Walter Smith Interview

[AlBear. 8,499]

Former Rangers boss Walter Smith says the club can’t move forward until the boardroom battle at Ibrox is resolved.

Rangers International returned its first annual accounts last week, which revealed that the company had run at an operating loss of £14.3m in its first year with over £33m in costs and a £19m turnover.

Speaking at a boxing event in Glasgow, Smith, who stepped down as chairman of the Glasgow side in August, said: “

“I don’t think there’s a great deal of turmoil within the current board but I think there’s turmoil been created because a lot of people want to see a change in that board.

“I think that’s the main crux of the problem at the present moment.

“The football aspect of Rangers is going as you would expect it to from a big club down in the lower leagues. They are back on track, playing some good football at the present moment but we still have this problem surrounding the present board.

“I don’t think the club can get back to being a settled club until that is eventually settled.”

It was revealed on Tuesday that oldco investor Dave King has met with chief executive Craig Mather over the current situation at Ibrox.

Mr King met with Mr Mather and Rangers International Football Club plc finance director Brian Stockbridge in South Africa on Monday.

Smith said he would welcome Mr King’s return to Ibrox and on the current board added: “I think just now there’s the obvious suspicion that the club isn;t the main reason why people are running it.

“After the AGM, if we can get back to the fact Rangers are a football club and should be run for the football club and football team then that would be a massive step.

“I think like everybody else you get frustrated that nothing seems to be settling down at the club.

“There is a fair amount of turmoil in the background. I don’t think the club can really look forward until that is erased.”

Smith also defended Ally McCoist's salary and expressed his surprise at figures on the annual accounts.

But Smith, the former manager who recently left his position as non-executive chairman, reckons the man he nurtured as a future boss deserves credit for accepting a pay cut at all.

He said: "People have to remember that contract was signed when Rangers were in the Premier Division and had an opportunity of getting to the Champions League.

"That's where that started and I don't think it was any of his doing that Rangers have ended up in the situation they're in.

"They've adjusted to that now, everyone has made it clear what's going to happen, and Alistair has agreed to take a cut.

"It's good of him to do that because he's put his career on the line - I don't think he'd ever have imagined managing Rangers in the circumstances that they find themselves in."

[Redsox1 1,361]

"It's good of him to do that because he's put his career on the line" If he didn`t want the paycut we could have sacked him for the numerous cup failures.

I hope Ally is on a one year rolling deal.I also hope he never earns as high a wage as that again with us.We should never be paying that amount. especially for an untried manager at the time.

[Guest]

"It's good of him to do that because he's put his career on the line" If he didn`t want the paycut we could have sacked him for the numerous cup failures.

I hope Ally is on a one year rolling deal.I also hope he never earns as high a wage as that again with us.We should never be paying that amount. especially for an untried manager at the time.

I read somewhere his contract is up at the end of the year. Hope he gets a new one based on recent performances.

I think its unfair that he's getting the amount of criticism he's getting, there is not one person on here who would say "naw I think i'll take a wee bit less than that" if someone offered then £800,000 a year.

[simplythebest 11,453]

Bit of an on the fence interview imo.

[elephants stoned 2,994]

Walters right for all the turmoil earlyier this year mainly from Malcom Murray and Charles Greens infighting the board itself is fairly settled right now, its the requstioners causing all the trouble whether good intentions or not they have caused havoc the last few months. Of course Walter will defend Allys pay, hes the man who recommended Ally for manager no way would he critisise Allys salery in public

[JCDBigBear 11,049]

Not sure if Walter is fence-sitting or not but there is no real criticism of the current board nor any major promotion of the McColl/Murray partnership.

[JCDBigBear 11,049]

I read somewhere his contract is up at the end of the year. Hope he gets a new one based on recent performances.

I think its unfair that he's getting the amount of criticism he's getting, there is not one person on here who would say "naw I think i'll take a wee bit less than that" if someone offered then £800,000 a year.

But I'll bet there are a lot of Rangers fans who would take a salary cut down to ONLY £400k if was to help the Rangers.

[thehost 11,061]

Is he slating David Murray yet?

If not I will give it a miss

[RM Monitor And Standards Officer 112,883]

Not sure if Walter is fence-sitting or not but there is no real criticism of the current board nor any major promotion of the McColl/Murray partnership.

Even when he left there was no great condemnation of the board.

Infact he believed Mather should be allowed to get on with the job,

[ForeverBlue_Since91 2,895]

Even when he left there was no great condemnation of the board.

Infact he believed Mather should be allowed to get on with the job,

He also said Rangers fans should back change in the board room. Don't think he knows what he wants.

[simplythebest 11,453]

He also said Rangers fans should back change in the board room. Don't think he knows what he wants.

Story of my life

[8Ace 49]

But I'll bet there are a lot of Rangers fans who would take a salary cut down to ONLY £400k if was to help the Rangers.

I find it strange that an untried, rookie manager would receive top dollar regardless of division. Top dollar should be commensurate with experience.

[Guardian 4,281]

He also said Rangers fans should back change in the board room. Don't think he knows what he wants.

He said no such thing in that interview. Quite the opposite in fact. He reckons there was no turmoil within the board, it was being generated from outside. ie Minico.

He certainly apears to be coming down on the side of the board albeit not strongly.

That explains why Minico haven't made him their poster boy or dragged him out for an endorsement to bost their flagging credibility.

[allgers 735]

"It's good of him to do that because he's put his career on the line" If he didn`t want the paycut we could have sacked him for the numerous cup failures.

I hope Ally is on a one year rolling deal.I also hope he never earns as high a wage as that again with us.We should never be paying that amount. especially for an untried manager at the time.

That what you hope for, me I hope Ally takes all the Scottish Honours in his first year back then takes us into a successful European season. If he does that he will have more than earned anything we are paying him...

[calio 688]

Smith said he would welcome Mr King’s return to Ibrox and on the current board added: “I think just now there’s the obvious suspicion that the club isn;t the main reason why people are running it.

“After the AGM, if we can get back to the fact Rangers are a football club and should be run for the football club and football team then that would be a massive step.

That`s bang on the money Walter.

[bawsburst 1,381]

When the seagulls follow the trawler.... http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24447719

[AlBear. 8,499]

Posting links to the bbc now?

Sooner you're gone from here the better.

[sergio 1,199]

But I'll bet there are a lot of Rangers fans who would take a salary cut down to ONLY £400k if was to help the Rangers.

That depends on what they were on before. McCoist was reported on a 7 figure sum for the work he did for the BBC. He gave all that up to come to the club, some people forget that.

[bombaybadboy08 15,660]

Bump.

Courtesy of Fury on FF.

Walter has made further comments to the press guys today it seems. Some quotes below. I'd imagine tabloids will have it too but it's front page of Herald Sport.

"They (Rangers) cannot continue being run in the manner they are. It can't be allowed to continue"

On protests - "As a manager you expect that's how fans will show their discontent. If you are a manager you expect that kind of thing. But it's the first time I can remember the board taking that kind of criticism. If you were a manager that would indicate you are having a struggle."

On Super's salary being in the accounts - "They were probably trying to make other aspects of the Rangers situation look less bad".

Hopefully nobody is any longer under the impression that Walter wants anything other than change at this AGM.

[ForeverBlue_Since91 2,895]

He said no such thing in that interview. Quite the opposite in fact. He reckons there was no turmoil within the board, it was being generated from outside. ie Minico.

He certainly apears to be coming down on the side of the board albeit not strongly.

That explains why Minico haven't made him their poster boy or dragged him out for an endorsement to bost their flagging credibility.

He said it when he resigned from the board.

[gogzy 31,195]

Bot of selective quoting by fury there.

Shockeroonie.

I see nothing in that article that suggests WS is backing boardroom change.

[Gerwelly 115]

Former Rangers manager and chairman Walter Smith yesterday became, along with Celtic’s European Cup-winning captain Billy McNeill, a patron of the St Andrew’s Sporting Club.

Smith, while honoured to be officially involved with the 40-year-old Glasgow boxing institution, had other battles in mind when he spoke with reporters afterwards – namely, the battle for the hearts and the soul of the Third Division champions and runaway League 1 leaders.

With losses of £14.4million announced last week and in-fighting between directors and rebel shareholders showing no sign of letting up, Smith struggled to see a light at the end of this particular tunnel. He remains convinced, though, that Rangers will somehow survive the latest blood-letting and emerge from the financial mire yet again.

“You have to feel optimism for the simple reason that Rangers are a great club,” he said. “They cannot continue being run in the manner they are at the present moment. That can’t continue. It can’t be allowed to continue.

“When you see supporters protesting in the manner they have done in the last few games you know that, effectively, will be the reason Rangers will get out of that.”

Even so, Smith admits that he is not in a position to declare that a second administration at Ibrox can be avoided.

“If I knew what was going to happen I would be confident answering that one [but] I don’t,” he said. “But something has to happen.

“Rangers are too big a club and too great an institution to not find an answer to the problems they are facing at the present moment.”

Asked whether the club’s directors should follow manager Ally McCoist’s example and halve their salaries, Smith replied: “That’s up to them. I think some of them have dropped certain aspects of what they were taking.

“I’m not privy to what might be happening in that respect. I do know that things will, at some stage or other, settle down.

“The right thing will happen and Rangers will come back. But it will not be without further pain: I don’t think there is any doubt about that.”

The troubled club’s latest chief executive Craig Mather wasin South Africa at the weekend for talks with former director Dave King in an attempt to persuade him to supply a much-needed cash injection.

Smith, who was twice dissuaded from resigning as chairman before he finally left, believes that Mather could have improved his carbon footprint and remained at home, believing that King - who saw previous owner Sir David Murray squander £20m of his money when he first invested in the club - is unlikely to work with the current regime.

“Does it make sense? I don’t know,” he said. “That’s the difficult thing about Rangers. What makes any sense any longer?

“I don’t know if that’s true or whether Dave King would come back and get involved in Rangers again. I just don’t know.

“Would he be good for the club? It depends on circumstances. I hope somebody can come in and end this situation we have at the present moment where there is a circumstance where EGMs can be called at any given time by any given person.

“That situation is not conductive to running a stable football club. So if we get an owner back and one who is basically interested in the football side of the club and seeing the footballing side of the team progress – as Dave King would be – then that would be a good thing for Rangers.

“I don’t know what his thoughts would be on that. I don’t really envisage him coming back to sit amongst the board.”

Smith is certainly of the opinion that there are currently too many vested interests at Ibrox for the club to progress.

“I think there are,” he said. “That’s what happens. We have seen banners at recent games – and as a manager you expect that’s how fans will show their discontent.

“If you are a manager you expect that kind of thing amongst the support but it’s the first time I can remember the board taking that kind of criticism.

“And that’s an indication. If you were a manager that would indicate to the manager he is struggling. It should also indicate to the board that Rangers are also in the middle of a struggle.”

However, Smith dismisses suggestions that Rangers should not have made high-profile signings such as Cammy Bell, Jon Daly, Nicky Law and others on elite-division salaries while the club is losing money in Scottish football’s third tier.

“At Rangers it’s a difficult scenario,” he said. “You talk about cutting their cloth but, at the start of last season Rangers had to have a team that was fairly recognisable in terms of the level of player.

“Even during the season when they were winning there was a whole raft of discontent over the way they were playing. But, this year, what do you do with that?

“Do you say: ‘We are going to go with the same team again?’ You couldn’t do that. They had to [improve] the team. They had to bring in different players.

“People come out and say: ‘It’s not necessary for them to have that in that division’ but it’s not just the division that matters at Rangers, it’s the fact you have 45,000 people coming to watch something on a football pitch.

“That’s where Rangers have to make the difference and, in fairness to Alistair, he has done that this season. They are still losing money but when you make a decision to become involved at Rangers there is no common sense to it.

“There is no common business sense. Yes, there is money going out, it’s a fact. But what do you do?

“All the people saying this, that and the next thing don’t realise that you can’t sit on the board of directors and tell people: ‘We can’t afford to do this.’

“You actually have to go out and find the money to do it. That is the problem. If you get into the Champions League, then you can make a profit. Celtic have shown that, Rangers showed it in the latter period I was there. That’s the place you make the money. So Rangers have to use their money to create a situation where they can put that challenge in. That’s the gamble. It’s not a sensible gamble. But that’s what it is.

“The problem they have at the moment is not because they have put a whole load of money into the football team.

“Look at Rangers and they hardly bought a player in five years. All the players have been free transfers. The wage bill is probably at its lowest in recent history. By a mile. It’s somewhere near a third of what it was when I was manager. The feeling is that the money is going elsewhere.”

Scotsman

I think Walter is for change with Dave King being a good option. I could handle that!

[ForeverBlue_Since91 2,895]

Former Rangers manager and chairman Walter Smith yesterday became, along with Celtic's European Cup-winning captain Billy McNeill, a patron of the St Andrew's Sporting Club.

Smith, while honoured to be officially involved with the 40-year-old Glasgow boxing institution, had other battles in mind when he spoke with reporters afterwards – namely, the battle for the hearts and the soul of the Third Division champions and runaway League 1 leaders.

With losses of £14.4million announced last week and in-fighting between directors and rebel shareholders showing no sign of letting up, Smith struggled to see a light at the end of this particular tunnel. He remains convinced, though, that Rangers will somehow survive the latest blood-letting and emerge from the financial mire yet again.

"You have to feel optimism for the simple reason that Rangers are a great club," he said. "They cannot continue being run in the manner they are at the present moment. That can't continue. It can't be allowed to continue.

"When you see supporters protesting in the manner they have done in the last few games you know that, effectively, will be the reason Rangers will get out of that."

Even so, Smith admits that he is not in a position to declare that a second administration at Ibrox can be avoided.

"If I knew what was going to happen I would be confident answering that one [but] I don't," he said. "But something has to happen.

"Rangers are too big a club and too great an institution to not find an answer to the problems they are facing at the present moment."

Asked whether the club's directors should follow manager Ally McCoist's example and halve their salaries, Smith replied: "That's up to them. I think some of them have dropped certain aspects of what they were taking.

"I'm not privy to what might be happening in that respect. I do know that things will, at some stage or other, settle down.

"The right thing will happen and Rangers will come back. But it will not be without further pain: I don't think there is any doubt about that."

The troubled club's latest chief executive Craig Mather wasin South Africa at the weekend for talks with former director Dave King in an attempt to persuade him to supply a much-needed cash injection.

Smith, who was twice dissuaded from resigning as chairman before he finally left, believes that Mather could have improved his carbon footprint and remained at home, believing that King - who saw previous owner Sir David Murray squander £20m of his money when he first invested in the club - is unlikely to work with the current regime.

"Does it make sense? I don't know," he said. "That's the difficult thing about Rangers. What makes any sense any longer?

"I don't know if that's true or whether Dave King would come back and get involved in Rangers again. I just don't know.

"Would he be good for the club? It depends on circumstances. I hope somebody can come in and end this situation we have at the present moment where there is a circumstance where EGMs can be called at any given time by any given person.

"That situation is not conductive to running a stable football club. So if we get an owner back and one who is basically interested in the football side of the club and seeing the footballing side of the team progress – as Dave King would be – then that would be a good thing for Rangers.

"I don't know what his thoughts would be on that. I don't really envisage him coming back to sit amongst the board."

Smith is certainly of the opinion that there are currently too many vested interests at Ibrox for the club to progress.

"I think there are," he said. "That's what happens. We have seen banners at recent games – and as a manager you expect that's how fans will show their discontent.

"If you are a manager you expect that kind of thing amongst the support but it's the first time I can remember the board taking that kind of criticism.

"And that's an indication. If you were a manager that would indicate to the manager he is struggling. It should also indicate to the board that Rangers are also in the middle of a struggle."

However, Smith dismisses suggestions that Rangers should not have made high-profile signings such as Cammy Bell, Jon Daly, Nicky Law and others on elite-division salaries while the club is losing money in Scottish football's third tier.

"At Rangers it's a difficult scenario," he said. "You talk about cutting their cloth but, at the start of last season Rangers had to have a team that was fairly recognisable in terms of the level of player.

"Even during the season when they were winning there was a whole raft of discontent over the way they were playing. But, this year, what do you do with that?

"Do you say: 'We are going to go with the same team again?' You couldn't do that. They had to [improve] the team. They had to bring in different players.

"People come out and say: 'It's not necessary for them to have that in that division' but it's not just the division that matters at Rangers, it's the fact you have 45,000 people coming to watch something on a football pitch.

"That's where Rangers have to make the difference and, in fairness to Alistair, he has done that this season. They are still losing money but when you make a decision to become involved at Rangers there is no common sense to it.

"There is no common business sense. Yes, there is money going out, it's a fact. But what do you do?

"All the people saying this, that and the next thing don't realise that you can't sit on the board of directors and tell people: 'We can't afford to do this.'

"You actually have to go out and find the money to do it. That is the problem. If you get into the Champions League, then you can make a profit. Celtic have shown that, Rangers showed it in the latter period I was there. That's the place you make the money. So Rangers have to use their money to create a situation where they can put that challenge in. That's the gamble. It's not a sensible gamble. But that's what it is.

"The problem they have at the moment is not because they have put a whole load of money into the football team.

"Look at Rangers and they hardly bought a player in five years. All the players have been free transfers. The wage bill is probably at its lowest in recent history. By a mile. It's somewhere near a third of what it was when I was manager. The feeling is that the money is going elsewhere."

Scotsman

I think Walter is for change with Dave King being a good option. I could handle that!

All of that just to tell us he doesn't know anything.

[Macattack2 3]

All of that just to tell us he doesn't know anything.

Can you not read between the lines?

"You have to feel optimism for the simple reason that Rangers are a great club," he said. "They cannot continue being run in the manner they are at the present moment. That can't continue. It can't be allowed to continue.

"When you see supporters protesting in the manner they have done in the last few games you know that, effectively, will be the reason Rangers will get out of that."

He's saying the fans will effectively get us out of this. If he had any confidence in the board he would have mentioned something at least positive bout them , but nothing .

"Look at Rangers and they hardly bought a player in five years. All the players have been free transfers. The wage bill is probably at its lowest in recent history. By a mile. It's somewhere near a third of what it was when I was manager. The feeling is that the money is going elsewhere."

Last sentence is the most telling one IMO . He can't exactly come out and accuse them of anything but can hint.

[CaptainofIndustry 921]

Bump.

Courtesy of Fury on FF.

Walter has made further comments to the press guys today it seems. Some quotes below. I'd imagine tabloids will have it too but it's front page of Herald Sport.

"They (Rangers) cannot continue being run in the manner they are. It can't be allowed to continue"

On protests - "As a manager you expect that's how fans will show their discontent. If you are a manager you expect that kind of thing. But it's the first time I can remember the board taking that kind of criticism. If you were a manager that would indicate you are having a struggle."

On Super's salary being in the accounts - "They were probably trying to make other aspects of the Rangers situation look less bad".

Hopefully nobody is any longer under the impression that Walter wants anything other than change at this AGM.

Six months ago, Chris Graham would never have written such a slanted, inaccurate summary of the irrelevant thoughts of an increasingly out-of-touch Walter Smith. He would have pointed out the contradiction between Walter backing Alistair "I need more money to spend" McCoist, while simultaneously decrying the scale of the club's operational loss.

Sadly, these days Chris G has a new set of friends who insist he suppresses his real opinions and instead writes partisan rubbish like this.

Amazing to see an able and respected observer of all things Rangers become such a transparently agenda-driven pawn in someone else's game.