I won't step on Ally McCoist's toes, insists Gordon Smith

Nearly two years ago, Gordon Smith found himself fighting an urge to comment on a football-related decision. On being appointed chief executive of the Scottish Football Association, he had made a promise to himself not to encroach on his manager's domain.

However, this pledge was tested when then manager George Burley handed him the details of the squad he proposed to name for the forthcoming World Cup qualifier against Norway. Smith's eyebrows shot upwards when he noted the absence of David Weir's name. "At the SFA I made a point of not speaking to managers about the team," Smith said yesterday, on being introduced as the new director of football at Rangers. "The only time I did it was when George Burley left out David Weir for the Norway game away from home.

"I said to him that I was surprised he would go into an important away game like that without such an experienced player. He said he was moving on and had to change the team.

"We lost 4-0 and David Weir came into the next squad," added Smith. The inference is that he knew what he was talking about. As a former player, it's fair to say Smith did. It is why he feels more comfortable in his new role though he has made the same promise to not to interfere in Ally McCoist's decisions. All the new Ibrox manager needs to do is make sure he keeps picking Weir. Smith can help on that front since the new director of football will be involved in negotiating new contracts, with the position of Weir - whose latest one-year deal expired at the end of last season - still up in the air.

"Ally is fully in control of the team and in deciding what signings to make," said Smith. "I will help try to find players but at the end of the day, Ally makes the decisions on it. It's his team. He's the manager. "

Smith's previous ties with the club as a player provides him with immediate credibility with those fans who feel such things are important. But his more recent past life as chief executive of the SFA is also relevant. He aims to use his influence at Uefa to mend bridges after the recent sanctions imposed on the club due to repeated cases of offensive singing from supporters. "I was on Uefa and Fifa committees, so I have contacts in both," Smith said. "I will be speaking with them to build a relationship with them, because I have let those relationships drop since I left the SFA."

It was, however, necessary to ponder whether this link with the SFA could be a hindrance as well as a help. He was, after all, the one who read out a statement which confirmed that both Barry Ferguson and Allan McGregor had been banned sine die from international football following the controversial Boozegate incident at Loch Lomond, again under Burley's charge. Chief among Smith's immediate duties will be to ward off interest in McGregor from other clubs, including Alex McLeish's Aston Villa. One way of doing this is by securing him on a longer-term deal. Smith does not believe McGregor will be any less motivated to hear what he has to say, despite their shared past with Scotland. "There is no problem," Smith assured. "The first decision that was made (to ban the players for life] was a Board decision. But I was also the person who put the case to the Board that if a new manager comes in, he should be able to play any player regardless of their situation.

"Craig Levein was able to bring Allan McGregor back and tried to bring Barry Ferguson back. I don't think there will be any problem with Allan McGregor and myself."

According to Smith, the offer to return to Rangers really did come out of the blue. He is perfectly placed to comment on the changing face of the club, having made almost 100 appearances for Rangers between 1977 and 1980. "It's a bigger club than when I was here," he said. "There's Murray Park for a start. The (old] training ground was across the road from Ibrox. I remember once having shooting practice and I hit a ball over the wall. I had to go and find it. Somebody opened their window and shouted: 'the boy at No 10 has got your ball!' I had to go and knock on the door and ask for my ball back. That was us preparing for a European Cup game."

Smith found himself desperately playing down the connection with Rangers when he was chief executive of the SFA. Now there is no need to conceal it. "The main thing about it for me was the chance to come back to this fantastic club," he said. "Being a player here was a huge thrill for me. To come back and work at the club in this capacity, where I can hopefully offer something on the football side, makes me absolutely delighted."

He is firmly in the Rangers camp now. He supports the ten-team league favoured by the Ibrox club despite having once told Radio Scotland listeners that a bigger top tier is the way forward. "I have said in a football sense that a bigger league is the best thing," he pointed out. "But in terms of going forward for the Scottish game, I have said that the ten-team league is correct. They would mean spreading more money down the lower divisions."

While he enjoyed picking up the microphone again when resuming duties as a pundit, he had ideas of returning to front-line football. There were possibilities of a role with two clubs in England. The collapse of a mooted takeover saw one opportunity evaporate. Negotiations with another club were continuing when new Rangers owner Craig Whyte stepped in. Talks with Rangers did not always go smoothly.Smith thought he had been rumbled when a fire alarm interrupted one meeting with Whyte at a hotel in Glasgow. "We were in a little secret back room," he recalled. "He and I had to go and stand out the front and I was telling him that this was going to hit the newspapers. But it didn't."

There is no further need for secrecy. Smith is a Rangers man again.