Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Smith reveals offer that began coaching career
WALTER Smith has revealed Jim McLean’s hilarious pitch to get him to join the United coaching staff.
Smith was McLean’s No2 at Tannadice long before his days as Rangers and Scotland gaffer.
In an interview with The Times, he paid tribute to the late Tannadice legend who passed away at the weekend aged 83.
And the 72-year-old also recalled how his old boss praised and criticised him in equal measure in a bid to convince him to hang up his boots and join his backroom team.
Smith said: “He said to me one day in 1976-77: ‘At some stage in your career you’ve got to face up to the fact of how good you are.
“And let’s face it Walter — you’re s***e.’
He then added: ‘But I think you’ve got a real talent as a coach, so would you be my coach?’
“It was hardly a marriage proposal, but that is effectively how I started in coaching.
“I couldn’t have had a better start as a coach.
“I picked up a lot of things, but I also looked at a lot of books, and I would sometimes go into the club and say to Jim, ‘Look, I’ve got this idea for a bit of training, can we integrate this?’
“And he was always open to these things.
“Gordon Wallace then came in and joined us in the early 1980s and Dundee United became a club built on important training and coaching principles.”
The pair worked together for 15 years yet Smith – who won 21 major trophies during two spells as Gers boss – admitted they rarely socialised.
He said: “He was very quiet away from the game. He didn’t drink.”