Aura of Manchester United is a factor for Rangers

Published on Saturday 11 September 2010 15:32

NO matter how often you play Manchester United, the novelty doesn't wear off. When Rangers turn up at Old Trafford on Tuesday night for their opening match in Group C of the Champions League, it will be the seventh time in as many years that either half of the Old Firm has enjoyed the privilege.

• Old friends: Walter Smith and Sir Alex Ferguson

Often enough for them to ignore the famous red shirts? For them to disregard reputation and treat the match like any other? Don't you believe it.

Even the Rangers manager, Walter Smith, is honest enough to admit that, irrespective of the outcome, it will have been an honour. Quite apart from their fabled footballing achievements at home and abroad, United have an aura about them, an intangible quality tied up in everything from the Munich air disaster to George Best and their domination of the modern game under Sir Alex Ferguson. For any opponents, never mind Rangers, it is an intimidating package.

Smith implied as much the other day, referring back to the work of Sir Matt Busby, and the club's elevation to another level in the past 15 years. "They have grown along with the Premiership," he said. "They are the main team for me in (that league]. It doesn't matter how much money Chelsea or any of the rest of them have, they will never get what Manchester United have got - that certain aura around them. It's something that has been used well by the club because it's an intimidating atmosphere when you go there now. It's something that a lot of the teams have to overcome.

"They're one of the biggest teams in the world. They share that with Real Madrid and Barcelona at the moment. The top Italian teams can always reach it at different spells, but there is just something about Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester United. They are three clubs that have that footballing aura about them, regardless of their success or otherwise."

As if that wasn't enough, the opportunity for Smith to share a touchline with his old running mate adds another dimension to the occasion. Sir Alex, a former Rangers player, still has a soft spot for the Ibrox club, and for their manager. When the Champions League draw was being made, Sir Alex called his counterpart even before their clubs' names had come out of the hat. In the background, his wife, Cathy, was telling him to put the phone down and call Walter later.

The two go back a long way. They played against each other as they neared the end of their careers - Smith at Dundee United, Sir Alex at Falkirk - but they only became friends when Smith was a coach at Tannadice. After his pal, Archie Knox, had become Sir Alex's assistant at Aberdeen, the two clubs' backroom staffs contested a weekly five-a-side match. Even the United manager, Jim McLean, was involved. "Dundee United were the far better team," recalls Smith. "Myself, McLean, Scott, Wallace... against Ferguson Knox, Lenny Taylor... he [Sir Alex] used to cheat and bring in groundstaff boys, but we still beat them."

Smith, in fact, might have beaten Knox to the assistant manager's post at Pittodrie. Having failed to persuade his former St Mirren colleague, Ricky McFarlane, to join him at Aberdeen, Sir Alex turned his attention to the emerging talent at Tannadice. "He asked me to go but, as usual, wee Jim wouldn't let me out of jail," says Smith.

The partnership that Sir Alex wanted in the early days has been formed twice, but only on a temporary basis.

When he managed Scotland at the 1986 World Cup, Sir Alex included Smith on his coaching staff. In 2004, two years after he had been sacked by Everton, Smith was asked to replace Carlos Queiroz at Old Trafford. He was only there until the end of that season, but Smith loved every minute of getting back to basics. There he was, without the agents and journalists that had become such a big distraction in his managerial life, coaching some of the best players in the world. "They were a great group of boys," he recalls. "Terrific to work with. Very receptive to anything you asked them to do. And with extremely good attitudes. There's easily half a dozen of them still there. It was a great place to go and work. The facilities were first class and the games were terrific. Everything about the place was geared to success."

Six months after he left Old Trafford, United were acquiring Wayne Rooney, the best young player in Britain. Smith, during his four-year stint at Goodison Park, had signed the striker as a schoolboy. So breathtaking were his performances in the club's academy team that the Everton manager wanted to use him on matchdays. Denied that luxury by regulations tha outlawed the selection of schoolboys, Smith watched his successor, David Moyes, reap the benefits.

For all his recent troubles off the pitch, Rooney should be on it this week - although nothing is certain after the striker was omitted from the 3-3 draw at Everton - tearing at Rangers' defence with that familiar combination of raw talent and belligerence. "Fantastic player," says Smith. "Last season I think he showed that he is starting to come to his peak as a footballer. He is certainly the best young player that I've seen coming in, considering he was still at school when he played for the academy teams."

It will be a challenge and a half for Rangers. Not only have United won the Champions League twice, Sir Alex has more experience of it than any other manager. Smith likes to point out that some of Rangers' best European performances have been away from home but Old Trafford is another matter altogether. In four visits as Everton manager, he suffered four defeats, losing 13 goals in the process. "I can't take a great deal out of my record at Old Trafford, I've got to say."

Add to that Rangers' feeble efforts in last season's Champions League, with just two points from the group stage, and the scale of the task is obvious. In a more difficult section this season, with a smaller squad, you wonder if there is anything to be gained from the experience, except the money.

"The Champions League is one of these things that is better to be in than not in," says Smith. "Sitting watching the television on a Tuesday or Wednesday night isn't a thing you want to be doing so you've got to accept the challenge."

Smith knows it's a tall order, maybe even impossible, but he is determined to enjoy it. His modest squad have their work cut out in the SPL these days, never mind the Champions League, and if defeat is their destiny at Old Trafford, so be it. This is his final season as manager of Rangers, and the Gods have given him Manchester United, Sir Alex and the Theatre of Dreams. "It doesn't matter what anybody says, it's good to be going there. Regardless of what happens, it's still good."

TUESDAY

Group A

Werder Bremen v Tottenham Hotspur

Twente v Internazionale

Group B

Lyon v Schalke

Benfica v Hapoel Tel-Aviv

Group C

Manchester United v Rangers

Bursaspor v Valencia

Group D

Barcelona v Panathinaikos

Copenhagen v Rubin Kazan

WEDNESDAY

Group E

Bayern Munich v Roma

CFR 1907 Cluj-Napoca v Basle

Group F

Marseille v Spartak Moscow

MSK Zilina v Chelsea

Group G

AC Milan v Auxerre

Real Madrid v Ajax

Group H

Arsenal v Sporting Braga

Shakhtar Donetsk v Partizan Belgrade