Smith to stay on as Rangers manager but agrees to forego a new contract

Published on Monday 7 December 2009 23:11

WALTER Smith will stay on as Rangers manager but without a contract when his current terms expire next month.

&#149 Martin Bain, right, says Rangers are lucky Walter Smith, left, and his management team are true Rangers supporters

There has been doubt over the manager's position, with majority shareholder Sir David Murray trying to sell his stake in the club, which is around 31 million in debt. Smith himself has acknowledged that new owners could want to bring in their own management team.

By agreeing to forego a contract, Smith has removed a possible complication for any prospective new owner, who could either choose to keep Smith on or look elsewhere without the need to pay compensation to the existing manager.

Smith, his assistant Ally McCoist and first-team coach Kenny McDowall are all out of contract in January, and all have agreed to continue on a non-contract basis.

At the club's annual general meeting at Ibrox yesterday, chief executive Martin Bain told shareholders: "We are fortunate as a football club to have a management team who are all true Rangers supporters.

"This being the case, the situation is this; as the club currently sits up for sale and in between owners, Walter, Ally and Kenny have taken the decision that as such time as a new owner is found, they will work without a contract to protect the club from having a contracted management team that a new owner may not want."

Smith has been touted as a candidate to take over from the sacked George Burley as Scotland manager, but he has twice said in public that he does not want a return to the post he held after Berti Vogts was sacked. His decision to continue at Rangers underlines his lack of desire to return to the role he vacated in January 2007 to begin a second stint as Rangers manager – although this will not stop his supporters from continuing to insist Smith is the favourite for the Scotland job.

Smith, 61, led Rangers to the Clydesdale Bank Premier League title in May and has also won three cup competitions and reached the Uefa Cup final in his two full seasons since returning to Ibrox. But recently he has said that he would need assurances over the direction of the club before committing himself to a new contract, and he has expressed frustration over his belief that the club's bankers have been calling the shots in recent months.

Meanwhile, at a meeting which was far from the stormy affair some had predicted, chairman Alastair Johnston received generous applause from shareholders when he ruled out the re-naming of Ibrox Stadium.

Rangers need to raise revenue from new sources but Johnston insisted they would not follow the likes of Newcastle by selling the naming rights for the club's home. He said: "One thing we will not be putting in this business plan, or in future business plans, there is no plan to sell the naming rights to this stadium. Ibrox is non-negotiable."