Business as usual for Walter Smith in spite of takeover talks

HAVING worked successfully under straitened and often strained circumstances for the best part of two years now, Walter Smith was never likely to be fazed by the confirmation of takeover talks for Rangers.

It was with a shrug of his shoulders – and perhaps even some underlying scepticism – that Smith fielded questions yesterday over possible new ownership of the Ibrox club as current majority shareholder Murray International Holdings revealed it has opened discussions with interested parties, including former Northampton Town chairman Andrew Ellis.

Smith, unable to buy a new player since August 2008 and who has been working without a contract since January this year, has not allowed those under his command to be distracted from the business of achieving success on the field despite the ongoing uncertainty in the boardroom.

It has been widely speculated that the 62-year-old, who returned to the club at Sir David Murray's behest in January 2007, will call time on his second spell in charge as soon as the present owner hands over the keys of Ibrox to someone else. He insists his own situation, however, remains simply a matter of conjecture until any purchase of Rangers is completed.

"Whether the club will get bought over or not, we don't know yet," said Smith. "There is no point commenting on that until they actually buy the club. Interest in buying the club and actually buying the club are different things.

"I don't know anything about it at the moment, to be honest. It is very difficult for us to comment on it from a footballing point of view because it's not something that's really in our domain.

"I don't think it is a distraction. It is something the club have been seeking for about 18 months now, so your choice of when it comes around is never going to be the perfect one. It has happened now and I don't think it will be a distraction to anybody here. Really, we have been living in an uncertain environment for the last 18 months. It hasn't affected us so far."

Asked if it was important that the takeover process reached as swift a conclusion as possible in order to bring some clarity to Rangers' situation, Smith added: "That's got nothing to do with this (bid], if you know what I mean. It is important, period. Never mind anything to do with people buying the club, it is important the club can get itself back on an even keel again and start to have a level of investment, not just in the team, but in the club as well."

Rangers will put themselves 13 points clear at the top of the SPL if they defeat Kilmarnock at Rugby Park tonight but their current dominance continues to be overshadowed by external factors, whether it is takeover speculation or debates over refereeing standards. It is an obvious source of irritation for Smith, as is the widely-held view of his current team as simply a grimly efficient outfit who wear down their opponents.

"A lot of teams get a reputation for a specific level of play," observed Smith. "People's perception of Rangers has been formed more by our success on the European stage a couple of seasons ago, when we played a certain way in a defensive sense. Everyone now looks at our team and says that's the way we are when we are playing domestic football.

"But we don't play like that in domestic football. If we are asked to defend, then we have to defend. But we set out to go forward and try to win. I think I have been like that in Scotland for the majority of games, the exceptions being maybe a few trips to Celtic Park where I felt it was beneficial for us to be slightly more defensive in our set-up. But in 98 per cent of the games in Scotland, we try and go out to win, home and away.

"Now we have that defensive reputation, though, when we play well, everyone just ignores it. They say 'och, Rangers ground out a result' or 'Rangers are resilient', or 'Rangers are this, that and the next thing'. We actually play some decent football at times.

"I don't have any hesitation in saying this team ranks alongside any of the Rangers teams I have managed. We have got some very good players who would have been involved in any of the teams I had previously. It has been shown historically that if Rangers don't have the level of player the club needs, then Rangers don't win. But we have been winning and we have reached a European final. You don't do that if you don't have good players."

Celtic manager Tony Mowbray claimed at the weekend he could never send his team out to play in the way Rangers do, but Smith believes no slight was intended and none has been taken. "That was a conversation Tony and I had," said Smith.

"Although it makes a good headline, it wasn't quite how it was portrayed, as if it was an inflammatory statement. It wasn't. Managers all have wee differences in the way we set out our teams. That was the conversation we had and it's not something that would be taken as a problem by me. Tony has had success playing the way he plays. I do it slightly differently. That doesn't mean to say I would do it in a defensive sense. It's just that I do it differently. That was Tony's comment and it's not something that is a problem to me."

Smith, who is again likely to be without injured defender Madjid Bougherra tonight, has warned his players not to ease off as they approach the final straight of the title race. "You always worry about people seeing a level of comfort in being a number of points ahead," he said. "We have to be sure that doesn't happen, that we don't lose an edge. You have to watch that the cushion you have doesn't lead to a weakening of your desire to win."