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Is Walter really what we need?


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Is Walter really what we need at Ibrox? I was hoping we could get away from the "Jobs for the boys" that's deeply ingrained in Ibrox.

 

Before anyone starts....I'm well aware of his status among us and I love the guy as much as anyone, but will he be up for making, or at least voicing a strong opinion of Ally and his staff? After all he handed the job to them.

 

I'd rather Walter stayed retired and came to games as a punter. Ok he'll always be available for any manager or the board to talk to for advice, but making decisions

 

I really want a new fresh start with new faces and ideas. Not the same old same old

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Appointing Walter to some non-exec board position brings credibility to Zeus' ownership of the club and thus increases the chance of IPO success.

 

That's why it's being done so I'm not overly worried Smith coming back will mean anti-football for as long as he has an input. It's a symbolic position more than anything else but the more help we have in ensuring success returns to the club the better. There's no denying that, for all his faults, Smith brought success.

 

I would like to see an innovative look at how we can improve the fortunes of the club but that's not easy given the situation we're in. Which brings us back to the IPO needing to be a success.

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Leggo - WALTER SMITH ON BRINK OF REJOINING RANGERS

 

CHARLES GREEN and Imran Ahmad are today on the very brink of hammering the last nail into the coffin of those who have criticised them and doubted them.

 

Including me.

 

And remember that you read it here first, on August 25th. If you don’t believe me then check it out in the LeggoLand archives.

 

For there you will find my exclusive revelation that the first steps in Walter Smith returning to Rangers had been taken after Charles Green had invited Walter Smith to be his guest in the director’s box the day Rangers played East Stirling.

 

I further revealed that the two men had spent almost an hour locked in talks after the game and added that a further meeting was planned.

 

Now I can reveal that meeting has taken place. It happened last Thursday when Walter Smith met Charles Green and Imran Ahmad in their offices at Ibrox.

 

Coincidentally it took place when I was just a couple of hundred yards away, with sixties legend Davie Wilson, launching my new book Great Scot, the James Scotland Symon Story.

 

But I can also tell you that nothing is yet signed and sealed to deliver the return of Walter Smith to Rangers.

 

However, since those initial talks were first exclusively published here, things have moved on, with Charles Green going public with his desire to see Walter Smith’s gravitas, know-how and true blue character back inside Ibrox to help Rangers recover.

 

And even more tellingly, the man closest to Walter Smith, Rangers manager Alistair McCoist, has publicly declared his support for the return of his friend and mentor.

 

I do not believe McCoist, who knows Smith so well and is acutely aware of the way Walter Smith so jealously guards his name, would have spoken out in such a forthright way had he not been pretty confident Smith was on the brink of another return to Rangers.

 

No actual role for Walter Smith has been clearly defined should he return, but one thing which is certain is that it will not be an active football job.

 

For Charles Green and Imran Ahmad, getting Smith to return to Rangers would be their biggest coup.

 

For there is no other man so idolised, so revered, so respected and most importantly of all, so trusted by the Rangers supporters.

 

Nor is there any man more trusted, respected and trusted by the nation’s press pack. And that includes old timers such as me.

 

I wrote it on August 25th and I am pleased to repeat it here and now.

 

If Walter Smith returns to Rangers under the current regime, it will end everyone’s fears and worries about what motives drive Charles Green and Imran Ahmad.

 

In fact, not just including me.... but especially me.

 

Anyone who knows me, who is aware of my probity and my family’s Rangers supporting tradition, which stretches back almost a century, will be well aware that my attacks on Charles Green in particular, were prompted by a fear the regime was going to rip off Rangers.

 

Many Rangers supporters felt the same way about the new regime. And it is easy to understand such feelings, given what happened when David Murray owned the club and then sold it to Craig Whyte, who we now know is an even bigger liar, cheat, conman and shyster than we previously believed. And that’s going some.

 

Charles Green and Imran Ahmad appeared from out of nowhere and it was the suddenness of their appearance which set alarm bells ringing.

 

Those bells, it would seem, may have gone off in Walter Smith’s head too, for when reclusive billionaire Jim McColl asked him to front a consortium to attempt a takeover within days of Charles Green’s buy-out, Smith agreed.

 

That move was met with universal support. And my voice was probably the loudest in support of the Walter Smith fronted bid.

 

Just as it was the loudest, using the most colourful and emotive language, to deride Charles Green.

 

However, regular readers will be aware that in recent weeks, certainly in the more than two months since I revealed Walter Smith and Charles Green were talking and that Green wanted Smith back at Ibrox, my treatment of Green has been different. My comments about him and the new regime have been muted to the point of being unheard.

 

Instead, what I have been doing is watching and waiting.

 

What I have been watching is every move, every statement, every proposal made by Charles Green and by Imran Ahmad. And I have been impressed. Not with everything. But with almost everything.

 

And what I have been waiting for is a signal that Walter Smith was, if not ready to rejoin Rangers, but that he was at least moving closer to making his decision.

 

As it happens there have been a number of signals, starting with Walter Smith visiting Ibrox seven days ago to meet Charles Green and Imran Ahmad, followed by Green’s statement that he would love to have Smith at Rangers again and finally – and most importantly – Alistair McCoist’s outspoken and ringing endorsement of the idea that Walter Smith may well be on the brink of becoming a Ranger again.

 

As if he has ever been anything else.

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quick answer....NO.

 

I see it as a simple PR stunt. The fans love Walter (in general) and if there's a hint that he's going to be involved in running the club, they would buy into it - look at the support he got when it looked like he was fronting a bit to buy the club!!!

 

I totally agree that we need a freshness in the boardroom. Folk with sound, forward thinking football knowledge for the Club board, and folk with sound business sense for the PLC board.

 

Let Walter enjoy his retirement.

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Frankie I know what you mean. But he's like Alex Ferguson, if he moved upstairs it would have some sort of hold on the club even if he wasn't having much of an input.

 

People will say," lets ask Walter" all the time and I bet he'd employ a lot of ex Rangers players in rolls. That's my worry.

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