Sir Walter

TN8 said:
Remember thinking he still looked class in the Ricksen fundraiser at Ibrox a few years back.
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Yip, thought the same myself, & I remember Alex Rae saying he brought Teddy up to hampden to see us playing the rotten mob years ago when both were playing with Milwall, took him round some boozers in Glasgow celebrating
 
Walter Smith is so connected to the Rangers support of a certain era. He was always in our lives. Always a class act. I remember trying to explain the connection to my wife by saying I genuinely loved him like a family member which is difficult to substantiate because he doesn’t know I exist. I know the Uncle Walter tag is jovially used but it almost felt like he was/is a relative.

We may have Gascoigne, McCoist and Laudrup but Walter Smith (and it should be Sir Walter) is the top of tree.
 
GREGRFC said:
Walter Smith is so connected to the Rangers support of a certain era. He was always in our lives. Always a class act. I remember trying to explain the connection to my wife by saying I genuinely loved him like a family member which is difficult to substantiate because he doesn’t know I exist. I know the Uncle Walter tag is jovially used but it almost felt like he was/is a relative.

We may have Gascoigne, McCoist and Laudrup but Walter Smith (and it should be Sir Walter) is the top of tree.
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Because he is a simple man who can relate to the supporters as he is a fan himself. From the first day his grandad took him on the Carmyle supporters bus he was never going to be anything else but one of us.
 
GREGRFC said:
Walter Smith is so connected to the Rangers support of a certain era. He was always in our lives. Always a class act. I remember trying to explain the connection to my wife by saying I genuinely loved him like a family member which is difficult to substantiate because he doesn’t know I exist. I know the Uncle Walter tag is jovially used but it almost felt like he was/is a relative.

We may have Gascoigne, McCoist and Laudrup but Walter Smith (and it should be Sir Walter) is the top of tree.
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Sir Walter of Ibrox. The anointed one. ;)
 
Missed this as i was working. Hopefully catch it later. Grew up through his first spell so will always be my favourite Rangers manager.
 
A trophy hoarder who truly earned every medal in his collection. As far as I’m concerned he’s an absolute hero and always will be

walter_smith-420062.jpg
 
Where can we see this interview?

The Sheringham one is on YouTube but nothing with Walter.
 
Disraeli said:
We took him for granted - in both spells.
What I would do to have Walter 15 years younger and in the dugout now.

In 50 years from now Bears unborn will envy those of us lucky enough to enjoy the two Walter Smith reigns
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Undoubtedly. The amount of abuse his tactics used to get both around the stadium and from Mourinho types on here was ridiculous.
 
Mustang mad said:
Undoubtedly. The amount of abuse his tactics used to get both around the stadium and from Mourinho types on here was ridiculous.
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I always remember a poster on here starting a thread on here around 2010 declaring he was “done” with Walter after a completely innocuous decision - I think it was starting Broadfoot ahead of Whittaker in a game. This was during a 4-year spell in which Walter won 3 league titles and got us to Manchester!

I started going to games properly around the mid-90s and couldn’t believe some of the abuse people would shout - to my young mind Walter was near enough infallible.

Only at the very end did we give him the credit he deserved - his last game at Rugby Park was a glorious day and a fitting tribute to one of the Greatest Rangers there has been.
 
No disrespect to Steven Gerrard but listening and watching those Souness and Walter Smith interviews you just sense that together they would stop the mhanks illegitimate 10 in row, if they were in charge.
 
bearmind said:
No disrespect to Steven Gerrard but listening and watching those Souness and Walter Smith interviews you just sense that together they would stop the mhanks illegitimate 10 in row, if they were in charge.
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To be honest mate, you are comparing apples and oranges. It was a different time, different transfer opportunities and very different standards.

Walter (who I love by the way), picked up a good squad and was well backed.

Gerrard pretty much started from scratch with the squad and was playing catch-up
 
Burgh-Ger said:
To be honest mate, you are comparing apples and oranges. It was a different time, different transfer opportunities and very different standards.

Walter (who I love by the way), picked up a good squad and was well backed.

Gerrard pretty much started from scratch with the squad and was playing catch-up
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This is a very fair point.
 
Burgh-Ger said:
To be honest mate, you are comparing apples and oranges. It was a different time, different transfer opportunities and very different standards.

Walter (who I love by the way), picked up a good squad and was well backed.

Gerrard pretty much started from scratch with the squad and was playing catch-up
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Gerrard’s been very well backed too. I don’t remember Walter getting a £7m signing. Fair enough points about picking up the pieces but both have been well backed.
 
Danger Zone said:
Gerrard’s been very well backed too. I don’t remember Walter getting a £7m signing. Fair enough points about picking up the pieces but both have been well backed.
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He got to sign world stars like Gazza though. That'd be like us signing someone like Harry Kane now. Much would that cost?

Both have been well backed but the situations are chalk and cheese particularly with regards the financial gap between us and them.
 
cooprfc said:
He got to sign world stars like Gazza though. That'd be like us signing someone like Harry Kane now. Much would that cost?

Both have been well backed but the situations are chalk and cheese particularly with regards the financial gap between us and them.
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That was first time around mate. Second time around he cleared up the PLG mess and didn’t have the luxury of signing star names like that. He made a couple of loan signings and instantly changed the whole look and demeanour of the team.
 
Burgh-Ger said:
To be honest mate, you are comparing apples and oranges. It was a different time, different transfer opportunities and very different standards.

Walter (who I love by the way), picked up a good squad and was well backed.

Gerrard pretty much started from scratch with the squad and was playing catch-up
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You are right of course. Souness especially in the interview admitted and praised the Rangers board back in the day for the backing they received. And It was a different era etc.

I was more considering it from the angle that apart from the tremendous backing that Souness/Smith received they seemed to compliment each other (even intuitively) from a player-man management' aspect. They turned a team that hadn't won the Scottish League for nine years into Champions. Of course Butcher, Woods, Falco, Roberts etc helped a helluva lot.

But not every team that spent money then or now is guaranteed success.

The poster WATP maybe put it better by posting in response to me-

'Yeh Gerrard doesn’t appear to have the strength alongside him in the dugout that Souness had and then Walter had with Archie Knox.

I love Gerrard at Rangers after what we had the past few years before him. Nothing would please me more that he stops their illegitimate 10 a row

There again, on the other hand maybe it is just nostalgia with me!
 
Rudolph Hucker said:
Walter “gets it”, and TBH he probably “gets it” much more than 99% of posters on here (myself included). It’s such a shame that he really only had the one good European run (Edit: In his first spell, the 2nd spell had a fairly decent run as well!) in 92 otherwise his time in charge would be just about perfect. But domestically, he was supreme and if we ever have another manager 1/2 as good as him we’ll be lucky. Absolute respect and admiration from me for a class act.
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I think the way football developed throughout the 90s worked against him. He was forced to choose between building a team suited for Scotland or Europe. He couldn’t do both. I wonder how many would have sacrificed 9IAR for the CL? Not many at the time id wager, although in retrospect it’s a no brainer.

As we went into the 2000s, our lack of success on the continent, coupled with UEFA favouring the big 5 nations, saw the financial gap grow wider and wider and European success became near impossible to achieve as a result. If a Scottish club ever wins ANY European trophy in the future it will surpass any achievement from the past, even 67, as the cards are really stacked against us financially.

I think Walter is one of the best managers we’ve ever had. However, he is the last of the ‘old school’ managers in our history. This made him more suited to domestic competition imo where his record is unquestionable, but less suited to modern European football, especially the tactics that developed after the Italian dominance in the late 80s
 
tottie beck said:
I think the way football developed throughout the 90s worked against him. He was forced to choose between building a team suited for Scotland or Europe. He couldn’t do both. I wonder how many would have sacrificed 9IAR for the CL? Not many at the time id wager, although in retrospect it’s a no brainer.

As we went into the 2000s, our lack of success on the continent, coupled with UEFA favouring the big 5 nations, saw the financial gap grow wider and wider and European success became near impossible to achieve as a result. If a Scottish club ever wins ANY European trophy in the future it will surpass any achievement from the past, even 67, as the cards are really stacked against us financially.

I think Walter is one of the best managers we’ve ever had. However, he is the last of the ‘old school’ managers in our history. This made him more suited to domestic competition imo where his record is unquestionable, but less suited to modern European football, especially the tactics that developed after the Italian dominance in the late 80s
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Yes, his European record isn’t as good as might have been expected given his ability, However, this isn’t a criticism since he was faced with the idiotic 3 foreigner rule for a number of years which stuffed up a number of our European campaigns. And even then, he still gave us a run to the brink of the CL final (would have made it too if it hadn’t been for those cheating bastards Marseille) and the UEFA final in Manchester - I’d bite your arm off if you offered me anything close to that now!
 
Burgh-Ger said:
To be honest mate, you are comparing apples and oranges. It was a different time, different transfer opportunities and very different standards.

Walter (who I love by the way), picked up a good squad and was well backed.

Gerrard pretty much started from scratch with the squad and was playing catch-up
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Absolutely.
 
Anyone clear up something, got in the car and heard a snippet of an interview with Walter, not sure if it was this one, but he stated we have improved year on year with Gerrard but need to get it right next year to stop Celtic winning 10. The winning 10 bit stood out as it contradicts what has been said in the clip someone posted on here.
 
Disraeli said:
I always remember a poster on here starting a thread on here around 2010 declaring he was “done” with Walter after a completely innocuous decision - I think it was starting Broadfoot ahead of Whittaker in a game. This was during a 4-year spell in which Walter won 3 league titles and got us to Manchester!

I started going to games properly around the mid-90s and couldn’t believe some of the abuse people would shout - to my young mind Walter was near enough infallible.

Only at the very end did we give him the credit he deserved - his last game at Rugby Park was a glorious day and a fitting tribute to one of the Greatest Rangers there has been.
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That'll be around the time that I first realised the power of social media.
The buzzwords of the day was that he was "a dinosaur" and "tactically naïve".
Neither of course were true but it was repeated ad nauseum on forums, letters pages and radio phone-ins all over the country.
Thankfully in general we've collectively realised that Sir Walter Smith was an absolute colossus for us and a True Rangers Legend!
 
Danger Zone said:
That was first time around mate. Second time around he cleared up the PLG mess and didn’t have the luxury of signing star names like that. He made a couple of loan signings and instantly changed the whole look and demeanour of the team.
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You're correct on the second spell mate. I was meaning the first as the original post of the chain I was replying to spoke of Souness and Walter together.
 
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