A Year On and Everything has Changed at Ibrox Walter Smith Takes Stock Over His Second Coming at Rangers and the Club's Dramatic Upturn in Fortunes

Summary

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EVEN the potential to lose a player can be considered a reflected glory in assessing Walter Smith's second coming at Rangers. The club Smith returned to exactly a year ago this Thursday would not have attracted the GBP 9m offer from Tottenham Hotspur for Alan Hutton, which the player declined to pursue. The Ibrox squad then, under Paul le Guen, a seemingly querulous, flaky bunch of also-rans, would have been lucky to attract such a sum if shifted lock and stock in a fire sale.

The flames were licking Rangers when Smith inherited a team 14 points adrift of Celtic, and without a serious championship challenge in two seasons. These were expected to singe the reputation of Smith, celebrated for guiding Rangers to nine consecutive titles after emerging from the shadow of Graeme Souness in April 1991. Instead, the only smoke now wafting from the club is given off by the remarkable rekindling of success which Smith has been responsible for. It is like his first time around. Rangers are in the ascendancy, have manoeuvred themselves into the driving seat in the championship race, and outspent their city rivals - who they have done a number on in derbies.

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Extract

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A Year On and Everything has Changed at Ibrox Walter Smith Takes Stock Over His Second Coming at Rangers and the Club's Dramatic Upturn in Fortunes

"When someone asks you to come back, there is an element of doubt," Smith says. "Everyone says you should never go back. But one of the main things was there was a lot of differences. It made it easier. If you are involved in football management and you are frightened to accept a challenge then you won't succeed. I had no managerial experience when I took over the last time, I was the assistant manager. ...

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