Wednesday 17th-Record Back Page

[ian1964 10,411]

[Gribz 743]

The top headline from Sutton jumps out, but we all know Sutton isn't all there. I heard him on Talksport recently and someone forgot to pack the bread in that picnic basket.

[the gunslinger 3,366]

That will cause an implosion

[ian1964 10,411]

[MoodyBlue 0]

No thanks Walter. Stay out of it please.

[SteveC 150]

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/walter-smith-helped-new-rangers-5895443?

 

 

WALTER SMITH is ready to help Mark Warburton settle into the Rangers hotseat - years after assisting the Englishman achieve his dream of becoming a big time manager.

 

Smith spoke exclusively to Record Sport yesterday just 24 hours after Warburton and former Ibrox skipper Davie Weir were unveiled as the club’s new management team.

 

Smith confirmed he would be willing to give new boy Warburton the benefit of his own experience of almost 17 years in the Rangers dugout - and revealed how the pair first spoke when the Englishman was studying to swap a career as a city trader for one in the professional game.

 

Smith said: “The only contact I’ve ever had with him was a few years ago, when he actually interviewed me. He was doing his pro-license in England and as part of the process you have to interview another manager to get his thoughts on coaching.

 

“So I met him and straight away I could tell this was someone who wanted success, who wanted to do well. He came across very well.

 

“If he wanted another chat then I would certainly oblige, just as I would with any other manager. If he thinks he’d benefit from talking about Rangers to someone with a bit of experience then, yes, I’d be happy to help out.

 

“But at the end of the day it comes down to how he sees the situation and what he thinks is the best way to go about it. You can talk to all number of people but any manager in a new job wants to put his own stamp on it. That’s the way it should be.

 

“I think he will be a good appointment for Rangers. Although Mark has only been a manager for a couple of years, he’s been involved in different aspects of the game for a while now and I that’ll be a big factor for them.

 

“But, more than anything else, he has shown that being a successful football manager is what he wants to do. That’s what’s driving him on at the present moment, considering that he came into the game a wee bit later than a lot of people are doing currently. The current trend seems to be to appoint managers who are hardly out of short trousers. I know I’m getting older but they are definitely getting younger at the same time.

 

“Mark has only had two years as a manager at Brentford but I think, at his age, he is ready for this kind of step up. His age, experience and maturity will help him to deal with the situation he’s coming into at Rangers. It’s not an ordinary job.”

Warburton now has little more than month in which to rebuild an entire squad ahead of his first competitive match as Rangers boss.

 

And Smith has urged him to keep it simple.

 

He continued: “The first objective is to build a team. I keep hearing that objective one is to win the Championship but right now he hardly has enough players to win a five-a-side league. They’ve not got a team, only five or six players with any kind of experience, so the priority right now has to be player recruitment so they can get a team together.

 

“It was a similar story three years ago when Ally McCoist was going into a new season with five players just five days before the first competitive game.

 

“So it’s now up to Mark and Davie to use what time they have left this summer to bring in the right players. After that it becomes very simple - they need to win. That’s the bottom line.

 

“Never mind any other aspect of the job, don’t try to over complicate it. When you have your players in place then you have to find a way to win football matches because Rangers don’t accept anything else. It doesn’t matter what division you are in or who you are up against, a Rangers manager’s first priority is to make sure his team is a winning one.

Edited June 17, 2015 by SteveC
url

[SteveC 150]

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/walter-smith-david-weir-would-5896101?

 

 

LIFE’S greatest journeys are seldom planned on a road map. They just happen, sometimes almost by accident.

 

For example, when Walter Smith first arrived at Ibrox, 29 years ago this summer as assistant manager to Graeme Souness, he was fairly sure life was about to change forever.

 

But he had no idea to what extent or, far less, that he would end up creating history as the architect-in-chief of 
Nine in a Row.

 

 

It was the same at the start of his second spell in charge. When he signed Davie Weir as a short-term emergency he could never have envisaged that the defender, who was already well into his veteran years, would still be lifting trophies four and half years later.

 

If experience has taught him 
anything it’s most probably the futility of guesswork.

 

Which is why Smith knows better than to predict a similar managerial journey for Weir, who has returned to Govan as wingman to the club’s new manager Mark Warburton.

 

 

Smith said: “I certainly don’t think he’s taken the job as assistant to Mark with one eye on becoming the manager himself. Anyone who knows football knows it doesn’t work like that. It was certainly the last thing on my mind when I agreed to work as Graeme’s assistant.

 

“What happens in the future, 
nobody knows. All Mark and Davie 
need to know right now is they need 
to be successful. That can be their 
only aim.”

 

Smith does not doubt that Warburton sees his own final destination at the top end of England’s Premier League.

 

But he believes Weir may have played a crucial role in persuading the much sought after 52-year-old to take this timely diversion following his surprise departure from Brentford.

 

He said: “There is no easy route into managing in the English Premier League. Mark took his first job at Brentford and there’s no doubt he’s held in high regard in England.

 

“But he’s obviously spent some time thinking over his next move.

 

“It doesn’t matter what anyone says, Rangers and Celtic are still massive clubs to be given the opportunity to manage. You can achieve a profile within these clubs which might be difficult to achieve in other places.

 

“Yes the Premier League is one of the main leagues in the world and I’m sure Mark still has ambitions to get there.

 

“But Davie will have been instrumental in telling him how big an opportunity this is and, on top of that, Mark will see this as a chance to get European football which is a massive incentive for any aspiring manager.

 

“Regardless of how highly you’re rated down there, you have to land a job at one of the major clubs before you get the same opportunity.”

 

And Smith is sure of one other thing – that Warburton and Weir wouldn’t have touched this job with a bargepole had he still been presiding over what had become the most dysfunctional board in British football.

 

The former chairman said: “They’ll be happy to be joining at this time because there has been a change of circumstances in the boardroom which is as important as the management aspect.

 

“Davie had a go at management at Sheffield United but the circumstances were not conducive to being successful. That’s something people don’t understand – more and more managers are suffering because of the circumstances at their clubs.

 

“It happened to Davie in Sheffield, to me at Everton and Ally McCoist over three or four years at Rangers. It’s not an excuse, it’s just a factor that you have to handle. But if the circumstances had not changed at Rangers I don’t think Mark and Davie would have put themselves into this situation.

 

“That’s what pleases me most about it – Rangers are becoming predominately about football again. The fans now feel the club is ready to get back to some kind of normality and to concentrate on being successful on the pitch.

 

“There’s a new board and new management team and a new era is ready to begin. That’s exciting for everyone connected with the club after all they have gone through.

 

“This is the first time in four years there is a feeling of genuine optimism inside Ibrox. That’s a massive statement on its own.”

 

And yet, from personal experience, Smith knows Warburton will be in for a shock at the scale of the task he has taken on – and the intensity which comes with it.

 

He said: “ It came as a shock to myself when I left Dundee United in 1986.

 

“What hit me right away was the rise in profile. We had always done well under Jim McLean but at Rangers we were operating under a microscope.

 

“It’s the same at Celtic and clubs like Manchester United and Chelsea. But there are very few jobs in any country which come with such pressure. When I was working in England I used to tell people that they would be surprised.

 

“Down there the newspaper coverage is more regionalised because there are so many clubs. But up here? It’s Rangers, Celtic and Scotland dominating every national newspaper every day.

 

“That’s where Davie’s experience at Rangers will be a big factor. They have shown they work well together as a team in their own roles and they seem to get on with each other.

 

“But Davie’s knowledge of Rangers – from the four-and-a-half years that he had as a player – is an advantage.

 

“During that time Davie was turning his mind towards management and coaching. So he will have been looking at things from that perspective and forming his own ideas. The intensity certainly won’t surprise him.

 

“When I signed him it was only meant to be for six months and at that stage he was only interested in playing.

 

“But such was his influence on the team that he lasted for another four years after that first half season, which really was quite remarkable and a testament to his professionalism.

 

“It was later on he began to turn an eye to coaching. He’s a bright fella so it wasn’t a surprise he started to do his coaching badges because he was one of these boys, when you saw the way he operated with other players, it looked like a natural progression for him.

 

“It wasn’t just his leadership qualities or his experience – it was because of the type of person he is. The other players just had a huge amount of respect for him. He’s not the sort for bawling and shouting at people.

 

“He goes about his business quietly and professionally and with a single-minded determination to be a winner. That’s exactly what Rangers need as the new era begins.”

[the gunslinger 3,366]

Good words from Walter.

[gisabeer 409]

What a pathetic headline. And they wonder why they are losing readers.

[der Berliner 3,245]

General remark:

 

Smith spoke exclusively to Record Sport ...

 

Someone should tell Sir Walter to stop that and if he can't help it go to the Telegraph and speak to Roddy Forsyth. Same for Warburton. Someone should tell him only to speak to impartial journos.