Gordon Smith to be appointed director of football ?

[Clemdog 39,389]

Welcome back Gordon

[the goal machine 7,801]

Welcome back to Rangers, Gordon and for the first time, Ali.

[DougieRFC 36]

These appointments excite me, if you'll care to notice also, it says Gordon Smith will be working with transfers as well, i think things are about to become a lot, lot more interesting at ibrox park...

[TartanTeddy 758]

Great appointment.

A man who has worked as an agent, and has a wealth of experience as a football administrator. Someone who is openly a fan of the club, but was principled enough not to be biased when in a position to do us favours. A guy who looked delighted coming out of Rugby park on the last game of the season. A great communicator, well liked by the media, articulate in the face of criticism while at the SFA where he was given little support. Good guy!

He's everything we should have at this club, and has everything the mhanks don't.

[papaguy51 912]

I think that's a fantastic appointment, absolutely fantastic.

Now sure how we'll pay him though, given how little money we have.

[lgr1991 303]

A proper Rangers man in charge of the youth academy and transfer dealings, sounds good to me

[Nameless Ghoul 6,054]

sure this will be a great move by rangers. heres hoping he brings something new to the club.

[simplythebestest 2,145]

I fail to see the point of this appointment?

I've highlighted it for you.

[markybear 136]

Not convinced at the Gordon smith Appointment tbh, I don't know why but i see him as quite a weak figure, but i can't quite put my finger on why I think this.

Anyway he's here now, so I'll back him

[californiadreamin52 339]

He`s at least a football man, has been an agent, knows how the SFA and UEFA in their own twisted way work and is media savvy plus he is a bluenose, so it could be a good appointment, but only time will tell

[gunslinger 270]

nonsense job.

[MosesMcNeil 1,664]

I mind watching Rangers gold videos and he seemed good! Was he a good player mate?

I thought he was a superb inside-forward. He arrived just in time to be part of the 77'-78' treble winning side along with Russell and Cooper I think, although I can't mind now who we bought him from. That's still my favourite team/season in all my years of watching The Rangers. That team was fucking superb!

He more than held is own in the company of the likes of Jardine, Forsyth, Greig, MacDonald, MacLean, Cooper and McKean.

He also scored in one my favourite ever Rangers European nights when we horsed Juventus 2 - 0

[Martin Luther 53]

nonsense job.

Oh no you didnt

dont worry Ill take the flak aff ye

Maybe Gordon smith has been hired to put the final nail in britneys coffin.

From The Times

October 13, 2007

Rangers remain Gordon Smith’s Achilles’ heel

Graham Spiers

Following the furore triggered by Gordon Smith’s claims about “an agenda against Rangers” I received a text message on Thursday from someone who has been at the heart of Scottish football for over 20 years.

“Smith is a national embarrassment,” his text said.

“Why?” I replied, genuinely shocked by the claim.

“A former player of a club which revelled in anti-Catholic bigotry for over 100 years, and he has the gall to say it’s all the fault of Catholic schools?” came the reply.

Whatever he has got wrong, it is time, I believe, to nail some of these calumnies about Gordon Smith.

First, and most crucial of all, he is not a bigot, he doesn’t have a bigoted bone in his body, and he is incapable of such a thing. Smith is too decent and too right-minded for such a disease, and it is time some of these stupid allegations were muzzled once and for all. In response to the story in The Times on Wednesday about his allegations in a forthcoming book, frankly, I don’t know what Smith and the SFA were doing in issuing a statement denying that he was a bigot. This had never been at issue: who or where in our story had anyone suggested bigotry on behalf of Smith? It was a trifle dumbfounding to find him and his media advisers coming out of their corners wildly swinging their anti-bigotry handbags when it hadn’t been suggested in the first place.

Secondly, nor will Smith in his role at the SFA show any bias or favour to Rangers or anyone else. I have said before that those Rangers fans who hope to have “one of us” firmly ensconced at the SFA, or those Celtic fans who hope to find “an obvious enemy” in the corridors of power at Hampden Park, are both going to be sorely disappointed.

Smith wants the best for every club in Scotland, big or small. He genuinely cheers for Celtic, say, in Europe, just as he does for Rangers, Aberdeen or anyone else. Those who think they detected “a sneer” in Smith’s countenance whenever he speaks of some Celtic success story are simply misguided fools. They evidently don’t know him.

Smith is not small-minded, he doesn’t harbour petty grudges. On the contrary, he is broad-minded, progressive and even a touch radical in his outlook, with a strain in his thinking which often goes against the grain. For all of this and more he is to be encouraged and aided as a figurehead at the SFA.

Rangers, though, remains his Achilles’ heel, and he has to work through it. This is obvious from the comments he has made in It’s Rangers For Me?, the intriguing book which is about to go on release. Nor is it much of a defence, if you assert as Smith has that there is “an agenda against Rangers”, to argue that these comments were made before he took up office at the SFA.

The fact is, it is what he believes, and it is out in the open now. Smith has been burnt by what was always going to be a fiery transition, from being a freethinking, almost fast-and-loose media pundit to becoming an SFA figurehead. There was always a risk in that journey and it has come back to haunt him.

And now that he has said it, let’s try to cut to the core of it: what does Smith mean by “an agenda against Rangers”?

Initially, there was a hint that he may mean “an agenda” at the heart of Uefa but I don’t think this is what he means at all. There is also a hint that he may mean “an agenda” within the Scottish media – presumably, among those of us who have heavily criticised Rangers over their bigotry problem – but in further comments Smith quickly and specifically backs away from this.

I believe I know exactly what he means, and it is a worrying sign. By “an agenda against Rangers” I think that Smith believes there has been a climate created in Scottish football – created by blokes like me – in which it has come to be open-season on Rangers in terms of the club’s reputation. I think Smith has looked at the critical comment on Rangers in recent years – and the way these media comments triggered Uefa’s prosecution of the Ibrox club – and has decided that Rangers, much more than Celtic, get a hard time these days. That is really what he is getting at.

The reason this is worrying is because Smith is openly vexed about the truth: Rangers have had a significantly worse press than Celtic, precisely because they have had a significantly worse problem among their supporters. Frankly, if Smith can’t live with this, then he is kowtowing to the hoary old line, once put about by knee-knocking newspaper editors, that you should always make everything absolutely equal in terms of comment about Rangers and Celtic. In terms of bigotry, for instance, this facile principle always meant asserting that “One side is just as bad as the other”, or that “They’re both just as bad as each other”. For years this was the great unwritten, safety-first rule of Scottish sports journalism.

Well, we’ve moved on from this, even if not quite yet in Gordon Smith’s mind. Rangers and Celtic are no more equal in terms of the bigotry problem than Glasgow and Edinburgh are equal in terms of urban deprivation. Indeed, it would be a mild freak if they were. Today, there doesn’t need to be any more hang-ups about condemning Rangers for their significantly greater problem, just as the Ibrox club deserves commendation for the strides it has made in the past two years. Life is hard in this context, life is rarely equal.

Smith needs to get his head around this - it is his one blind spot. He is timorous about it but the age of cowering over bigotry in football is over. “I think there needs to be more even-handedness about it,” Smith complains of the Old Firm debate. Really, Gordon? Do you mean like... just pretend it is equal, always say that “One side is as bad as the other”?

Like I say, we’ve moved on from this. If this is really what the SFA chief believes, then his mind is stuck in a previous age. And it ill-behoves a good man with many good ideas.

[topgoalie 637]

Good move always speaks well and is a good Rangers man.

could'nt have put it better myself he has always backed rangers. i've read his book and knows football inside out and is a very intelligent and astute man. superb move by Craig Whyte.

[RFC55 108,891]

I thought he was a superb inside-forward. He arrived just in time to be part of the 77'-78' treble winning side along with Russell and Cooper I think, although I can't mind now who we bought him from. That's still my favourite team/season in all my years of watching The Rangers. That team was fucking superb!

He more than held is own in the company of the likes of Jardine, Forsyth, Greig, MacDonald, MacLean, Cooper and McKean.

He also scored in one my favourite ever Rangers European nights when we horsed Juventus 2 - 0

Was it not Kilmarnock he came from?

[gunslinger 270]

Oh no you didnt

dont worry Ill take the flak aff ye

Maybe Gordon smith has been hired to put the final nail in britneys coffin.

From The Times

October 13, 2007

Rangers remain Gordon Smith’s Achilles’ heel

Graham Spiers

Following the furore triggered by Gordon Smith’s claims about “an agenda against Rangers” I received a text message on Thursday from someone who has been at the heart of Scottish football for over 20 years.

“Smith is a national embarrassment,” his text said.

“Why?” I replied, genuinely shocked by the claim.

“A former player of a club which revelled in anti-Catholic bigotry for over 100 years, and he has the gall to say it’s all the fault of Catholic schools?” came the reply.

Whatever he has got wrong, it is time, I believe, to nail some of these calumnies about Gordon Smith.

First, and most crucial of all, he is not a bigot, he doesn’t have a bigoted bone in his body, and he is incapable of such a thing. Smith is too decent and too right-minded for such a disease, and it is time some of these stupid allegations were muzzled once and for all. In response to the story in The Times on Wednesday about his allegations in a forthcoming book, frankly, I don’t know what Smith and the SFA were doing in issuing a statement denying that he was a bigot. This had never been at issue: who or where in our story had anyone suggested bigotry on behalf of Smith? It was a trifle dumbfounding to find him and his media advisers coming out of their corners wildly swinging their anti-bigotry handbags when it hadn’t been suggested in the first place.

Secondly, nor will Smith in his role at the SFA show any bias or favour to Rangers or anyone else. I have said before that those Rangers fans who hope to have “one of us” firmly ensconced at the SFA, or those Celtic fans who hope to find “an obvious enemy” in the corridors of power at Hampden Park, are both going to be sorely disappointed.

Smith wants the best for every club in Scotland, big or small. He genuinely cheers for Celtic, say, in Europe, just as he does for Rangers, Aberdeen or anyone else. Those who think they detected “a sneer” in Smith’s countenance whenever he speaks of some Celtic success story are simply misguided fools. They evidently don’t know him.

Smith is not small-minded, he doesn’t harbour petty grudges. On the contrary, he is broad-minded, progressive and even a touch radical in his outlook, with a strain in his thinking which often goes against the grain. For all of this and more he is to be encouraged and aided as a figurehead at the SFA.

Rangers, though, remains his Achilles’ heel, and he has to work through it. This is obvious from the comments he has made in It’s Rangers For Me?, the intriguing book which is about to go on release. Nor is it much of a defence, if you assert as Smith has that there is “an agenda against Rangers”, to argue that these comments were made before he took up office at the SFA.

The fact is, it is what he believes, and it is out in the open now. Smith has been burnt by what was always going to be a fiery transition, from being a freethinking, almost fast-and-loose media pundit to becoming an SFA figurehead. There was always a risk in that journey and it has come back to haunt him.

And now that he has said it, let’s try to cut to the core of it: what does Smith mean by “an agenda against Rangers”?

Initially, there was a hint that he may mean “an agenda” at the heart of Uefa but I don’t think this is what he means at all. There is also a hint that he may mean “an agenda” within the Scottish media – presumably, among those of us who have heavily criticised Rangers over their bigotry problem – but in further comments Smith quickly and specifically backs away from this.

I believe I know exactly what he means, and it is a worrying sign. By “an agenda against Rangers” I think that Smith believes there has been a climate created in Scottish football – created by blokes like me – in which it has come to be open-season on Rangers in terms of the club’s reputation. I think Smith has looked at the critical comment on Rangers in recent years – and the way these media comments triggered Uefa’s prosecution of the Ibrox club – and has decided that Rangers, much more than Celtic, get a hard time these days. That is really what he is getting at.

The reason this is worrying is because Smith is openly vexed about the truth: Rangers have had a significantly worse press than Celtic, precisely because they have had a significantly worse problem among their supporters. Frankly, if Smith can’t live with this, then he is kowtowing to the hoary old line, once put about by knee-knocking newspaper editors, that you should always make everything absolutely equal in terms of comment about Rangers and Celtic. In terms of bigotry, for instance, this facile principle always meant asserting that “One side is just as bad as the other”, or that “They’re both just as bad as each other”. For years this was the great unwritten, safety-first rule of Scottish sports journalism.

Well, we’ve moved on from this, even if not quite yet in Gordon Smith’s mind. Rangers and Celtic are no more equal in terms of the bigotry problem than Glasgow and Edinburgh are equal in terms of urban deprivation. Indeed, it would be a mild freak if they were. Today, there doesn’t need to be any more hang-ups about condemning Rangers for their significantly greater problem, just as the Ibrox club deserves commendation for the strides it has made in the past two years. Life is hard in this context, life is rarely equal.

Smith needs to get his head around this - it is his one blind spot. He is timorous about it but the age of cowering over bigotry in football is over. “I think there needs to be more even-handedness about it,” Smith complains of the Old Firm debate. Really, Gordon? Do you mean like... just pretend it is equal, always say that “One side is as bad as the other”?

Like I say, we’ve moved on from this. If this is really what the SFA chief believes, then his mind is stuck in a previous age. And it ill-behoves a good man with many good ideas.

oh smiths a great man happy to have him on board.

just directors of football are a nonsense job.

that said i hope he can sort out our youth department because its an abomination at present.

i am all for this appointment.

[Martin Luther 53]

[the goal machine 7,801]

nonsense job.

His job is to do with transfers, scouting and youth development. All very important.

Who cares what the title is.

[gunslinger 270]

His job is to do with transfers, scouting and youth development. All very important.

Who cares what the title is.

true.

[MosesMcNeil 1,664]

Was it not Kilmarnock he came from?

Sounds about right. I definitely know Cooper was brought from Clydebank because I was lucky enough to watch him giving Greig the run around for the Bankies not long before we signed him. The first time I watched Cooper for Clydebank at Kilbowie vs the Rangers he was absolutely amazing.

I'm sure I've never heard such a collective clamour from the Bears to sign one player after a single performance such as he delivered that night.

[Ace 3,556]

If his job is to do with transfers etc then it is a good appointment, he has had a career as an agent already so knows what it's like from both sides of the table.

[the brown brogue 1,909]

Director of football ?

Were just giving more wages away FFS

Total farce

We don't need any director of fball , end of

What the fuck would you know about it? Thats right nothing, same as the rest of the twats on here who moan about the running of the club then moan when we change it and moan about not signing players then moan about the ones we do.

[rangersxfc 265]

great news he will take no shit unlike the last board.......POWER TO THE PEOPLE ........

[Garnock Blue 316]

know big Smudger well and a fellow Ayrshire boy....this is a great appointment...kind of guy we need at the club,,,he has the nous to take on the bheggars in the PR department and as a former players agent his skills will be very valuable.

All you guys who are judging him on his SFA role are missing the point...

THIS IS EXACTLY THE TYPE OF MAN WE SHOULD BE BRINGING ON BOARD....do you want change or not?

[jcb 1,167]

know big Smudger well and a fellow Ayrshire boy....this is a great appointment...kind of guy we need at the club,,,he has the nous to take on the bheggars in the PR department and as a former players agent his skills will be very valuable.

All you guys who are judging him on his SFA role are missing the point...

THIS IS EXACTLY THE TYPE OF MAN WE SHOULD BE BRINGING ON BOARD....do you want change or not?

100% correct.

Due to him being both a fan & ex-player with us coupled with a jealous clique of ex colleges in the media Gordon was never given a chance at the SFA.

Excellent appointment imo.