Winning isn’t everything.. it’s only thing
Smith insists Rangers must take nothing for granted as they home in on the title
Legndary Light Blues gaffer on why victory is all that counts
WALTER SMITH was once asked what advice he would give any Rangers manager who followed in the footsteps of the nine-in-a-row legend. “Just win,” was the reply. Which is exactly why a smile played around the lips of the Ibrox icon on Saturday afternoon after watching Steven Gerrard’s team ‘just win’ against Celtic to move 19 points clear at the top of the Premiership – even if the pragmatism that runs through Smith’s core considers the lead to be 10 points on the assumption that Neil Lennon’s men win their three games in hand.
A double-digit advantage in a season when their rivals are going for an historic 10th straight title will do Smith all day long though.
And while he’ll never admit the league was won on the back of Saturday’s 1-0 victory, the 72-year-old knows Gerrard has carved out a glorious opportunity to end the years of hurt that followed the club’s financial collapse in 2012.
“They are overwhelming favourites now,” Smith said. “There is absolutely no doubt about that but now they have to see if they can handle the consistency levels.
“Steven will keep saying we’re 10 points in front. It’s three games and there’s still two Old Firm games to go. He’ll keep going on about that.
“Winning when not playing at your best is part and parcel of having the mentality to keep winning and that’s another test for Rangers now. They’ve won this one but if they lose at Aberdeen or at Easter Road, it can go.
“Everything is going okay but having been a manager, you’re very loath to say ‘that’s it’ and that will go on until you do hopefully go on and win the championship.”
Rangers can move even further ahead of their rivals if they win at Pittodrie on Sunday, with Celtic playing a day later.
But Smith refuses to read too much into that. He told Rangers TV: “Rangers have to keep winning games. That’s what they’ve always had to do.
“They’ve got to play. They’ve got to win. It doesn’t matter if you play first or play two hours after anyone else.
“Play. Win. That’s the bottom line and that’s what Rangers have just got
to continue doing at the present moment.”
Although Rangers were nowhere near their best at the weekend, Smith was delighted at the manner in which they dug in to get the result, in the fashion that his team did so often as he drove the club to titles and trophies.
He added: “This wasn’t one of their best performances but they still won.
“When you’re playing over a league season, you don’t play well in every game but when Rangers didn’t play well
before, they weren’t getting results. They can look at this as not their best performance but you have to give Celtic credit for their performance, especially in the first half of the game it was a terrific one and as good as any team has played against Rangers, including the European games.
“From a Rangers perspective, you’ve got to be delighted that you’ve gone into a game of that magnitude, don’t play your best and you still win.
“That’s a big change in what has been happening to Rangers in the last few seasons.
“Since Steven has come in, he and his staff have done a fantastic job. But there’s a learning aspect to being at certain clubs, especially big clubs.
“I always say to people that Rangers and Celtic, managing them is like managing Manchester United or Liverpool.
“It’s proportionally different in terms of finance and standard of player but the management of it is exactly the same. It maybe takes you a year or a season to get everything in place. Especially the mentality,
“You can fit your team together but the mentality is important.
“Losing to St Mirren in the League Cup wasn’t just losing to St Mirren in the cup. It was a really good opportunity to go on and win a trophy for the first time, which would help in terms of the league campaign.
“But this is a big step for them – to win a game where they weren’t the dominant team in it. That’s a massive thing and I’m certain that’s something Steven will have been working on and trying to get inside people’s heads to drive his team forward.”
Smith has worked with two of the players at Gerrard’s disposal – Steven Davis and Allan McGregor – and was thrilled with the goalkeeper’s display in Saturday’s derby.
The Ibrox No.1 pulled off a superb early stop to deny Odsonne Edouard and followed it up with a save of the season contender to keep out Leigh Griffiths as Celtic dominated the opening exchanges.
That was good enough for Smith to draw comparisons with Andy Goram, the Ibrox keeper who repeatedly denied Celtic in the 90s.
Smith said: “The saves he (McGregor) made in the first half were fantastic. He has been terrific for Rangers overall. He kept it at 0-0.
“It’s a fantastic save ( from Griffiths). I was lucky enough to have Andy Goram as a goalkeeper, who broke Celtic’s heart, but I’m sure Allan is in that category now after that performance.”