Past glories count for nothing

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Past glories count for nothing

By ROBERT GRIEVE

Published: Today

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GOAL-SCORING legend one minute. Rookie managerial no-mark the next.

Walter Smith last night warned Ally McCoist his past glories as an Ibrox star will mean NOTHING the moment he becomes next Rangers boss.

Smith has given McCoist his seal of approval following this week's announcement he'll take over from him at the end of this season.

The current gaffer was the man who convinced the club's directors the one-time No 9 would be a brilliant No 1.

Smith insists the slate will be wiped clean the second Coisty sits down in the manager's chair. He said: "It doesn't matter whether you are Walter Smith, who was never a Rangers player, or Ally McCoist, a club hero.

"All that matters is that you create an environment that wins matches. You need a lot of help to do that but, as manager, you have to be at the helm of it all.

"It doesn't matter what has gone on beforehand. Whatever trophies you win, at the start of the next season you've got to go and do it again.

"You've got to do that continually - you don't have that cushion of saying, 'och well, we'll take a year or two to rebuild a team'.

"You've got to win all the time, otherwise you are under a bit of pressure.

"While being a club hero is not a handicap, it's not a help either. I think Alistair will be well accepted to start with but he knows he'll have to go into the job and start to win."

Stepping down as Rangers boss is nothing new to Smith. In 1998 he revealed he was quitting with Dick Advocaat his successor.

It was meant to be an announcement which boosted Gers' Ten-in-a-Row title bid.

Instead the wheels came off their title hopes as Wim Jansen's Celtic won the league. The fear now amongst Gers supporters is that Smith's latest exit will see history repeat itself.

Smith hopes the opposite will be true - with his struggling squad given a shot in the arm by the news McCoist is set to take control.

Speaking in Lisbon ahead of tonight's Europa League clash with Sporting, he added: "I'm obviously pleased he's going to get the opportunity to take over. The timing of it is never easy, but there isn't a perfect way of doing it.

"People can make whatever assessments they like between how we handled it in my previous time or how we are handling it now.

"I don't think there's much of a parallel. The only thing that matters is the club has got a new manager and hopefully this will make things newer and fresher. You don't know how it will affect the rest of this season.

"I certainly hope it doesn't affect anything on the playing side - or maybe I do and we might get a bit BETTER."

Whatever happens this season, Smith does NOT want McCoist to be held accountable.

He added: "Ultimately the manager carries the responsibility for what happens, so I take the responsibility for everything that it is currently happening at Rangers.

"If the team is not doing as well as people think we should be doing then it is MY responsibility to rectify it."

Smith is utterly convinced McCoist will make a great manager.

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He sees a football man, passionate about the game with a competitive edge few others have.

Some say McCoist is lucky - Smith hopes for his sake that's true.

He added: "Alistair has a tremendous desire to win at everything he enters into - that will sit well with the managerial side of things.

"He's an intelligent boy and he's had a good experience over the last few years which should help him when he goes into the job.

"I think he has the credentials to go on and be an exceptionally good manager. Like the rest of us, he'll need a bit of luck along the way. A lot of people say he has always carried a bit of luck, I hope he takes that into the job

Read more: http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/sport/3430181/Past-glories-count-for-nothing.html#ixzz1EpeWHpHy