Walter Smith

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Walter Ferguson Smith (born 24 February 1948) is a Scottish former football player, manager and director.

He is primarily associated with his two spells as manager of Scottish club Rangers. A defender, Smith's playing career consisted of two spells with Dundee United, split by a short time at Dumbarton.

A pelvic injury meant he moved into coaching at Dundee United, working for manager Jim McLean, while he also took charge of the Scotland under-18 and under-21 teams.

Smith was assistant to Scotland manager Alex Ferguson at the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, after it had been announced that he would be moving to Rangers as assistant to Graeme Souness. Smith became the manager of Rangers in 1991, succeeding Souness.

He won 13 major trophies in seven years, including seven league titles in succession.

After leaving Rangers at the end of the 1997–98 season, he was appointed manager of English Premier League club Everton.

He was in charge at Goodison Park for four seasons before he was sacked in 2002. After a brief stint as assistant manager to Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, Smith was appointed Scotland manager in December 2004.

He presided over a revival in their fortunes, taking the national team 70 places up the FIFA World Rankings.

After a good start to UEFA Euro 2008 qualification, he resigned as Scotland manager in January 2007 to return to Rangers.

He won eight trophies during his second spell as Rangers manager and guided the team to the 2008 UEFA Cup Final, before retiring from management in 2011.

Smith is the second-most successful manager in the history of Rangers, behind Bill Struth.

Early life

Smith was born in Lanark, but grew up in the Carmyle district in the East End of Glasgow, and was a boyhood fan of Rangers. He was employed by the South of Scotland Electricity Board before launching his football career in the 1960s with Junior League team Ashfield.

Personal life and death

Smith was married to Ethel, with whom he had two sons, Neil and Steven.

Smith was a close friend of former Celtic player and manager Tommy Burns. He was a pallbearer at Burns's funeral in 2008.

Politically, Smith described himself as a socialist and said he was brought up with "socialist principles".

During the 2014 Scottish independence referendum Smith was a supporter of the Better Together campaign against Scottish independence.

He underwent an unspecified medical operation in March 2021 that required him to stay in hospital.

Smith died from cancer on the morning of 26 October 2021, aged 73. A private family funeral was held on 3 November, followed by a public memorial service at Glasgow Cathedral on 19 November.

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Playing career

Smith was one of three Ashfield players signed by Dundee United's legendary manager Jerry Kerr in 1966, joining the club shortly after teammates Jim Cameron and Gerry Hernon. Smith, a versatile player, began serving with the reserve team in a variety of capacities, first as a right-half. On March 20, 1967, he made his first team debut against Kilmarnock in a Scottish Football League match. He continued to play for the reserves, but he made only a handful of first team matches over the next four years before establishing himself in the 1970-71 season.

Smith remained a regular first team player for United until 1974, many in central defense. Jim McLean, his future coaching mentor, joined him in December 1971 and the next month, his future administrative assistant Archie Knox became a teammate. Smith scored his only goal of the game in September 1973 as United defeated Dundee in the Dundee derby; he celebrated by kissing his boot, a move that later regretted. He appeared in the 1974 Scottish Cup Final against Celtic, Dundee United's first appearance in a major final, but he ended with a runners-up trophy following a 3–0 loss.

Smith appeared less often the following season, and Dumbarton was sold to Dumbarton in September 1975. He had appeared in 108 league games, scoring 2 goals between 1966 and 1975.

He was recruited to Dumbarton by Alex Wright's management team and former Rangers player Davie Wilson, who was a familiar face having been one of Smith's heroes as a teen supporter, as a villager, Cambuslang, and then as a senior teammate at Dundee United. They made an unusual appearance at the semi-final stage of the Scottish Cup in 1976, losing to Hearts after a replay, with Smith scoring an early own goal.

He appeared in 44 league games for Dumbarton before McLean paid £4,000 to bring him back to Dundee United in February 1977. Smith's playing career came to an end shortly after, but shortly after, a serious pelvic injury effectively ended his Smith's playing career at the age of 29.

He spent the remainder of his time with the reserve team, mostly helping with the recruitment of younger players. His last game appearance was in September 1980, the first time he was embarking on a teaching career. During his second season, he appeared in 26 league games and, in total, he appeared in 183 senior appearances for Dundee United, scoring three goals. In addition, he set a club record by appearing on approximately 360 reserve team appearances.

Managerial career

At a time when Dundee United were Scottish champions and European Cup semi-finalists, he expanded his coaching abilities as assistant manager to Jim McLean. Smith, a notoriously hard-bitten boss, earned a reputation for being a strict disciplinarian while working with McLean, a notoriously hard-bitten boss. Smith, who was an apprentice of the club at the time in the 1980s, was known to punch punches to enforce discipline, according to Kevin Gallacher, who was an apprentice of the club. In 1986, he joined Dundee United's board of directors.

In 1978, he was appointed coach of the Scotland Under-18 team and helped them win the European Youth Championship in 1982. He was the assistant manager of Alex Ferguson's Under 21 team during the 1986 Mexico World Cup, and was also the head coach of the Under 21 team. Ferguson remarked on Smith, saying, "There are few people in the game with his expertise, knowledge, and technical expertise."

Graeme Souness was named player-manager of Rangers in April 1986 and Smith accepted his invitation to become assistant. In 1986–89, he guided Rangers to Premier Division and League Cup glory, his second consecutive league title since 1989–90, as well as another League Cup in 1990–91.

Smith was the first figure in the dugout for several matches when Souness continued to play regularly until 1988. In addition, Smith was in charge of the team in the 1987 Scottish League Cup Final, after Souness was suspended. Souness was subjected to a substantial touchline ban from February 1989, but he circumvented it by naming himself as a substitute.

Smith was appointed interim manager when Souness left for Liverpool in April 1991. In May 1991, the club won its fourth championship in five seasons, and was made permanent. Six more league titles in succession followed Smith's tenure, with a single treble in 1992–93. He has also won the Scottish Cup and the League Cup three times. Smith took Rangers to the final of the Champions League in 1992-1993, going ten games without loss in that season and 44 matches unbeaten in all competitions.

Smith's six-year tenure as governor cost more than every other club in the United Kingdom over the same period. In 1996–97, Rangers tied Celtic for nine consecutive titles. Rangers invested £13 million on eight new players in an attempt to produce a record-breaking tenth victory in 1997-98. Rangers were defeated 4–1 by IFK Gothenburg in the 1997–98 UEFA Champions League preliminary round and 4–2 by Strasbourg in the first round of the 1997–98 European Champions Cup first round. Smith was coming under increasing strain as a result of poor European results, and it was announced in October 1997 that he would leave Rangers at the end of the season. Rangers lost the league championship to Celtic on the final day and then lost the 1998 Scottish Cup Final to Hearts.

Smith's resignation in Scotland lasted a month after taking over Everton's job as a manager in June 1998. Smith had been linked to the manager's position at Sheffield Wednesday, but the Everton chairman's false promises of massive transfer funds and endless enthusiasm attracted him to Goodison Park. Smith invested money on players only to find out that the club did not have money. Duncan Ferguson was tempted to leave after being sold behind Smith's back. The remainder of his time at Everton revolved around selling the club's top players, including John Collins, Olivier Dacourt, Don Hutchison, Marco Materazzi, Nick Barmby, Francis Jeffers, and Michael Ball.

Everton spent three seasons under Smith, achieving the bottom half of the table. After losing 3–0 FA Cup Sixth Round to Middlesbrough in March 2002, Everton's board finally ran out of patience with Smith and he was fired in March 2002, with Everton in some danger of relegation from the Premier League. David Moyes, the Everton boss who led Everton to a safe finish in fifteenth place, was fired.

Smith returned to football in March 2004, after he spent a short time as assistant manager to Alex Ferguson at Manchester United at the end of the 2003–04 season. Manchester United defeated Millwall at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff during this time.

Smith took over the Scottish national team on December 2, 2004, replacing Berti Vogts. Despite a revival of fortunes under Smith, including a home draw with Italy and a tepid victory over Norway, a chance of qualifying the 2006 World Cup was ended by a 1–0 home loss against Belarus.

During his tenure, Scotland's world ranking rose by seven points. Scotland defeated World Cup runners-up France in a UEFA Euro 2008 qualification match at Hampden and temporarily led their team by three points. On October 11, 2006, the campaign's first defeat against Ukraine was 2–0.

Rangers had spoken to Smith in the hopes of deploying him as the Rangers' new manager, with Ally McCoist as the assistant manager. Smith's approach was initially dismissed by Rangers, but his return as Rangers' boss was confirmed on January 10 2007. He succeeded Paul Le Guen, who had left Rangers by mutual agreement after they were defeated by Celtic in the 2006-07 Scottish Premier League and dropped 17 points behind Celtic in the Scottish Premier League, although Caretaker boss Ian Durrant (who had never played under him) was retained on the coaching staff.

Smith's first match in his second stint at Ibrox was a 5–0 victory over Dundee United on January 13th, with two goals from Kris Boyd and one each from Barry Ferguson, Chris Burke, and Charlie Adam. Smith's first final since his return was secured with a 2–0 victory over Hearts in the 2007–08 Scottish League Cup. Rangers took on Dundee United in the 2008 Scottish League Cup Final; the game was 1–1 after normal time and 2–2 after extra time. The winners were selected by penalty kicks. Rangers beat 32-0, with Kris Boyd scoring the winning penalty (as well as Rangers' goals in normal time and extra time).

Walter Smith arranged Rangers' first European final for 36 years after failing to qualify in the UEFA Champions League group stage on the final day after good performances against VFB Stuttgart, Olympique Lyonnais, and FC Barcelona. Rangers won the away leg 2–0 after a 0–0 home draw with Sporting. Rangers lost 0–0 in both legs to Fiorentina, and after additional time, they took 4–2 on penalties, advancing to the UEFA Cup Final in Manchester, where they defeated Zenit St. Petersburg by 0–2. Rangers also missed out on the league by a small amount due to a backlog in the league at the end of the season; they won the 2007–08 Scottish Cup for the 68th match of the season; afterwards, Smith announced that assistant McCoist had been in charge of the squad in the Scottish Cup run.

Rangers drew 0–0 with Lithuanian side FBK Kaunas at Ibrox on July 30, 2008, losing the return leg 2–1. Rangers were forced to pull out of European competition early after losing to Kaunas. Rangers won the SPL championship on May 24th, their 52nd Championship. Smith finished the season with a League and Cup double, after finishing the season on the Scottish Cup a week later.

When the following month, it was announced that Smith would continue as Rangers boss without a contract until it came to an end. He coached Rangers to victory in the League Cup in March 2010, after they had been reduced to nine men in the final. Rangers clinched their 53rd league title with a 1–0 victory over Hibernian on April 25, 2010.

Smith signed a new one-year contract with the Rangers manager throughout the 2010–11 campaign on May 25th. He said that this will be his last as Rangers manager, with McCoist to take over thereafter. Rangers won the League Cup and their 54th league title in this last season as boss, Smith led them to another domestic double. With a 5–1 victory over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park on the final day of the season, the league was sealed.

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