Walter Smith facts for kids

Walter Ferguson Smith OBE (born 24 February 1948 – died 26 October 2021) was a famous Scottish association football player, manager, and director. He is best known for managing the Glasgow club Rangers during two different periods.

Walter Smith played as a defender. His playing career included two times at Dundee United, with a short time at Dumbarton in between. An injury to his pelvis made him stop playing. After that, Smith started coaching at Dundee United, working with manager Jim McLean.

Smith also coached the Scotland Under-18 and Under-21 teams. He helped Scotland manager Alex Ferguson at the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico. Soon after, he joined Rangers as an assistant to Graeme Souness.

Smith became the main manager of Rangers in 1991, taking over from Souness. He won 13 big trophies in seven years, including seven league titles in a row. After leaving Rangers in 1998, he became manager of the English Premier League club Everton. He managed Everton for four seasons before leaving in 2002.

After a short time helping Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, Smith became the Scotland national team manager in December 2004. He helped the team improve a lot, moving them up 70 places in the FIFA World Rankings. After a good start to the Euro 2008 qualifiers, he left his role as Scotland manager in January 2007 to go back to Rangers. He won eight more trophies in his second time as Rangers manager and led the team to the 2008 UEFA Cup Final. He retired from managing in 2011. Walter Smith is the second most successful manager in Rangers' history, after Bill Struth.

Early Life and Football Start

Walter Smith was born in Lanark, Scotland. He grew up in the Carmyle area of Glasgow. As a boy, he was a big fan of Rangers. Before becoming a professional footballer in the 1960s, he worked for the South of Scotland Electricity Board. He started his football journey with a Junior League team called Ashfield.

Playing Career Highlights

Playing for Dundee United

In 1966, Dundee United manager Jerry Kerr signed Walter Smith and two other players from Ashfield. Smith joined the club in November. He was a flexible player and played in many different positions for the reserve team.

He played his first game for the main team in a Scottish Football League match against Kilmarnock on 20 March 1967. For the next four years, he mostly played for the reserves, with only a few first-team games. He became a regular player in the 1970–71 season.

Smith continued to be a regular player for Dundee United until 1974, often playing in central defence. In December 1971, Jim McLean, who would later be his coaching mentor, became manager. The next month, Archie Knox, who would become his assistant manager, joined as a teammate.

In September 1973, Smith scored the only goal in a game where United beat Dundee in the Dundee derby. He played in the 1974 Scottish Cup Final against Celtic. This was Dundee United's first time in a major final, but they lost 3–0.

Smith played less often the next season. In September 1975, he was sold to Dumbarton. He had played in 108 league games for Dundee United, scoring 2 goals.

Time at Dumbarton and Return to Dundee United

Dumbarton paid £8,000 to sign Smith. He was brought in by managers Alex Wright and Davie Wilson. Wilson was one of Smith's childhood heroes and had worked with his father.

While at Dumbarton, the team reached the semi-final of the Scottish Cup in 1976. They lost to Hearts after a replay. Smith played in 44 league games for Dumbarton.

In February 1977, Jim McLean paid £4,000 to bring Smith back to Dundee United. However, soon after, a serious pelvic injury mostly ended Smith's playing career at 29 years old.

After his injury, he mainly played for the reserve team, helping to train younger players. His last game for the first team was in September 1980. By this time, he was already starting his coaching career. In total, he played 183 senior games for Dundee United and scored three goals. He also set a club record by playing about 360 reserve team games.

Managerial Career

Coaching at Dundee United and for Scotland

Walter Smith improved his coaching skills as an assistant manager to Jim McLean at Dundee United. During this time, Dundee United were Scottish champions and reached the European Cup semi-finals. McLean was known for being very tough, and Smith also became known for being a strict disciplinarian.

In 1978, he became coach of the Scotland Under-18 team. He helped them win the European Youth Championship in 1982. He then coached the Under-21 team. He was also Alex Ferguson's assistant manager during the 1986 Mexico World Cup. Alex Ferguson later said that Smith had great experience, knowledge, and skill in football.

Managing Rangers (First Time)

In April 1986, Graeme Souness became the player-manager of Rangers. Smith accepted his offer to be his assistant. He helped Souness lead Rangers to win the Premier Division and League Cup in 1986–87. They won another League Cup in 1987–88, and then the Premier Division and League Cup again in 1988–89. They also won a second league title in a row in 1989–90 and another League Cup in 1990–91.

Souness continued to play regularly until 1988, so Smith was often the main person in charge on the sidelines. Smith was fully in charge of the team for the 1987 Scottish League Cup Final because Souness was suspended.

When Souness left for Liverpool in April 1991, Smith became the temporary manager. This became a permanent job in May 1991, after Rangers won their fourth league title in five seasons.

Under Smith, Rangers won six more league titles in a row. This included winning a domestic treble (all three main trophies in one country) in 1992–93. He also won the Scottish Cup three times and the League Cup three times. Smith led Rangers very close to the final of the UEFA Champions League in the 1992–93 season. They went ten games without losing in that competition and 44 matches unbeaten in all competitions.

This success cost a lot of money. Smith spent over £50 million on new players in his six years as manager. This was more than any other club in Great Britain at that time. Rangers matched Celtic's record of nine league championships in a row in 1996–97. To try and win a record-breaking tenth title in 1997–98, Rangers spent £13 million on eight new players.

However, in European competitions, Rangers had some tough losses. There was growing pressure on Smith because of these results. In October 1997, it was announced that he would leave Rangers at the end of the season. Rangers lost the league title to Celtic on the final day and then lost the 1998 Scottish Cup Final to Hearts.

Managing Everton

After his success in Scotland, Smith's retirement only lasted a month. He took the manager's job at Premier League club Everton in June 1998. Smith had been promised a lot of money for new players and big ambitions by the Everton chairman. However, he later found out that the club did not have the money he was promised. When a key player, Duncan Ferguson, was sold without Smith knowing, he almost quit.

For the rest of his time at Everton, Smith had to sell the club's best players to balance the club's finances. These players included John Collins, Olivier Dacourt, Don Hutchison, Marco Materazzi, Nick Barmby, Francis Jeffers and Michael Ball.

Under Smith, Everton finished in the bottom half of the league for three seasons in a row. The Everton board eventually lost patience with Smith. He was fired in March 2002 after a poor 3–0 FA Cup defeat to Middlesbrough. Everton was also in danger of being relegated from the Premier League. David Moyes replaced him and helped Everton finish safely in fifteenth place.

Helping Manchester United

In March 2004, Smith returned to football for a short time. He was an assistant manager to Alex Ferguson at Manchester United at the end of the 2003–04 season. During this period, Manchester United won the 2004 FA Cup Final, beating Millwall.

Managing the Scotland National Team

Walter Smith was chosen to manage the Scottish national team on 2 December 2004, taking over from Berti Vogts. Under Smith, Scotland's performance improved. They had a home draw with Italy and an away win against Norway. However, their hopes of reaching the 2006 World Cup ended with a 1–0 home loss to Belarus.

Scotland's world ranking went up by seventy places while he was manager. Scotland also had a famous win against World Cup runners-up France in a Euro 2008 qualification match. They were even leading their group for a short time. A 2–0 loss against Ukraine on 11 October 2006 was their first defeat in that campaign.

Managing Rangers (Second Time)

On 5 January 2007, news reports said that Rangers wanted Smith to manage them again, with Ally McCoist as his assistant. The Scottish FA first refused Rangers' request for Smith. But his return as Rangers manager was announced on 10 January 2007. He took over from Paul Le Guen.

Smith's first game back at Ibrox was a 5–0 win against Dundee United on 13 January. Smith's first final since returning was the 2007–08 Scottish League Cup. Rangers played Dundee United in the final. The game was a draw after normal time and extra time, so it went to penalty kicks. Rangers won 3–2.

In the 2007–08 UEFA Cup, Walter Smith led Rangers to their first European final in 36 years. They had been knocked out of the UEFA Champions League group stage on the last day, despite good results against VFB Stuttgart, Olympique Lyonnais and FC Barcelona. In the quarter-final, Rangers won 2–0 away against Sporting after a 0–0 home draw. In the semi-final, they drew 0–0 in both games against Fiorentina. After extra time, they won 4–2 on penalties. This took Rangers to the 2008 UEFA Cup Final in Manchester, which they lost 0–2 to Zenit St. Petersburg.

Rangers also just missed out on winning the league title. This was partly because they had many games to play at the end of the season due to their cup runs. They did win the 2007–08 Scottish Cup by beating Queen of the South. This was their 68th match of the season. Smith later said that his assistant McCoist had been in charge of the team during the Scottish Cup run.

In the 2008–09 UEFA Champions League qualifying round, Rangers drew 0–0 with FBK Kaunas at Ibrox and lost the return game 2–1. This loss meant Rangers left European competition early. Rangers then went on to win the SPL title – their 52nd Championship – on 24 May 2009. Smith also won the Scottish Cup a week later, giving them a League and Cup double.

In December 2009, it was announced that Smith would continue as Rangers manager without a contract. In March 2010, he led Rangers to win the League Cup, even though they had only nine players on the field in the final. On 25 April 2010, Rangers won their 53rd league title with a 1–0 away win against Hibernian.

On 25 May 2010, Smith signed a new one-year deal to stay as Rangers manager for the 2010–11 season. He said this would be his last season as Rangers manager, with McCoist taking over after that. In his final season, Smith led Rangers to another domestic double. They won the League Cup and their 54th league championship. The league title was won on the final day of the season, with a 5–1 win against Kilmarnock.

After Management

Rangers faced financial problems in February 2012. An attempt to save the club was rejected, leading to the club being closed down in June 2012. The club's assets were sold to a group led by Charles Green. Smith said he was leading a group that wanted to buy the assets from Green, but this offer was later withdrawn.

On 11 November 2012, Smith returned to Ibrox as a non-executive director for the new Rangers company. Smith became non-executive chairman in May 2013, but he left the board in August.

Smith was considered for the Scotland manager job again in February 2018. However, he decided not to take the role after talking with the Scottish FA.

Personal Life and Passing

Walter Smith was married to Ethel, and they had two sons, Neil and Steven.

Smith was a close friend of former Celtic player and manager Tommy Burns. He was one of the people who carried Burns's coffin at his funeral in 2008.

Smith described himself as a socialist and said he grew up with "socialist principles."

During the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, Smith supported the Better Together campaign, which was against Scottish independence.

He had a medical operation in March 2021 that required him to stay in hospital.

Walter Smith passed away from cancer on the morning of 26 October 2021, at the age of 73. A private family funeral was held on 3 November. A public memorial service took place at Glasgow Cathedral on 19 November.

Managerial Statistics

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
G	W	D	L	Win %
Rangers		16 April 1991	31 May 1998	&&&&&&&&&&&&0380.&&&&&0380	&&&&&&&&&&&&0249.&&&&&0249	&&&&&&&&&&&&&068.&&&&&068	&&&&&&&&&&&&&063.&&&&&063	&&&&&&&&&&&&&065.53000065.53
Everton		1 July 1998	13 March 2002	&&&&&&&&&&&&0168.&&&&&0168	&&&&&&&&&&&&&053.&&&&&053	&&&&&&&&&&&&&050.&&&&&050	&&&&&&&&&&&&&065.&&&&&065	&&&&&&&&&&&&&031.55000031.55
Scotland		2 December 2004	10 January 2007	&&&&&&&&&&&&&016.&&&&&016	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&07.&&&&&07	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&05.&&&&&05	&&&&&&&&&&&&&&04.&&&&&04	&&&&&&&&&&&&&043.75000043.75
Rangers		10 January 2007	15 May 2011	&&&&&&&&&&&&0246.&&&&&0246	&&&&&&&&&&&&0155.&&&&&0155	&&&&&&&&&&&&&053.&&&&&053	&&&&&&&&&&&&&038.&&&&&038	&&&&&&&&&&&&&063.&1000063.01
Total				&&&&&&&&&&&&0810.&&&&&0810	&&&&&&&&&&&&0464.&&&&&0464	&&&&&&&&&&&&0176.&&&&&0176	&&&&&&&&&&&&0170.&&&&&0170	&&&&&&&&&&&&&057.28000057.28

Honours and Awards

As a Player

Dundee United

• Scottish Cup runner-up: 1973–74

As a Manager

Scotland Under-18

• UEFA European Under-18 Championship: 1982
• Atlantic Cup [es; fr]: 1979

Rangers

• Scottish Premier Division/Scottish Premier League: 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11
• Scottish Cup: 1991–92, 1992–93, 1995–96, 2007–08, 2008–09
• Scottish League Cup: 1992–93, 1993–94, 1996–97, 2007–08, 2009–10, 2010–11
• UEFA Cup runner-up: 2007–08

Scotland

• Kirin Cup: 2006

Individual Awards

• Scottish Premier League Manager of the Year: 2007–08, 2009–10
• SFWA Manager of the Year: 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1995–96, 1996–97, 2007–08, 2009–10
• PFA Scotland Manager of the Year: 2009–10
• Premier League Manager of the Month: September 1999
• Scottish Premier League Manager of the Month: August 2007, January 2008, March 2008, April 2009, December 2009, August 2010

Honorary Degree

• Honorary doctorate for his achievements in Scottish football, Glasgow Caledonian University (2012)

Orders

• Officer of the Order of the British Empire: 1997