Smith: I Can Shoulder Ibrox Pressure

Jan 6 2008 By Gordon Waddell

Walter Smith

WALTER SMITH doesn't look like a man with a weight on his shoulders.

He doesn't sag. Doesn't look stressed.

For someone seven weeks short of his 60th birthday he's a million miles away from bus pass material.

Still works out four times a week, pounding out the hours on the weights and cross trainer. Still barely weighs a stone more than when he quit playing 31years ago.

But appearances can deceive. Every day he walks into work carrying a burden. And every day he checks himself to make sure it's there before he leaves the house.

Because Smith wouldn't have it any other way. It's why he returned to Rangers when everyone else was telling him going back is the one thing you never do in football.

But when what you're going back to is what you believe in, what you love, you do it.

Especially when you're carrying the responsibility for its wellbeing and future.

And you do it right. Sure, you have to live for the here and now - at the Old Firm there's no other way - but this time round Smith wants to leave the club with a legacy as well.

It's Thursday lunchtime, the day after the Old Firm game that never was.

Exactly a year on from the day Paul Le Guen (right) walked out the office door Smith has just walked through, leaving a trail of detritus behind him. A year that has seen Smith transform Rangers from two-time cup losers and SPL no-hopers into challengers again. Where the silverware missing for 31 months is back within their grasp.

Anyone who thinks it has been easy though?

"If you want easy don't come to Rangers," says Smith. "It's not an easy place to work.

"You feel the burden on you every day, the responsibility of this club. It meets everyone at the door.

"As someone who has supported them since he was a boy I fully appreciate what this club is. I always try to make sure everyone here, whether they're Scottish or foreign, knows they have that to carry.

"OK, some perceived traditions have to change - the religious aspect for one. It should have changed a long time ago.

"But life in Scotland in that respect is changing. While it hasn't been as quick as a lot of people would have liked, it is changing.

And the club has changed dramatically on that front for the good.

"Other wee things are different as well.

When I was here last time the players had to wear a collar and tie to training. Dick Advocaat changed that and he was right.

"Not everything can stay the same - but what is constant is history.

"And the history here dictates Rangers have to be successful."

If Smith needs a reminder there's one in the office we're sitting in. A framed speech by the legendary Bill Struth detailing exactly how he sees their institution.

Not that this is the manager's regular berth at Murray Park. We're in the posh digs - set aside for the fleeting visits of David Murray (far right) and the club's chief executive Martin Bain. Flurries of snow are blurring the view over the pitches Smith sees as the biggest change in the nine years since he left.

"Ach, that's no' snow, big yin," he laughs.

"You're too soft if you think that's snow.

"Try the east coast. I remember Fergie sorted wee Jim McLean and me out with these big moon boots from the lads who worked out on the rigs.

"He and Archie Knox wore them to training as well. You'd have them on plus big anoraks and hats - I even wore a mask.

"Now that was proper cold! This is luxury!"

One luxury you never get at the Old Firm, though, is time. And if Smith needed a reminder of that fact he got it too.

As he reflected on the nick of the club when he took over he grinned: "I remember Alex McLeish called me when he took the job and said: 'Is there anything I should do?' "I said: 'Aye - just win.' The realisation I was back, really back, hit home in the Champions League. We had won nothing for two years. We'd shipped 16 players out, 14 in and the pressure's on before a ball is kicked.

"So we played Zeta who were a decent level. It was 0-0 at half-time in the Ibrox game and we got booed off.

"I walked in thinking: 'Right, now I remember ...' But we got past them and then a good Red Star Belgrade team and into the Champions League with no pedigree of success whatsoever.

"Suddenly people were saying: 'Maybe ... could we ... possibly ... get ...' "Look at the group. Stuttgart, Lyon, Barcelona. The way we played wasn't attractive, I admit that. But we beat a quality Stuttgart side and our win in Lyon was a remarkable result - up there with the best I've ever experienced.

"And all they did was give us a great chance to remain in Europe. That was the thing for me. What did people think? That all of a sudden you can sweep teams like that aside? That's your realisation of the mentality of Rangers.

"And that's not a complaint. It just brought back to me what we're all about."

A lot has changed since Smith first left Rangers in May 1998. Financial meltdown, three different managers, some giddy highs and a few more brutal lows.

The one major difference people perceive though is he no longer has the spending power to buy his way out of trouble. It's an accusation that rankles.

"People forget when I first took over we had to change our whole squad because the three-foreigner rule came in," says Smith.

"In my first year we had as many transfers as I've had this time. And we did it at a profit far less throwing money at it. We sold Trevor Steven for £6million - enormous money at the time - plus we had a lot of 'foreigners' from England we got good money for by selling them back.

"So we managed to get in the McCalls, Gorams, Robertsons and stay in the black.

"The first time I went into the red was buying big Duncan Ferguson at the start of my third season.

"Everyone says we just bought our way out of trouble but it wasn't like that."

Ultimately Smith took the team he built and worked it a year too long. When Nine-In-A-Row failed to become 10 he called it a day and a team of legends scattered.

This time round he wants a legacy left.

That's why the Ibrox boss shuns any self satisfaction from great achievements since his return - and there have been a few.

Three Old firm triumphs, not a goal lost.

The return of the big European nights to Ibrox.

But Smith insisted: "Settling the squad is the real satisfaction. So many players have come in, maybe Bosmans, and too many just go straight back out again.

"So I've intentionally gone for a lot of younger players to get a foundation.

"We'll always need experienced guys but I'd rather go with a base of youngsters than bring in ... well, you know the guys we're talking about (Smith won't name names but it's a safe bet the Capuchos and Vanolis are in his mind).

"I'm not trying to deflect from the fact we must win at Rangers but there has to be a settling period.

"It's a bit like going back to my past. Signing guys like Naismith, Thomson, Whittaker, Broadfoot, Gow - all lads coming through.

Hutton, Burke, Boyd, Adam, McGregor aren't old either.

"That's the base I want to build on and I want it to be there for years."