Smith's future up in the air

[Jim White 0]

Rangers boss Walter Smith admits his future will depend on club ownership rather than success.

 

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Rangers boss Walter Smith admits his future will depend on club ownership rather than success, as the SPL leaders look set for a grandstand finish to the season.

 

The Old Firm club are up for sale amid debts of around �£30million and London-based property tycoon Andrew Ellis is currently assessing a possible takeover.

 

Ibrox legend Smith is on course for a treble-winning season and his non-contract relationship with the club has prompted suggestions he could retire on a high.

 

Smith rejects that notion, claiming finishing his career on a high is needless but admits that although his retirement will come with good timing it could be out of his hands.

 

"People keep asking me if I will be leaving and the truth is that I don't know because no-one knows what is going to happen with the club," Smith told Clyde 1.

 

"A lot will depend on what is happening at the club and my own mindset.

 

"There is still a lot of football to be played and it's like everything else - if you finish on a successful spell everyone says 'well, you should leave on a high'. I am not of that mind.

High

 

"Whatever happens it will not be a case of going out on a high, it will be if the time is right.

 

"If Rangers get new owners it could maybe be that they don't want you, or I could say, new owners, new start and they need the freshness of a different management team.

 

"I genuinely don't know what I am going to do. I was walking in before the Old Firm game a few weeks ago at 11am and I was asking myself, as the nerves got to me, why I was doing this.

 

"Then you get a last-minute goal and you remember what the reason is for doing it.

 

"I think the feeling when you lose a game is worse than it has ever been and you don't quite get the highs you used to.

 

"I certainly feel the defeats much worse than I used to and that aspect of it is quite strange."

 

First spell

 

Smith was manager for seven of Rangers' nine consecutive titles in his first spell with the club and since his return he has collected four trophies in his first two seasons back in charge as well as leading the team to a Uefa Cup final.

 

With a wealth of experience to be proud of, Smith is unsure how long he will remain in the game, adding: "I must admit at times when I came back to Rangers I didn't think I would be here for any great length of time.

 

"I think the thing is when I got the sack from Everton and I had a year of not really doing anything before the Scotland job, I quite enjoyed it for three or four months because you are able to do things you can't when you are involved day-to-day with football.

 

"After a period of time though, you wonder whether you want to do that.

 

"It's even worse this time because there is a finality about retiring and I have to ask myself whether that is something that I really want.

 

"There is a little bit of trepidation about saying I'm going to finish because I am enjoying it. I have no incapacity stopping me doing anything."

Edited March 16, 2010 by Frankie

[wabashcannonball 0]

If we want to advance as a club on the wider stage, we require a manager preferably proactive as opposed to reactive, with good tactical skills, Smith fits neither criteria.

[maineflyer 0]

If we want to advance as a club on the wider stage, we require a manager preferably proactive as opposed to reactive, with good tactical skills, Smith fits neither criteria.

 

I think it must be possible to accept the truth of what you say without appearing disloyal or ungrateful to Walter for the good things he has achieved at Rangers. The caveat here of course is that our financial limitations might make it impossible for a more proactive manager to achieve any more than Walter.

[Dr Preston Burke 0]

If a new owner comes in and replaces Walter it will be for financial reasons. Anyone who thinks they'll try and bring in some big name foreign coach is off their rocker

[Danny 0]

I think it must be possible to accept the truth of what you say without appearing disloyal or ungrateful to Walter for the good things he has achieved at Rangers. The caveat here of course is that our financial limitations might make it impossible for a more proactive manager to achieve any more than Walter.

 

I would expect unreasonable views from wabash, but you seriously agree with him that Walter Smith is tactically poor and not pro-active?

 

Goodness me, that draw to UTD has really turned some fans on the club in the past few days.

[wabashcannonball 0]

I would expect unreasonable views from wabash, but you seriously agree with him that Walter Smith is tactically poor and not pro-active?

 

Goodness me, that draw to UTD has really turned some fans on the club in the past few days.

 

Unreasonable ? has Smith suddenly become a tactical genius a manager who creates problems for other managers to react to, Europe is the killing fields and we get topped on a regular basis. Maybe you should have a look at some Everton boards, Smith is a negative manager, if playing with one up at Ibrox is your idea of not surrendering the initiative to the opposition, you have a strange view on the game.

[Zappa 0]

If we win this SPL title I'll be happy for Walter Smith to stay despite what happened in this season's CL and no matter what happens in the Cups. If however, we manage to throw away our lead and lose the SPL title, I'll be happy enough to see a change of manager. It really IS that simple for me.

[maineflyer 0]

I would expect unreasonable views from wabash, but you seriously agree with him that Walter Smith is tactically poor and not pro-active?

 

Goodness me, that draw to UTD has really turned some fans on the club in the past few days.

 

Perhaps it's the 13 point lead that has turned opinion about Walter. He's a really great guy, a committed Rangers man and he's achieved some amazing things as our manager. I think the world of him, his composure, his dignity, his loyalty. I haven't posted here that he's tactically poor and not pro-active - but neither would I be posting that he's a tactical genius or that he's highly pro-active. He's good in parts, effective under certain circumstances but I'm not going to buy into the nonsense that there are no better managers or that accepting the virtues of a better manager is somehow being overly critical of Smith.

 

No one has turned on the club in the last few days and it's hard to see where you pull that one from. I've got no particular track record of agreeing with wabash but I see nothing unreasonable about his first post on this thread - the one I replied to. His second post on the other hand is less composed as a result of your own knee jerk.

 

Kinda like the observation below that a better manager must be a highly paid foreigner, something only the poster actually suggests.

[maineflyer 0]

If we win this SPL title I'll be happy for Walter Smith to stay despite what happened in this season's CL and no matter what happens in the Cups. If however, we manage to throw away our lead and lose the SPL title, I'll be happy enough to see a change of manager. It really IS that simple for me.

 

I'll echo that. I'll be content if he stays for one more season but I suspect it will be otherwise.

[Super_Ally 0]

I'll echo that. I'll be content if he stays for one more season but I suspect it will be otherwise.

 

I thought you'd want rid, whatever. Assuming we retain the title, another season under The Tim-Skelper will do me. SPL trophy = CL football = Stronger finances. Nothing else matters for Rangers atm.