Nine in a row snipers are shot down by Smith

[ian1964 10,486]

By Stephen Halliday

THEY may have been the team which cemented his place as one of Rangers' greatest managers, but it appears the legend of nine in a row is wearing just a little thin for Walter Smith.

As he operates under the fiscally restrictive conditions now surrounding the Ibrox club, Smith has revealed his irritation at the regular criticism aimed at his current team by some of those who helped him equal Celtic's historic feat of nine success

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ive championships in more prosperous times more than a decade ago. Richard Gough and Mark Hateley, two of the most influential contributors to Rangers' dominance of Scottish football from 1989 to 1997, were the main targets of a stinging rebuke from their former gaffer yesterday. Both men have been damning in recent assessments of Rangers' performances and results in the Champions League and SPL.

 

It has not been appreciated by Smith, who not only believes his present group of players are being needlessly undermined by their predecessors, but feels compelled to point out that Gough & Co were anything but flawless.

 

"At times I get a wee bit fed up with every one of them coming out with these comments," said Smith. "For me, Richard Gough and Mark Hateley are two who have made comments in newspapers recently and I get a wee bit disappointed by that aspect.

 

"It's as if they had the perfect answer to everything in football. They didn't have. We used to have loads of managerial meetings and bust-ups to try and keep them on the right track.

 

"And while they might be looking at the Rangers team just now and being critical, the team at the present moment has been successful.

 

"It's more difficult for the players now than it was in the time when they played.

 

"We've not played well this season, but I've maybe been too honest in talking about that, especially considering if we win our game in hand we can go top of the SPL. But by the standards we have set we haven't played that well.

 

"I just get a bit fed up reading about all the rest of them. Okay, we maybe don't have a (Paul) Gascoigne, (Brian) Laudrup or a (Ally) McCoist from the early days, guys to pull us out of problems. But the boys who are here have had to work extremely hard to get where they are and have won trophies for this club."

 

Smith also took a swipe at the oft-repeated maxim quoted by many of Rangers' nine in a row squad, referring to their off the field bond, which boasts that 'the team who drink together, win together'.

 

"See that, that's a self-perpetuating thing," said Smith. "They tell everyone what they got up to. But if it was true, what were all the other players from the other teams doing? Were they all out in the pub?"

 

The subject of squad harmony at Rangers has been under intense focus this week.

 

Smith has had to contend with media reports of a training ground altercation between Kenny Miller and Madjid Bougherra and a dressing room row between David Weir and Kyle Lafferty during last Saturday's first SPL defeat of the season against Aberdeen at Pittodrie.

 

They are issues Smith insists were quickly resolved and which did not cause him any concern in the first place. On the contrary, they provided him with a source of encouragement as Rangers seek to re-ignite their campaign at Falkirk today.

 

"It happens at clubs," said Smith, "and it has happened loads of times in my time at Rangers. I don't see it as being to the detriment of what were doing. Players can get involved in clashes for different reasons. But sometimes you say to yourself that if we didn't have it, it would show there wasn't any great desire or intent about the place and there was a bit of apathy.

 

"In the case of Davie Weir and Kyle Lafferty, then as captain of our team Davie has every right to have his say if we are not doing well, which we were not in the first half at Aberdeen.

 

"None of these things are done for any other reason than to provoke a reaction.

 

"Whether it is the manager or the captain, it's done for a reason. It's not the first time this season it has happened.

 

"It's a natural dressing room occurrence and if we didn't have it, there would be something far wrong.

 

"The Kenny Miller incident with Madjid Bougherra was mainly down to comments which were made in the newspapers about Madjid not coming back from international duty on time.

 

"If someone did that in any walk of life you'd expect there to be a situation amongst them. Players generally meet up on a training pitch so that's where things spill over. But they've had their say now and they've done it. They have sat down and said what they had to say in front of each other, so that's it. It's finished with. It won't carry on or spill over into anything else."

 

Smith is seeking a positive reaction from his players against their bottom-of-the-table opponents this lunchtime, adding that forthcoming fixtures will test his squad.

 

"December is a big month for us with a lot of tough fixtures," he said. "We lost a long undefeated away record last week and we need to show we can pick ourselves up. We need to bounce back against Falkirk."

 

 

http://sport.scotsman.com/sport/Nine-in-a-row-snipers.5886892.jp

[maineflyer 0]

Typically defensive effort from Smith. If it wasn't for some of those he's criticising, he wouldn't have lasted three seasons and left Ibrox a failure. Stop whining Walter.

[UCF2008 0]

If it wasn't for some of those he's criticising, he wouldn't have lasted three seasons and left Ibrox a failure.

 

To an extent you may be right, but that works both ways. If it wasn't for Walter Smith, those players probably wouldn't have anywhere near the amount of winners medals to show off. Walter stood by both Gough and Hateley when they were well past their sell-by date. They are actually two of the better examples of Smith showing too much loyalty to some players which ultimately cost him title number 10. You can't fault him for being angered when they show what he sees as a lack of respect.

 

That said, having read Hateley's article there wasn't much I could disagree with. He was maybe a little too scathing in his criticism of the current squad, but most of what he said was warranted, albeit emphasized to the point of making a headline to sell his rag. As a sports writer, that's his job though.

 

As for what Gough said, I have to admit that although he was a great player and captain for us, much like Butcher, I don't have much interest in his comments regarding Rangers. Most of it goes in one ear and straight out the other, so I couldn't comment on whatever criticism he's been firing over our way.

[Union City Blue 0]

I can see both sides too.

 

I had the (rare for me) privilage of speaking at length to a couple of very highly-regarded ex-players last week and they both said virtually the same thing; most of the current squad need a good kick up the arse because they are not doing enough on the park. Talking about tackling, facing up the play, shutting down, tracking runs etc. Hiding, even. I was actually shocked. You know how when you've never played professionally you expect some kind of professional solidarity and excuse-making from ex-players? Well there was none of it. Both were scathing and very annoyed about some of our current guys in particular.

 

One (who didn't play under him) was also critical of Smith's natural defensiveness and the other (who did) acknowledged it and said the players sometimes felt he'd always been a bit like that when they were playing too. Fact is friends won't criticise friends in the media even if they are thinking it, but they'll say what they can if the problem's wider than a single issue.

 

If players are not good enough, that's the club's and/or the manager's fault for buying, keeping or playing them. If they're not pulling their weight though, they deserve to be harangued, and if former players who could play the game to a high level can draw attention to it in the papers I don't have a problem with that.

[maineflyer 0]

I think some of these ex-players are just showing the same frustrations as the fans. No one enoys criticising someone who's done as much for Rangers as Walter Smith but what do you do when it gets as bad as this?

 

Walter chose most of these players, he's had years to coach and organise, he sets the team out on a game-by-game basis, and he's the one they look to for motivation and leadership. When players perform so badly and are obviously unwilling to put the effort in, what do we or the likes of Gough and Hately do? Do nothing, say nothing? I don't think so, especially when you have a media platform to hand. Why should Walter expect their silence when his team are so far behind what he himself should be demanding.

 

Walter needs to take heed to valid criticism and either get this group of players off their arse or take a hike himself. No man is bigger than the club, not even Walter Smith. And nothing that Gough or Hately have said is anything but the truth. It's a simple matter of accepting responsibility and deflecting atttention by taking a swipe at Gough and Hately isn't helpful.

[Super_Ally 0]

Before I write anything, I have to admit to not having read Hateley's latest peice. I've become tired of his hatchet jobs on Kris Boyd for one. The fact that's he's barely any better than DJ; "the trained hun" on whatever radio station he frequents, barely helps.

 

If Hateley's comments, in any way, came across as those of a Rangers man disappointed by the poor performances of the current squad then fair do's. In reality, the man merely puts his name to any Rangers-bashing story his paper wants.

 

As stated, I never read the current peice. And it may well be a well written and argued position. However, the phrase "throw enough shite" springs to mind. Any idiot will be right, occasionaly.

 

Richard Gough is a different case. Unlike your Hateley's, DJ's and Dodds, Gough is not a man who appears to delight in tarnishing the name of Rangers. So whilst I am not so quick to congratulate Hateley as many appear to be, Gough's comments carry a bit more weight.

[Totti 0]

The main things the 9 in a row players keep going on about is commitment and tackling. Little mention is made of the most important factor that we lack - technique/creativity. While we lack passion, tackling harder wouldn't have got us much further in Europe. The 9 in a row team aren't exactly experts on European performances either. All the criticism is valid but I just think its a typical old Scottish/British mentality to think the problems are all down to effort/aggression.

Edited December 7, 2009 by Totti

[maineflyer 0]

The main things the 9 in a row players keep going on about is commitment and tackling. Little mention is made of the most important factor that we lack - technique/creativity. While we lack passion, tackling harder wouldn't have got us much further in Europe. The 9 in a row team aren't exactly experts on European performances either. All the criticism is valid but I just think its a typical old Scottish/British mentality to think the problems are all down to effort/aggression.

 

I think the underlying point is that everyone already knows we don't have creativity and there's little point criticising players for failing to use talent they don't have. Everyone however is capable of at least making a decent effort during a game and can be criticised if they don't.

 

If anyone wants to criticise the lack of creativity they would need to direct their frustrations at the manager who clearly doesn't feel we need any.

[Totti 0]

It's beyond just a lack of creativity though. We can barely keep the ball for more than 2 passes at a time. That's the most alarming thing about this team yet nobody in the media seems to say it.

[Union City Blue 0]

Before I write anything, I have to admit to not having read Hateley's latest peice. I've become tired of his hatchet jobs on Kris Boyd for one. The fact that's he's barely any better than DJ; "the trained hun" on whatever radio station he frequents, barely helps.

 

If Hateley's comments, in any way, came across as those of a Rangers man disappointed by the poor performances of the current squad then fair do's. In reality, the man merely puts his name to any Rangers-bashing story his paper wants.

 

As stated, I never read the current peice. And it may well be a well written and argued position. However, the phrase "throw enough shite" springs to mind. Any idiot will be right, occasionaly.

 

Richard Gough is a different case. Unlike your Hateley's, DJ's and Dodds, Gough is not a man who appears to delight in tarnishing the name of Rangers. So whilst I am not so quick to congratulate Hateley as many appear to be, Gough's comments carry a bit more weight.

 

I'd echo your Hateley statements in particular mate (as you know)

 

I've heard that Gough is a different kettle of fish though, so I'd tend to take him more seriously.