle Paul Gascoigne, and his quiet, resolute style was the perfect foil to the team of stars Rangers were able to attract.
For all Ferguson’s combustible nature, he knew when to pick his battles. And in part, he learnt that from the counsel of Smith.
It was a recurring theme throughout a managerial career that touched on greatness in Scotland, and won deep respect everywhere he went. Smith was the man from whom football people took advice.
On the news of his death yesterday, aged 73, it was notable the number of players and managers who revealed they went to him, even during his illness. Current Rangers manager Steven Gerrard was one of them. He said: “I had many lunches, dinners, coffees, chats and private time with him. He was honest, genuine and made me a better person.
“I’ve been lucky to know him. So have a lot of other people.”
Smith was a tough competitor, but had a sense of humour
that in this reporter’s experience, was unmatched in football.
It speaks volumes to his personality, that Celtic were touching and sincere in their tribute to him.
Smith won 21 trophies with Rangers. Ally McCoist, his star striker for so many years, summed up the great man’s character best.
McCoist said: “He was my boss, my coach, my second father and then turned into one of my best friends. He was the best husband, father, friend, everything you’d want from a man.”
I have been lucky to know him