Walter Smith

[Totti 0]

Smith's third and fourth terms were hammered by injuries — this is beyond debate. But his supporters still claimed that the true mettle of the man could only be judged when he had a full squad at his disposal. However, this is football: there are ALWAYS some injured players unavailable for selection.

 

Smith at that time like just now had one of the smallest squads in the EPL.

 

In the 1999-2000 season, with most of the Everton squad fit, Smith took them to the giddy heights of 6th in the Premiership before injuries to Jeffers and Campbell began to bite deep. Contradiction on above ...

 

 

 

 

Dacourt and Matterazzi were sold without either his agreement or his knowledge , Matterazzi even went on recored stating this .

 

 

The complaints about formations are just stupid as every manager has the right to set out his teams according to what players he has availabvle , and 4-5-1 is probably the most used formation in football in the epl today .

 

I could go onand on with this article , it's biased and very slanted against Smith , you dont like him that's fine but like I sa8d this is never trotted out when we are winning trophiesw , and at last look we were still well in every competition

"Dacourt looked class but pulled the ultimate mercenary stunt in the end." Where does it say Smith tried to sell/approved the sale of Dacourt?

 

As for formations, I don't really get your line of thought. Yes managers can pick whatever formation they want but they are not immune from criticism and Walter deserves plenty.

 

Face facts, this article hits the nail on the head and no pedantic retorts will change that. And I don't dislike Smith, I appreciate what he has done. Like the article says, he has plenty dignity and values but he's a mediocre manager. In fact that;s maybe being kind after Thursdays debacle.

[Totti 0]

I would say we are missing a couple of hammer throwers. The team from the East End are the ones with the Hammer Throwers as has been shown in the last 2 encounters.

My criticism of WS would be he complains of a small squad, but then does not utilise the squad as he should.

eh? They passed us off the park. We dish out just as many dirty challenges as them

[gisabeer 409]

I simply cant defend smith anymore. He reaches for the lowest common denominator in football with his negative tactics. The old firm game in particular was a bridge to far in my eyes and has me counting the days till he leaves.

 

and this is a topic that should be discussed. Many fans as happened with murray have turned a blind eye to his short commings and are very quick to defend him no matter what. Over the piece he has done more damage that good in my eyes in his second tenure.

 

He has made far too many bad decisions that outway the good and Rangers football club would be a better place without him.

[Super_Ally 0]

I think Totti is entitled to say what he wants for as long as he wants to say it and I can well understand his reasons. I just think in this particular case there might be room to be a tad more generous given that Walter has already decided to leave.

 

And by the same token so it Cotter, so no need to continually defend Totti's honour. He/She is not a damsel in distress.

[Gazza_8 233]

And by the same token so it Cotter, so no need to continually defend Totti's honour. He/She is not a damsel in distress.

 

And by the same token, he's not a "cunt" either. :boogie:

[craig 5,199]

I simply cant defend smith anymore. He reaches for the lowest common denominator in football with his negative tactics. The old firm game in particular was a bridge to far in my eyes and has me counting the days till he leaves.

 

and this is a topic that should be discussed. Many fans as happened with murray have turned a blind eye to his short commings and are very quick to defend him no matter what. Over the piece he has done more damage that good in my eyes in his second tenure.

 

He has made far too many bad decisions that outway the good and Rangers football club would be a better place without him.

 

You have to be fucking kidding me ???????

 

Are you either forgetting or just simply ignoring the carnage that WS stepped back into when he came back. FFS, he inherited a team and a squad that was in utter disarray, in very real danger of finishing 3rd behind a pretty shitty Hearts team.

 

So from there he has been in every domestic final since (IIRC), has taken us to the UEFA final (and save me the usual "he tried to win it on penalties" stuff, he still got us there - you may not have liked the style in which he did it, but he did - it must irritate you to accept even that) and has won back to back titles which would have been 3 IAR but for a horrendous fixture backlog whilst chasing FOUR trophies in the ne season.

 

So.... he has taken us backwards from when he came in.... so from looking like challenging to remain in the top 2 in a 2 team league to challenging for FOUR honours in the same season, one of them European, to winning back to back titles and being in every domestic final..... and he has taken us backwards.

 

I am sure you will say from a tactical standpoint or the manner of the squad..... but, again, just how well did PLG do with his 4-2-3-1 ?? Dont get me wrong, I like 4-2-3-1 but I would prefer to watch WINNING football - wuth style would be nice but I would rather have the Tims complaining about us being hammer throwers whilst we simply pop the champagne and celebrate another title win.

 

I am lost for words if you honestly believe he has taken us backwards since the debacle that was PLG.

[Danny 0]

For hammer throwers we sure lack the throwing part.

[gisabeer 409]

you are the one saying hes taken us backwards not me. and i have no idea what paul leguen has got to do with smith. As for the winning football if all that matters is the score then all we should have to do is watch out for the result at ten to five on a saturday night. But football isnt just about the score. Its about trying to play well and win. Play better football than the opposition and beat them. thats what we go to watch.

 

Quite frankly if its not worth watching then its not worth playing. Football is an entertainment and any football team worth their salt should be trying to entertain the fans.

 

Without the fans football is nothing. the attendance on thursday night should have been observed by those that be at Ibrox. Should have been a sellout but having been unfortunate to sit through countless Euro bores i decided not to bother this year and i suspect quite a few others were of the same thinking.

 

either that or 15,000 fans decided to get their nails done at the same time!

 

without the fans football is nothing. Walter Smith would do well to remember that.

[craig 5,199]

you are the one saying hes taken us backwards not me. and i have no idea what paul leguen has got to do with smith. As for the winning football if all that matters is the score then all we should have to do is watch out for the result at ten to five on a saturday night. But football isnt just about the score. Its about trying to play well and win. Play better football than the opposition and beat them. thats what we go to watch.

 

Quite frankly if its not worth watching then its not worth playing. Football is an entertainment and any football team worth their salt should be trying to entertain the fans.

 

Without the fans football is nothing. the attendance on thursday night should have been observed by those that be at Ibrox. Should have been a sellout but having been unfortunate to sit through countless Euro bores i decided not to bother this year and i suspect quite a few others were of the same thinking.

 

either that or 15,000 fans decided to get their nails done at the same time!

 

without the fans football is nothing. Walter Smith would do well to remember that.

 

1. No, YOU said he has done more damage than good. That suggests a worse product that when he started. Which also therefore suggests backwards. That was you.

2. Of course PLG is something to do with it. If you are going to talk about Smith's second tenure you have to look at where we are now vs where we were when he came in. So PLG was his predecessor, which means you have to look at what he left for WS.

3. Everyone, and I mean everyone, wants their team, no matter it be Barca, Man U, Crawley or Rangers, want their team to play better than the opposition and win. We all want that. Sometimes it just doesnt happen. I am pretty sure WS doesnt want his team to play the way they are just now - if he did then he would surely have changed his team last year when they were scoring 26 goals in the month of December.

4. But winning is the name of the game. It is a results driven business and for a manager, and players, winning is all that counts. You may not like that and I may not like that. But that is what the game is all about. And no-one can deny that WS has done more than his fair share of winning since he came back.

5. Any football team worth their salt should be trying to win FIRST and entertain SECOND. I defy anyone to think differently - even Arsenal fans are starting to question Wenger... his team play some of the best stuff on the planet but if they dont win silverware this year he could be out on his arse.

6. I think you are being far too simplistic with your assumption that the attendance was all to do with the brand of football on display. Shitty weather, high ticket prices, an awful UK economy, high unemployment all also play a contributory factor.

 

Why should Walter Smith do well to remember that without fans football is nothing ? He is in a business which is about WINNING. Winning games and winning trophies, which despite him being a "cunt" and "neanderthal" and "hopeless" he seems to have done a reasonably good job of it. I suspect that rather than worrying about the fans he will more than likely be spending his last 3 months at the helm attempting to win some trophies - and if he wins the league there will ba FAR more fans who are happy about the trophy in the cabinet than the brand of football they had to watch.

 

The fans would do well to realise we NEED to win the league, and sometimes winning is an ugly business, but at least it is winning.

[CumbernauldGers 0]

I simply cant defend smith anymore. He reaches for the lowest common denominator in football with his negative tactics. The old firm game in particular was a bridge to far in my eyes and has me counting the days till he leaves.

 

and this is a topic that should be discussed. Many fans as happened with murray have turned a blind eye to his short commings and are very quick to defend him no matter what. Over the piece he has done more damage that good in my eyes in his second tenure. He has made far too many bad decisions that outway the good and Rangers football club would be a better place without him.

 

Now i'm not Walter Smith's biggest fan but mate you have lost the plot.

 

Yes i dont like his tactics but to say that is just daft.