New owner might want me out, admits worried Smith

Published on Sunday 25 October 2009 22:24

PROBLEMS continue to build up on and off the pitch for Rangers, with Walter Smith admitting he is simply existing day to day as manager amid mounting uncertainty at Ibrox. On top of the continued speculation about the future of the club, Rangers, who were overhauled at the top of the Scottish Premier League by Celtic yesterday, now have three successive away matches to negotiate.

Smith has clearly taken the decision to fling off any remaining restraints with regard to speaking out in public about the dire situation as he contemplates what could be the last weeks of his second tenure in charge at Rangers. Abandoned by former chairman Sir David Murray, and answerable to a board where the leading figure is a representative of the Lloyds Banking Group, the 61 -year-old is being forced to operate in circumstances that are far different to those which saw him leave his position as Scotland manager to return to Ibrox.

Back then, and with foolhardy promises of money to burn ringing in his ear, Smith was attracted by the idea of restoring the club's flagging fortunes following Paul Le Guen's short reign. He succeeded in doing this. But Smith could not possibly have imagined that he could be cast as such an impotent, unhappy figure at Ibrox just months before the end of the three-year deal he signed in January 2007. Once known as Mr Rangers, Smith must now watch as the bank calls the shots at Ibrox.

Having been unable to sign a player for over a year, he has been further incapacitated by a crippling injury list. As well as being scheduled to visit Dundee twice, for games against Dundee in the Co-Operative Insurance Cup and Dundee United in the league, the Ibrox side must also travel to Romania for a must-win Champions League fixture with Unirea Urziceni within the next nine days.

Talk of a new contract featured in new chairman Alastair Johnston's inaugural press briefings last month but there is now doubt over whether he and chief executive Martin Bain are in a position to offer Smith and assistants Ally McCoist and Kenny McDowall an extension to their existing deals. Lloyds Banking Group employee Donald Muir, whose skills lie in restructuring imperilled companies, joined the Ibrox board ten days ago, and is now its central figure. Smith is aware that nothing is now assured.

"If a new owner comes in he might want to change the manager," he told reporters this weekend. "There's no point me doing anything other than what I'm doing at the moment until the club's situation has cleared up. We said in January that the players were up for sale so how can the manager then say he's in a safe position when the club are in this situation?"

The unusual state of affairs which saw Smith signing a contract that concludes mid-way through a season does not seem so strange now, with the manager himself perhaps looking for a way out. Indeed, he has admitted he might not even see out its intended duration. Smith will, though, be prepared to continue on a short-term contract until the end of the season, if this is what is desired by Muir and his colleagues, or even new owners.

"Would I work without a contract?" he asked. "Well, I would if I'm asked. They would need to ask me first. There's no point me saying anything about it. My contract expires in January and in the normal run of circumstances someone would leave then. So if the board ask me to stay on I would consider it if the club's circumstances have not changed.

"The club have been quite straightforward on the situation and that applies to management as well," he continued. "My contract runs out in January because I signed a three-year deal when I came in, simple as that. If the people running the football club just now ask me to stay on because they've not got a buyer I would consider that. If there's a new buyer and they want someone else to take charge, then I'd be happy to go, as long as it's the best thing for Rangers."

Smith's first priority is team matters at what is an intense stage of the season. Lee McCulloch became the latest player to limp out of the action for Rangers during Saturday's 1-1 draw with Hibernian, and is likely to be out for a fortnight with a thigh strain. Fellow midfielders Pedro Mendes and Kevin Thomson are also certain to miss tomorrow night's clash against Dundee at Dens Park. It is a game which Smith, judging by his comments on Saturday night, appears almost ready to concede amid more profound concerns.

"We've got three games coming up," said Smith. "As our games go on we're asking players like David Weir to play in an amount of matches that's maybe awkward for him to do at his age. Plus you take the chance of injury to important players. So we might need to look at the League Cup in a different light to what we normally do. We've not lost a cup tie, apart from the League Cup final, since we've come back. We've taken a good pride in these games but we might need to change and bring in a few of our younger ones.

"A lot of them have been injured but we may have to put a few in when you consider we are at Tannadice on Sunday and then we have to play in Bucharest the following Wednesday."

Youngsters of the ilk of John Fleck, Danny Wilson and Jamie Ness may well be asked to help Rangers seal a place in the semis tomorrow night. "It is maybe not the proper time to be blooding these players, but I don't think we will have any option shortly," said Smith. The Rangers manager's choices appear limited on all fronts.